I’ve submitted 2 proposals for SXSW 2026 and I’m now combing through the other submissions. Till August 24 people can vote on the sessions they think are most interesting (you can heart mine if you like the ideas).

SXSW usually is an interesting melting pot of opinions, visions, etc around what’s going to be current over the next year or so. Therefore the proposals carry some signal in what will dominate the industry for 2026.

Also, SXSW has been morphing over the years; the audience is evolving, emphasis is shifting, popularity is in flux, etc.

This is the first time since 2020 I’m looking at the makeup of the sessions. It’s interesting to see how the amount of submissions dropped from over 6000 (incl. EDU) to about 4500 proposals. Back in 2020, Austin was the only location for SXSW, now there are 3 across the globe.

When looking at the proposals, the most popular formats are panels, and presentations. It’s too bad I don’t have the data for last years panel picker submissions, but from the program I know that the majority of the sessions was panels, not presentations.

The Advertising & Brands track is the most popular track, closely followed by the AI track when it comes to volume of proposals. Health and Wellness is at a close third. Quantum continues to be a niche (only 5 proposals).

I’ll be posting a little more on the findings from the proposals over the next week or two.