Keith Urban Added To Featured Speaker Lineup For South By Southwest 2018

Keith Urban

The South by Southwest Conference and Festivals (March 9-18, 2018) has added keynote speaker Darren Aronofsky and the latest round of featured speakers to its programming lineup including Keith Urban, Luvvie Ajayi, W. Kamau Bell, Steve Ballmer, Yiying Lu, Stefan Blom, and others.

“Some of the world’s most imaginative thinkers are part of today’s announcement,” said Hugh Forrest, SXSW Chief Programming Officer. “These innovative speakers cover the depth and breadth of SXSW content, enhancing our standing as the foremost destination for creative people to gain the practical tools and outside-of-the-box inspiration to achieve their goals.”

Other featured speakers for the event include writer and host of With Friends Like These podcast Ana Marie Cox, This American Life creator and host Ira Glass, design ethicist Tristan Harris, biophysicist and engineer Hugh Herr, Facebook Vice President of Messaging Products David Marcus, activist Bree Newsome, athlete and model Aimee Mullins, best-selling author Daniel H. Pink, Altimeter Principal Analyst and Futurist Brian Solis, GSD&M co-founder and chairman Roy Spence, Pulitzer prize-winning author Lawrence Wright, and many more.

SXSW Conference programming is organized into 24 tracks divided between Interactive, Film, Music, and Convergence, presented in a variety of session formats. Once again, SXSW is offering expanded access to events for all registrants. Attendees will receive primary access to programming associated with their badge type but now also enjoy secondary entry to most other SXSW events.

• Author
• Recent Posts

Lorie Hollabaugh

Hollabaugh, a staff writer at MusicRow magazine, has over 20 years of music business experience and has written for publications including American Profile, CMA Close Up, Nashville Arts And Entertainment, The Boot and Country Weekly. She has a Broadcast Journalism and Speech Communication degree from Texas Christian University, (go Horned Frogs), and welcomes your feedback or story ideas at lhollabaugh@musicrow.com.

Latest posts by Lorie Hollabaugh (see all)

• Industry Ink: Thomas Rhett, Chris Janson, Laura Veltz, Bobby Bones, More - November 6, 2026
• Country Music Hall Of Fame & Museum Celebrates Opening Of Roger Miller Exhibit - November 6, 2026
• Clay Walker Heads Into The Holidays With New Family Christmas Album, Tour - November 6, 2026