Step aside, SXSW — there's a new major festival on the horizon, and this one will be situated right here in Chattanooga (which is loads better than Austin, anyway — right, ATXtoday?)

And what better place for the Future of Freight Festival — F3, for short — to take place than the heart of Freight Alley?

Locally-based business FreightWaves will soon bring freight and logistics professionals from around the country to the Scenic City for its first in-person Future of Freight Festival, anticipated to be "the hottest FreightTech event of the year."

Here are some quick hits about what the festival will entail:

The central hub will be the Chattanooga Convention Center, but events will take place throughout the city (we spotted some axe-throwing + beer tasting in the promo video).
While it is a freight conference, with events like rapid-fire demos, interactive sponsor kiosks, and keynote speakers, it's also...
A festival experience with live music, entertainment, after parties, and VIP events.

Keynote speakers will include:

John Ibbitson | Journalist + author who co-authored "Empty Planet: The Shock of Global Population Decline"
Leland R. Miller | Cofounder + CEO of China Beige Book International, a private data collection network that tracks the Chinese marketplace
Manti Te'o | Former NFL player + All-American linebacker for the University of Notre Dame
Peter Zeihan | Geopolitical strategist + author of "The End of the World is Just the Beginning: Mapping the Collapse of Globalization"
Rosemary Coates | Founder and Executive Director of the Reshoring Institute, a nonprofit focused on expanding US manufacturing + President of Blue Silk Consulting, a supply-chain management consulting firm
Spencer Frazier | Executive Vice President of Sales and Marketing for J.B. Hunt Transport Services, Inc.

Live entertainment will include:

Boyce Avenue
Eli Young Band
Pat Green
Larry Fleet
Yacht Rock Revue

"While it’s technology that drives our future forward, it’s the people behind the innovation that bring the creation to life – F3 will be a full celebration of just that." — FreightWaves