FAQs
What is Social Media Week?
Social Media Week is one of the world’s most unique global platforms, offering a series of interconnected activities and conversations on emerging trends in social and mobile media.
Why attend?
We believe there are many compelling reasons to attend. Here are just a few:
- Community created content: Due to the unique way that the program is curated, the content and programming is designed to cover every emerging trend, technology area and industry sector.
- Free to attend: Thanks to the generous support from our sponsors and partners, events hosted directly by Social Media Week are free to attend and events hosted in conjunction with Social Media Week are primarily free or significantly subsidized.
- Iconic venues and locations: We believe space should always factor into the design of the experience. Thanks to strategic partnerships with iconic institutions and venues, such as the MoMA, the New York Times and the Paley Center for Media, Social Media Week is able to enhance your experience and make this possible.
- Hyper-social attendees: Due to a focus on depth and diversity, the conference attracts a broad array of hyper-social influencers, practitioners and academic thinkers.
How do I attend?
Over ninety percent of events hosted during SMW are free. Where an event session has a fee associated with it, it will be clearly stated.
How to register:
- Login or Create an account (if you’re not already logged in)
- Visit the Schedule page and find the events that you would like to attend
- Click into an event that interests you, and click the “Attend” button*
- That’s it! You’re now officially registered to attend that event
Generally, you MUST register to each event individually. SMW São Paulo is the exception.
*A small number of our event partners choose to use 3rd-party technologies to process registration. If this is the case, the event page will clearly provide instructions on how to access the 3rd-party event registration page.
Email Confirmations
You should receive an email confirmation for each event that you have registered to attend. If you have not received one, do not be overly concerned (try checking your spam folder first). The vast majority of events do not require you to bring this email confirmation to the event. Your name will be included on an attendee list at the front registration desk of whatever event that you have registered to attend. However, you can verify your registration for an event by going into your profile and selecting “My Events” or you can email the event organizer (the information is available on the event listing page).
Where can I view the events that I have registered to attend and/or favorited?
Once logged into your account, you can view events that you have officially registered to attend on the Schedule page under “My Events.”
How else can I get involved?
There are a number of ways to get involved in Social Media Week. In addition to being an event attendee, we encourage the community to participate in submitting events, nominating someone else or volunteering yourself to participate as a speaker / panelist, providing event space, or just volunteering in general to help promote, produce and curate events. Contact the Global Team or any of the City Organizers by filling out one of our simple forms to get involved.
Why Biannual?
Social and mobile media is continually changing our way of life. Engaging a global audience to explore the practical applications and business benefits of the most important communications revolution once a year is simply not enough. So, we introduced our biannual format in 2010 (FEBRUARY & SEPTEMBER), allowing more cities to participate in the global conversation.
Why do only certain cities get chosen to host SMW?
The Global Team makes every attempt to have as many continents and countries as possible represented during each Social Media Week. However, hosting Social Media Week is a very large undertaking. It requires having a strong local City Organizer. Our City Organizers are generally composed of individuals who work for established companies with expertise in the digital media industry. The City Organizers also bring strong advisory board members to the table and possess an impressive track record for producing and curating events. That being said, finding the right City Organizer is no simple task, and the process of which cities get to host Social Media Week heavily relies on finding those strong City Organizers.
