Five Tulsa Companies Vying For Chance To Speak At SXSW

Five Tulsa companies are in the running for a spot at one of the nation's largest and varied conferences, but they need your help getting there.

You've probably heard of South By Southwest - a huge event that covers everything from music and movies to software every year in Austin, Texas. This year, five local companies hope to speak there, but they need your vote.

If you haven't heard of Kitchen 66 in downtown Tulsa, think of it as the place where food entrepreneurs get their start.

"We help people take their food dreams and make them real, sustainable businesses," said Kitchen 66 director, Adele Beasley.

If Kitchen 66 is selected to speak at South By Southwest next March, tens of thousands of people all around the world will know what it stands for.

Beasley said, "It puts Tulsa on the map, and really puts Kitchen 66 on the map. Being in front of a large audience will show people why it's important to live and to travel to Tulsa, and the awesome things that we're doing here."

Kitchen 66 is one of five Tulsa companies that people can vote for to appear at the conference.

There's also the Tulsa Regional STEM Alliance, our reporting partners at The Frontier, 36 Degrees North - a hub for innovators - and Civic Ninjas - a civic tech company co-run by mayor-elect GT Bynum.

The STEM Alliance is known for providing cutting-edge science, technology, engineering and math curriculum to students and teachers. If they're chosen to go to South By Southwest, they'll talk about applying science education to on-the-job community experience.

Emily Mortimer with Tulsa Regional STEM Alliance said, "We want to get feedback from people who are already doing pieces of this work and learn from their lessons so we can make sure what happens here in Tulsa is the best thing we can possibly provide."

Online voting accounts for 30 percent of the final decision whether these companies get chosen.