Last night, I touched down in the land of the weird, home of the brisket — none other than ATX — for another week in wonderland.

SXSW always touches on what’s hot now and what’s heating up. As I charted my path and curated my schedule, a few themes emerged. Here’s what’s on my radar for Interactive —

STORYTELLING

A tale as old as time. Er, a trade, rather. Storytelling best practices and trends are a theme at SXSW each year (I say, having only attended and followed for two). The way we tell stories as well as which stories we tell are integral and reflective of the times.

In the matter of how, one could say there’s a science to it. In fact, that’s exactly what Patrick Moreau says, founder of Muse Storytelling and an old friend from last year’s SXSW.  In his session, The Science Of Brand-Building Stories, Patrick and Muse colleague Rebecca Rapple "dive deeper into the psychology of story and how to use it to drive action from your audience."

Once you have your base, you can start to flesh out your strategy. For the question, “Which medium is best?” sessions like Broadcast for Podcasts: Transitioning Audio to Visual Storytelling and Telling Urgent Stories with Interactive Maps strive to provide answers while Human Presence and Humor Make Us Better Storytellers and Immersive Storytelling: Breaking the Fourth Wall get more into style and potential tactics.

Lately, I’ve read several articles or book excerpts which touch on current societal sentiments: we’re divided.

Several of the sessions at SXSW respond to this sentiment, offering insights and suggestions on how to build bridges, understand your neighbor, connect within communities (online and in person) — and overall be a better human being.

• Roy Spence (one of my favorite human beings after hearing him at the Future CMO Club Summit in 2017) shares more on his Promiseland Project, “a long-term marketing and grassroots campaign created to unleash the power of Purpose to bridge the cultural divide,” in a featured session.

• Radha Agrawal, a kindred spirit of mine (morning dance parties?! um, YES), has “dedicated her adult life to fostering connection and community in a fragmented, disconnected world.” Her session, Creating Community and Finding Your People, touches on how to connect beyond the digital sphere, find meaningful connection and, as my girl Brene would say, “true belonging.”

LIBRARY LEGENDS

Speaking of Brene, several authors featured in my personal collection are making an appearance in Austin.

Last year, SXSW caught me slipping. After listening to Luvvie Ajayi in her "On Doing Better: A Convo” session with April Reign and W. Kamau Bell, I had the opportunity to meet your favorite shady Nigerian, all the while my copy of “I’m Judging You” sat at home, weeping silently unsigned.

This year, I’ve learned to do better. I carved out a special place for their books in my suitcase and am determined to have their autograph grace the pages. Here are my library legends speaking at SXSW:

• Featured Session: Opening Speaker, Brené Brown

  • Daring Greatly

  • Braving the Wilderness

• Featured Session: Own Your Story, Own Your Strength with Rachel Hollis

  • Girl, Wash Your Face

• Featured Session: Keep Going with Austin Kleon and Debbie Millman

  • Steal Like an Artist  

LOOKING AHEAD

So what’s heating up? SXSW is often the debut for more than just music artists, but technology trends as well. When describing SXSW, people often note it as the catalyst to Twitter’s growth and popularity after their appearance at the festival in 2007. Here, professionals in marketing and communications, human resources, engineering, design, education and practically every field you can imagine learn about what the future has in store and where early adopters can find their next high.

• The Invisible Brand in an Audio-First World

• Influencer Marketing in 2025: The Future of Human Media

• The Future of Programming Across Platforms

• Featured Session: 2019 Emerging Tech Trends Report

• 7 Non-Obvious Trends Changing The Future In 2019

• AI and the Future of Storytelling

2019: The Year of the Woman

I’ve been saying this from the jump — 2019 is the year of the woman. From record-breaking numbers of women serving in Congress to Nike’s recent “Dream Crazier” ad highlighting the  power and trailblazing potential of women in sports — women did not come to play with y’all this year. We didn’t come to play last year either, but I digress.

We’re seeing an unprecedented era of women’s empowerment and encouragement. Where we’re being encouraged to not just dream, but to “dream crazier” and beyond that — our “crazy” dreams might not be so wild after all. Here a few sessions I’m looking forward to —

• Girl Culture

• For Women, by Women: Knowing Your Audience

• Girl Gaze: Why Representation Matters

• Leading Women: Who Run the World? Girls.

• Our Own Worst Enemy: Why Women Keep Each Other Down

• A Girlfriend’s Guide to White Woman Allyship

SOCIAL MEDIA

While my field isn’t as much of a headline topic as it used to be, several session descriptions include social media as a bullet point for discussion in the larger context of their session. A few that zeroed in on it specifically include — 

• AI and Social Media: How to Take Control

• Is Social Media the New Fast Food?

• Don’t @ Venice: Instagram is Killing Bucket Lists

The amount of information you can consume at SXSW is massive and a bit unreal. While I have the main roads on my marketing and communications journey identified, there are so many detours and recreational stops I’ll be appreciating along the way.

• Empathy in the Workplace

• Creating and Sustaining Creative Environments

• Leadership Development

• Diversity, Inclusion and Allyship

• Race, Gender, Intersectionality

What else am I emoji-eyeballing? 👀 Scope out all of my favorites online.