SXSW: vote early and often!

I had so much fun launching The Back of the Napkin at the SXSW conference last year that I'd like to go back to Austin again this year. I've got a whole bunch of new visual thinking stories, tools, and concepts to share, but I need your help.

To be accepted as a speaker at SXSW, you need to have people vote for your idea on the Panel Picker. I've got two events I'd like to do this year, and if you're interested in either, I'd love for you to vote for them.

The first is a panel discussion called Shift Happens: Moving from Words to Pictures. Tom Crawford of VizThink has pulled together with me and the amazing Lee LeFever of CommonCraft, Dave Gray of Xplane, Sunni Brown of eyescience, and visual facilitator Marilyn Martin. We'll be sharing ideas about how pictures are taking over the world. Should be cool.

The second is a solo presentation I'd like to give called Convincing with Pictures: First, We Throw Away all the Computers. During this session I'm going to take a different route and introduce concepts from my second book. Among them:

• Why computers are killing our ability to see the obvious.
• Why making things simple has become so complicated -- and how to make the simple simple again.
• The neurobiological reasons why a hand-drawn sketch is always more compelling than a slick presentation.
• How to paint the Golden Gate Bridge. (No, not a painting OF the bridge -- I'm talking the bridge itself.)

Anyway, it should be a lot of fun.

There are about a zillion other great panels too, so check them out and vote. Again and again!

DANGER! DANGER! Voting deadline is Aug. 29!

Comments

[Tim Murphy]

Definitely got my 5 star vote - wish I were able to attend. TBOTN was an increadable book - certainly woke me up to drawing I'd forgotten about!! I'm really looking forward to the next book!

[Jonny Goldstein]

This is the SXSW panel I most look forward to. Vote people!

[Paul (from Idea Sandbox)]

You have to register on the SXSW site to vote. It takes a second and you instantly receive a confirmation link.

You indicate your interest by the number of stars:

0 stars = "OK, but this is not really my cup of tea"
5 stars = "Amazing, justifies my trip to SXSW"

(I indicated 5 stars!)

[Austin Kleon]

Have you checked out Lynda Barry's new book, WHAT IT IS?

There's some good stuff in there about the importance of writing by hand rather than typing on the keyboard.

Anyways...you have my vote.