Earlier this year, the Engage team had a fantastic time at the South by Southwest (SXSW) Interactive Conference in Austin, Texas.  In preparation for SXSW 2012, we have submitted a proposal for a panel titled “Big Data: Powering the Race for the White House.”  We need your help to get this panel on the schedule for SXSW 2012!  The SXSW Panel Picker is now open to the world, meaning that you can vote for our panel to make it on the docket for SXSW 2012.  Our panel will include Josh Hendler of Jumo, Kristen Soltis of The Winston Group, Dan Siroker of Optimizely, Alex Lundry of TargetPoint Consulting, and yours truly.  Here’s the description of the panel as proposed to the SXSW team:

Despite the advent of new media, campaigns for President still measure the electorate in pretty much the same way they did 40 years ago, through traditional polls to landline phones. That could all change this year. The hottest job in today’s Presidential campaigns is the Data Mining Scientist — whose job it is to sort through terabytes of data and billions of behaviors tracked in voter files, consumer databases, and site logs. They’ll use the numbers to uncover hidden patterns that predict how you’ll vote, if you’ll pony up with a donation, and if you’ll influence your friends to support a candidate. This panel will delve deep into the world of real-time data on Presidential campaigns, showing how it’ll be used to make decisions on everything from the layout of a signup form to where to spend millions of advertising dollars in the closing days of a campaign. Forget about which candidate has the most likes on Facebook or followers on Twitter — and learn why 2012 will be the year of Big Data in American politics.


Questions Answered:

  • I want to optimize my site to run just like Obama’s but I don’t have millions of visitors. How do apply these lessons to a smaller operation?
  • Are conclusions based on new marketing data — much of it subject to possible selection bias — scientifically valid?
  • The wealth of political and consumer data that’s out there can be overwhelming. How do practitioners in the field avoid “analysis paralysis”?
  • As a voter, should I be concerned about the privacy implications of Big Data?
  • What are the resources I need to make this work for my organization?

Sound like something you would want to hear at SXSW or streamed online?  Be sure to vote for our panel today and we will look forward to seeing you in Austin in March!