usability - How to help users navigate a very long list on mobile

I recently came across SXSW's native apps on iPhone and Android. Both apps revolve around the conference's schedule. On the home-screen of both apps, you get the day's schedule, which is actually a v-e-r-y long list of all events (my guess - around 200 a day) in chronological order.

Watching other people using these apps, I realized that scrolling through the day's giant schedule is a real pain.

My questions is:

1. What would you do to help users navigate more easily to navigate through the list? This includes: reaching later events, going back to earlier events and jumping from a specific hour to a different hour.


2. If your solution relies on the fixed header, what would you do differently on a mobile website that doesn't have a fixed header?

Answer

Filters are the obvious answer, which those apps appear to be doing with "Film, Interactive and Music".

My first thought on how to improve it would be to borrow the UI from my iPhone's contacts list, adapted for this instance.

Basically, use a 24 hour list on the right that would quick jump you to event at any of the given times.

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