As some of you know by now, there seems to be a 4 week period each year when I hit the road for speaking opportunities, learning ways in which we can improve our social media strategies as a company, and visit with employees that are located around the world. This year’s trip starts Friday as I hit the road to Austin, Texas for SXSW.

I’ll be live-blogging using the @ebayinkblog Twitter feed and will post updates here on Ink. I’m also going to guest tweet for the RedLaser team so please be sure to start following @redlaserapp too if you’re not already. My 7-day, on-location assignment will come to a close with an exclusive conversation with recording artist Lupe Fiasco live from the RedLaser booth. In all, it’s a pretty packed schedule but here are the key events:

Sunday, March 13, 2011
11am – 9pm
eBay Hangover Party and Speed Hack
* 11am: Hangover party starts
* 12pm: Introductions by eBay, Plug and Play and Alcatel-Lucent
* 1pm: Info sessions and office hours
* 2pm – 4pm: Speed Hack Track One (two track options, see below)
* 4pm – 4:30: Demo Hack Track One
* 4:30pm – 6:30pm: Speed Hack Two (two track options, see below)
* 6pm: Happy Hour Starts
* 630pm – 7pm: Demo Hack Two
* 7:30: Hack results and prizes
To find out more information and to see a detailed schedule: http://ebayspeedhack.eventbrite.com/

Sunday, March 13, 2011
10:00pm
RedLaser Party with Chromeo – SXSW
Please join us in celebrating the launch of RedLaser’s presence at SXSW 2011! To take things up a notch and kick off the interactive week, the RedLaser party will include performances by Chromeo and Peanut Butter Wolf!
RSVP and find out more information: http://redlaserparty.eventbrite.com/

Tuesday, March 15, 2011
11:00am
Town Lake Ballroom, Radisson
What’s In Your Virtual Wallet
I’ll be moderating a Q&A discussion with Laura Chambers, director of mobile for PayPal and Rob Veres, GM of RedLaser / eBay Mobile. We’ll be taking questions direct from the audience and I’ll also ask any questions you may have so please feel free to include in the comments section below.

Tuesday, March 15, 2011
12:30pm
Hill Country CD, Hyatt
Why PR’s Future May Not Look Like PR
I’ll join Edelman’s David Armano (@armano) on stage to discuss the evolution of PR in the social media age. With advances in networks, online communities and the ability of the average individual to become their own content producer and influencer, the face of PR is changing, shifting the focus from communications to engagement in increasingly public spaces both online and off. The hashtag for that discussion is #FuturePR

Wednesday, March 16, 2011
4:00pm
RedLaser Booth 139, 141, 143
I’ll be interviewing recording artist Lupe Fiasco (@LupeFiasco) and taking questions from the audience. His latest album, “Lasers” has been in heavy rotation on my iPod since it came out last week and I’ve been playing “Coming Up” a lot to my two little girls as I head out on the road for a week. They love it!

I’ll also continue to cover ecommerce news remotely and update any eBay-specific information here as usual.
Cheers,
RBH