Six Cutting Edge Ways to Radically Transform and Disrupt the Agency Model.

Last week, it seemed to me that about one in five messages in my LinkedIn and Facebook feeds were from friends or friends of friends or friends of friends of friends attempting to get votes for their particular panel at South by South West.

I've never been to "South by" and will likely never go unless, for whatever reason, whatever agency I'm working for at the time has decided to punish me for something. 

In any event, as I thought about this post, I went over to South by South West's "Panel Picker." (Voting ends August 23.) I was curious.

I wish I could say I was surprised by this, but I'm not. As I write this, at 5:30 PM on Saturday, August 10, there are 4,291 different panels you could vote for.

Are there even 4,291 interesting topics in the world? Are there 4,291 interesting people? The sub-category "Advertising" has 517 contenders. "Design" has 244. And "Tech Industry & Enterprise" has 478 choices.

People are confused by the 22 Democrats running for the democratic nomination. How could you possibly choose among 517 advertising options? How could this be anything but a high school popularity contest?

However, not daunted by not actually submitting a proposal, I herewith promulgate my panel. I've titled it with the requisite pompous grandiosity: 

https://www.amazon.com/Captive-Mind-Czeslaw-Milosz/dp/0679728562/ref=sr_1_1?keywords=captive+mind&qid=1565550251&s=gateway&sr=8-1

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You can't actually vote for my panel. But maybe you can write me in.

I promise not to show up.