Hosts get to choose their own topics for their sessions, depending on their area of expertise. Just to name of few of last year's (there were about 250):
- "Social Investing, Social Entrepreneurship and Social Profit"
- "Build a NonProfit that Lasts"
- "Top 10 Legal Mistakes Made by Entrepreneurs"
- "Integrating Social Media Into Your Marketing Plan"
- "Don't Quit Your Day Job: And Other Fairy Tales My Mother Told Me"
- "Google, Yelp, FourSquare and More"
- "Create or Die. The Art of Entrepreneurship"
We try to make it easier on participants by having session tracks - for example, if they are mainly interested in optimizing social media for their start-up, they can register to attend only related sessions.
Some of the tracks we have so far include:
- Multicultural
- Bootstrapping
- Social Entrepreneurship
- Technology
- Health
- Women Entrepreneurs
Along with several high-profile Keynote speakers, there are competitions and funding events throughout the week: a Funding Forum, Fast Pitch, and non-profit Fast Pitch.
RISE is not affiliated with SXSW.
I hope this answered your question!