President Barack Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama will speak at SXSW this year, the festival announced Wednesday. The President will appear at Interactive in a Keynote Conversation with the Texas Tribune's Editor-in-Chief Evan Smith centered around technology, climate change and voter engagement on March 11. The First Lady will speak about the education initiative Let Girls Learn on March 16 at SXSW Music.
Both conversations will be streamed by the festival, but details have not yet been made public. Co-founder Roland Swenson said he hopes the Obamas' appearances will inspire attendees as the festival celebrates its 30th year.
"As each new generation comes up at SXSW they look for ways they can be of service, and it's important to reflect and support that message," he said in a statement.
In an announcement on the Tribune's website, Smith said he was excited about the topic of voter engagement, a subject that has "been The Texas Tribune’s mission from day one," he said.
The Tribune also said Smith's questions for the President will be "partially crowd-sourced" online, with solicitation for questions coming before the conversation.
We will update this story as more information becomes available.
