When it started two decades ago, SXSW Interactive was a couple hundred participants and a handful of panel discussions, all crammed into a few rooms at a Hyatt in Austin. Today, it has become a launching pad for startups (including Twitter and Foursquare), a hunting ground for tech investors, a lab of forward-thinking ideas, and a lavish five-day party that draws 30,000 registrants. 
How did this happen? 
By gathering festival founders, big names in tech, early participants, and scene-watchers to the stage, we will find out. Fast Company and SXSW Interactive partner to bring together some of industry's most creative and innovative minds who share one common thread: their significant role in the weird, wild, and largely untold history of SXSW Interactive. Bob Safian, Editor in Chief of Fast Company, will sit down with leaders like Guy Kawasaki, danah boyd, Baratunde Thurston, Bruce Sterling, among others, to hear first-hand accounts of how an eclectic mix of geeks and creatives took the tech world by storm.