Beat The Monday Blahs With Scintillating Conversations At SXSW

AUSTIN, TX — It's hard to follow former vice president Joe Biden, who spoke Sunday at SXSW about his cancer-fighting mission dubbed "National Cancer Moonshot." But Monday brings a slate of interesting and compelling speakers from many fields.

Among the highlights scheduled for Monday, March 13, to be staged at the Hyatt Regency Austin:

9:30 a.m.

WHAT THE GIF?! HOW GIFS HELP ADVANCE JOURNALISM

Steven Davy, PRI's The World; Natalie Dudas-Thomson, WGBH; Katherine Griwert, Frontline WGBH

Texas Ballroom 1-3

ENGINEERED COLLISIONS BETWEN GAMES AND NEWS

Cherisse Datu, Kelly Dunlap and Lindsay Grace and Joyce Rice, all with American University Game Lab

Texas Ballroom 5-7

11 a.m.

DIGITAL CONTENT DEMANDS NEW SECURITY MINDSET

Chris Boylan, Wenner Media; Chris Buckley, Business Insider; Window Synder, Fastly; Zach Tollman, WIRED

Texas Ballroom 1-3

A POST-TRUTH WORLD? NOPE, WE CAN FIGHT FAKE NEWS

Eric Carvin, Associated Press; Lisa Fazio; Clarie Wardle, First Draft

Texas Ballroom, 5-7

12:30 p.m.

WATCHING THE WATCHMEN: DRONE JOURNALISM ETHICS

Kathleen Culver, University of Wisconsin-Madison; Alison Schary, Davis Wright Tremaine LLP

Texas Ballroom 1-3

PODCAST MOONLIGHTERS: LURING THE BEST FROM TV & PRINT

Tracy Clayton, BuzzFeed; Jeremy Scahill, The Intercept; Julia Shapiro, Radiotopia/PRX; Sarah Thyre, Earwold Media LLC

Texas Ballroom 5-7

3:30 p.m.

HOW BOTS ARE AUTOMATING FACT CHECKING

Bill Adair, Duke University; Mevan Babakar, Full Fact; Chengkai Li, The University of Texas at Arlington; Alexios Mantarlis, International Fact-Checking Network/Poynter Institute

Texas Ballroom 1-3

CREATORS IN SOCIAL MEDIA: ENHANCING YOUR CONTENT

Liz Eswein; Michael Shabun, DJI; Julien Solomita, YouTube; Devin Supertramp, devinsupertramp

Texas Ballroom 5-7

Presented by DJI

5 p.m.

A SHARED PURPOSE: KEYS TO LEVERAGING AUTHENTICITY

David Guttenfelder, National Geographic Creative

Texas Ballroom 1-3

MENTOR SESSIONS

Westin Austin Downtown

9:30 a.m.

Adam Banicki, VICE Media

Saxon Room

11 a.m.

Raney Aronson-Rath, Frontline WGBH

Saxon Room

5 p.m.

Sarah Glover, NBC Owned Television Stations

Saxon Room

While those are featured sessions, there are a number of others that promise to be thought-provoking. At 11 a.m., a talk titled "Muslim Girl Comes of Age" is scheduled with Amani Al-Khatahtbeh of Muslimgirl.com in Room 201-202 of the JW Marriott. Wrestling fans can catch John Cena of the WWE for his presentation at the Austin Convention Center, Ballroom D, at 9:30 a.m. A panel will discuss "Legal Roadblocks for Startups" at the Hilton Austin Downtown hotel, Room 400-402 at 11 a.m.

The question "Is Anyone Paying Attention To Your Content?" with hope, will be answered during a 12:30 p.m. panel discussion to be staged at the Austin Convention Center, Zilker Ballroom 3-4. In the Development and Code track, folks from MIT Lab will discuss "Creativity and Coding: Inspiring Future Innovators" at the JW Marriott, Salon E, at 11 a.m. In the Government track, "When Should Data Become The Government's Data" is sure to raise eyebrows and stress levels, during an 11 a.m. talk at the Austin Convention Center, Salon G, that includes U.S. Congressman Kevin Yoder.

Fashion more your bag? The Style track will feature "Artificial Intelligence Is The Future Of Fashion," hosted by Jenna Guarascio from Kohl's; Juan Hinestroza of Cornell University; Sean Montgomery and Sabine Seymour of SUPA. That one's scheduled at 12:30 p.m. in Salon 1-2 of the Austin Convention Center (ACC). "The Fashion Designer in the Age of Social Media" will be expounded upon by Marc Jacobs of Marc Jacobs International and Sally Singer of Vogue/Condé Nast in Ballroom D of the ACC at 11 a.m.

For those seeking a lighter Entertainment track, the cast of VEEP will be on hand. "VEEP: A Conversation with the Cast and Showrunners" is scheduled at 3:30 p.m. at the ACC, Ballroom D. Julia Louis-Dreyfuss and the rest of the cast and producers will be there to undoubtedly delight audiences with biting humor. Gareth Edwards, the British film director, film producer, screenwriter, cinematographer, production designer, and visual effects artist will speak separately in his film keynote speech at 11 a.m., ACC, Room 18ABCD.

So yes, again, an array of presentations to fit every conceivable taste and interest. There are also talks in the Workplace, Tech, Health, Film & TV Industry, Gaming and various musical tracks. Check out the full schedule by clicking here.

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