SXSW Conference 2021 | SXSW | 16 March 2021 | Online

Featuring a variety of tracks that allow attendees to explore what’s next in the worlds of film, culture, music, and technology, SXSW proves that the most unexpected discoveries happen when diverse topics and people come together.

With one unified conference spanning different tracks of programming, you’ll find more opportunities for networking, learning, and discovery than ever before at SXSW. Explore Keynotes, Featured Speakers, and Session Formats.

2021 Themes:

• A New Urgency
2020 has amplified issues like racial injustice, poverty, nationalism, and the climate crisis amidst a global pandemic. The future depends on the business, non-profit, government, science, and technology communities all working together. What advancements are needed to create immediate and lasting progress?

• Challenging Tech’s Path Forward
If we are to achieve real change as a society, then the many ways in which the tech industry impacts our lives must be leveraged as a positive force. To build a better tomorrow, what lessons can an industry integral to our existence learn from its current failings?

• Cultural Resilience In The Arts
Great art often thrives in times of turmoil and chaos. How will the eruption of creativity we are currently seeing across music, film, experiential, written, and visual arts impact our culture for the next decade and beyond?

• The Rebirth Of Business
From startups to small companies to major corporations, capitalism must be examined as we look to rebuild the global economy. A potential leveling of the playing field awaits if we seize this opportunity for more equitable systems across race, gender, and class.

• Transforming The Entertainment Landscape
Conventional wisdom from entertainment industries has lost its shine in the face of evolving consumer habits, technological advancements, and an increased focus on social issues. These pressures are forcing a much needed metamorphosis. What lessons can music, film, television, sports, and gaming learn to keep up with an ever-accelerating pace of change?

• Connection In Disconnection
We’re living lives we never could have imagined as we head into our own brave new world. The consequences of social isolation have been brewing for years. Now online platforms are some of the only outlets available to foster a sense of community. How do we return to a world where individual concerns give way to embracing the value of humanity?

• An Uncharted Future
Biohacking, consumer space travel, quantum physics, radical life extension, drone delivery — these concepts that once belonged in science fiction are now part of our immediate future. What mind-blowing new ideas will inspire the next generation of innovators?

2021 Speakers

KEYNOTE SPEAKER:

Willie Nelson
Musician, author, actor, entrepreneur, and activist

FEATURED SPEAKERS:

Adriene Mishler
International yoga teacher, actress, writer, and entrepreneur

Alexi Pappas
Actor, filmmaker, author, and Olympic athlete

Amy Webb
Quantitative futurist, author and founder and CEO of the Future Today Institute

Angela Benton
Founder and Chief Executive Officer, Streamlytics

Angela Roseboro
Chief Diversity Officer, Riot Games

Ann Hiatt
Leadership strategist and author

Baratunde Thurston
Comedian, writer and How to Citizen podcast host

Benjamin Hubert
Award-winning design entrepreneur and founder of the creative agency, LAYER

Bruce Mau
Author, entrepreneur and Freeman Chief Design Officer

Bryony Cole
Future of Sex founder and podcast host

Cathy O’Neil
Mathematician, data scientist and author

Cat Packer
Executive Director of Los Angeles Department of Cannabis Regulation

Amanda Chicago Lewis
Writer and reporter

Cherie Hu
Award-winning writer and publisher of the Water & Music newsletter

Matthew McConaughey
Academy Award-winning actor, author, and Minister of Culture and part-owner for expansion club Austin FC

Don Garber
Major League Soccer commissioner

Dr. Michael Watkins
Director of NASA’s Jet Propulsion Lab (JPL)

Dr. Rana el Kaliouby
Author and co-founder and CEO of Affectiva

Earl Blumenauer
Oregon Congressman (OR-03) and founder of the Congressional Cannabis Caucus, and champion of cannabis legalization in Congress

Erin Lee Carr
Director, producer, and writer; named one of the “30 Under 30” most influential people in media in 2019 by Forbes

Jag Bath
CEO & President of Favor, and H-E-B Chief Digital Officer

James Altucher
Entrepreneur, angel investor, chess master, and the Wall Street Journal bestselling-author of Choose Yourself

Jim McKelvey
Co-founder, Square

Jeff Lawson
Co-founder and CEO of Twilio

Joost van Dreunen
Entrepreneur, author, and academic

June Ambrose
Creative director, author, costume designer, celebrity stylist, #Rockmom and social media maven

Laurieann Gibson
Emmy-nominated creative director and choreographer

Kai-Fu Lee
Chairman and CEO of Sinovation Ventures, and president of Sinovation Ventures Artificial Intelligence Institute

Laurieann Gibson
Emmy-nominated creative director and choreographer

Laurent Duvernay-Tardif
Kansas City Chiefs right guard, medical student, and doctorate in medicine graduate

Logan Ury
Author, behavioral scientist, and modern love expert

Lori Gottlieb
Psychotherapist, writer of The Atlantic‘s weekly “Dear Therapist”

Kelly Corrigan
Host of Kelly Corrigan Wonders

Michael Lewis
New York Times bestselling author

Neesha Hathi
EVP and Chief Digital Officer, Schwab

Ryan Heffington
Emmy Award-winning host of TBS’Full Frontal with Samantha Bee

Sebastian Tomich
New York Times Global Head of Advertising and Marketing Solutions

Steve DeAngelo
Cannabis rights activist

Taraji P. Henson
Academy Award-nominated and Golden Globe-winning actor, writer, and producer

Carolyn Kylstra
Editor-in-Chief, SELF magazine

Tim Ellis
Co-founder and CEO, Relativity Space

Torkwase Dyson
Artist and painter working across multiple mediums to explore the continuity between ecology, infrastructure, and architecture

2021 Sponsors

PLATINUM:
• White Claw
• High Grade Hemp Seed
• Austin Chronicle

POWERED BY:
• Visible
• Audible
• Kia