Latinos in Technology had a presence at South by Southwest Interactive this year, with varying degrees of turnout and success. Sessions at the SXSW Latinos in Technology pre-conference, organized in part by the Kapor Center for Social Impact, focused on how modern technology affects Latino communities, while at the same time feeling a little left out of the SXSW community.

This year, SXSW Interactive had a more global focus, as the tech world is increasingly connecting parts of the world that have heretofore been left out of the digital revolution. But, according to Veronica Zaragovia, reporting for Austin-based KUT news, despite (or because) Latinos had their own mini conference at the start of SXSW, some presenters felt like their spotlight was in the margins.

That's because, both geographically and schedule-wise, the Latinos in Tech sessions were away from the main SXSW action. The pre-conference for Latinos took place before and during the opening weekend of SXSW, when the mainstream events are about to take off and attendees are just beginning to acclimate themselves to the festival atmosphere and find their way around. And it took place at the Austin Holiday Inn, "about a mile from the Austin Convention Center," reports Zaragovia.

This led to low turnout for some of the sessions, like one on "Chicapreneurs" -- or Latina tech and social media entrepreneurs. Becky Arreaga, a speaker on that panel, told KUT News she was disappointed by the location and the resulting low turnout. "We need to find power behind that and demand next year that we're at the convention center, because it does feel shameful that we're over here," said Arreaga.

Other sessions had higher turnout, like the later-scheduled "What Would César Chávez Tweet?" which featured César Chávez's son Paul as a panelist. That panel focused on how social media can help empower Latinos for social justice, and how Latinos and Latin Americans of all ages are primed to take on new technology if it helps empower them.

"What we've seen in agriculture is that Mexicanos have been using mobile phones for a long time now," said Chávez, as an example of the technological flexibility of Latin Americans who might not be considered adaptable by the mainstream. "They got away from the fixed-line phones. Many of them have smartphones and they use it for wire transfers for the remittances. So we have organizers, especially young organizers, that are beginning to develop organizing campaigns using Facebook," said Chávez to a full crowd, according to KUT News. Zaragovia mentions the presence of Rosario Dawson in the crowd for that session, which may have helped turnout.

Don't expect Latinos or Latin Americans to be on the margins of the ongoing social media and technology revolution for long. A recent Nielsen study on the Digital Consumer in the U.S. included a special section highlighting how "Hispanics are ahead of the digital curve" -- with Latino more likely than the general public to use and buy smartphones and tablets, use social media, and watch internet streaming video. At the same time, recent market research is telling IT manufacturers that emerging markets, with Latin America at the forefront, is increasingly dictating what kind of smartphones and mobile services to produce, since it is one of the fastest growing markets in the world -- 96.1 percent smartphone sales growth at the end of 2013, for example, compared to projected single-digit growth in the U.S. in the near future.

Having a conference specifically for Latinos in Tech is the first step for this growing contingent of influencers in technology, but perhaps the next big tech conference will put it at the center of the action.

You can read and hear Zaragovia's on the scene report at KUT News.

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