So you are impatiently waiting for SXSW. We all are. The hard part comes when you have to decide which days to go, which time to be there, which panels to choose and so on. Even worse, if you have a job, you must decide which days to take off. As a media student, I am interested in all things tech, social media, and journalism of course. Here are some Friday picks for young professionals or students looking for some suggestions.

To benefit you in class:

The Accidental Writer: Great Web Copy for Everyone

As a communications student, one must always be at one with their keyboard. If you want your presence to be felt in the digital world, you must put yourself out there with the use of blogs or social media. Students have felt the pressure of last minute assignments just as developers have during last minute deadlines. Melanie Seibert, a freelance web writer, gives some tips for creating great web copy at the last minute.

Writing Workshop with @BettyDraper: Saying It Short
As college students, we are thrown paper after paper for class that we often complete last minute. After all, how long does it take to write fifteen pages here, eight pages there, all on subjects that absolutely exhilarate us–theory of this, history of that, and so forth. Today’s media consumers have an attention span more similar to a hummingbird than a professor. Advertisers, marketers, anyone on twitter, as well as many others have to condense their words in order to keep peoples’ attention. Helen Klein Ross schools us on how to keep it simple and memorable.

For the young professionals:

Being Young and Rocking It
In the past, looking young and being young was looked down upon in the business world. Experience was key. In today’s fast-paced world of technology and social media, youth is an asset. Brian Wong’s panel gives tips to young entrepreneurs on how to turn ‘inexperienced’ into ‘fresh minded.’

My Kindergartner Markets Better Than You
Dave Peck and Kriselle Laran discuss how the principles of marketing are all things that you could pick up in the playground. How do kids get other kids to listen to them? They promise that “by approaching marketing like a five year old, brands can develop and maintain a strong identity and establish a role as an influencer in the industry.”

How tech helps other fields:

How Farmers Get Serious Business Done With Mobile
How does an iphone help farmers? Although it may not have much to do with many of us, I love to see how technology helps other fields.

OMG – My Pancreas Just Texted
Another panel for those who watch the discovery channel as much as I do. Even though I don’t suffer from diabetes, I like to think that if I ever did, technology would have my back. People are Googling their symptoms more often than they are visiting a doctor. This panel is for those health conscious and health curious like me.

Simply interesting:

BattleDecks 2011
Albert McMurry, Andrew Crow, Bryan Mason, David Cairns, Erika Hall, Jen Bekman, Jennifer Daniel, Joshua Cagan, Mike Monteiro, Molly Lewis and Nick Douglas promise some laughs. I’m in.

Fan to Fanatic: True Blood’s Marketing Hook
I’m a big HBO Sunday night programming fan. Ever watch Sunday night programming on HBO? it’s spectacular! HBO does a great job marketing their shows and True Blood was one of their recent triumphs. On their site you can buy a version of the fictional drink TruBlood, some of the charcter’s accessories and Jessica Hamby’s blog (one of the vampires) which looks like it was made by a teenager (which she is.) With all these elements they create an ongoing fan experience which makes the truebies (True Blood fans) even more obsessed.