I'm posting this from Austin where I'll spend the next few days working out of the Powered home office and catching as much of the SXSWi experience as I can swing. I haven't planned out a schedule of sessions and have only rsvp'd to a handful of parties. So I'll basically go wherever the wind -- or one of those scary pedicab peddlers -- takes me. But if you're in town for the festival and would like to connect you can hit me with an email or a direct message, track my whereabouts on foursquare or just look for my shining bald pate in the Convention Center hallways, in and around the blogger lounge (I spent a ton of time there last year and figure it will be my de facto home base when I'm not head-down at the office) or out and about on the party grind.
But even if we don't connect in Austin, there are still some cool things I'd love for you to check out if you're going to be at South By - and maybe even if you're not.
Powered's newest client is VeriSign. You might know them as the company that doles out dot com or dot net domain names; sure you actually buy your domains from Go Daddy, Domain.com or wherever but it's VeriSign that handles the registries themselves.
So at SXSW this year, we'll be kicking off some interesting programs to raise awareness and registration of .tv domains. Video is hot and getting hotter, and .tv is the only logical domain choice for content creators who are serious about generating video programming, growing their viewing audience and building their video brand. Here are some of the things we're doing over the next few days to help you get started if you're new to video or get seen if you're already a video vixen.
southby.tv: First of all, you'll want to check out southby.tv. Whether or not you're at SXSW, it's a great place to get a look at some of the cool stuff happening in Austin -- shot by the real people who are in the thick of things. As we say on the site, southby.tv is a "living diary" showcasing video content from the insiders at the festival. Which brings us to point #2 -- if you're at the event and have your video camera or phone in hand, your content can be part of the southby.tv line-up. Just hit the site, follow the submission instructions and your clips may be chosen by our curation crew.
You can be the Next .tv Star: We're not just giving you a chance to have your SXSW clips appear on our site; we're giving you a chance to hit the weblebrity big leagues (eww, yes, I ready said weblebrity.) All over the event, we'll be shooting audition videos for anyone who wants a chance to win a cool prize package and a shot at being a correspondent for an upcoming Best of .tv web show. The prize includes an all expense paid trip to San Francisco where you'll spend the day backstage at Revision3 and get a private video production coaching session from Diggnation producer Dave Prager, one of the guys behind one of the web's most widely watched video series. And of course, you could become a Best of .tv correspondent...
Read on for more details about how you can audition in Austin over the next few days. Or visit southby.tv to submit an audition directly (and to learn all the rules and legal stuff, of course.)
The .tv Street Team: We'll have a team roaming the event, shooting audition videos for anyone who wants a shot at being the next .tv star and handing out must-have swag. Be on the lookout and make sure you say howdy (or whatever it is they really say in Texas...)
The Bigg Digg Shindigg: .tv is sponsoring Saturday night's Live Diggnation event (7pm at Stubbs BBQ). We'll have a big ol' tent where we'll be shooting auditions for the next .tv star and doing some other fun stuff, so be sure to check it out. If you can't be there, you can also watch the fun when the Diggnation episode hits iTunes.
Special Offers: And finally, to coincide with .tv's SXSW presence, we will have special offers for anyone looking for an excuse to get going with video. Check out the offers page on southby.tv for your shot at freebies and more.
I hope you'll check out what we're doing with .tv and spread the word to any of your friends who might be interested in web video. And if you see me in Austin over the weekend, come on over and say hello.
