http://www.davidnunez.com/sxsw

Fortunately someone managed to do it. And he’s an Austinite to boot! Forgive me in advance if I now turn my blog over to SXSW for the next week. I paid good money to attend this thing so the least I can get out of it is some content for my stinking blog.

Though I have to give SXSW some credit. They finally managed to get out an email to paid attendees today:

Dear SXSW Interactive or Gold Registrant,

Greetings.

The 2005 South by Southwest (SXSW) Interactive Festival is just a few days away. We’re extremely excited about all the incredible stuff we have lined up for this year’s event — and we hope that you are as well!

The purpose of this brief note is to go over a little-bit of last-minute news about SXSW Interactive.

REGISTRATION / BADGE PICK-UP

You can pick up your badge on the top floor of the Austin Convention Center beginning at noon on Friday, March 11. The first hour of registration is often busy and somewhat chaotic — so, it may be best to wait until early afternoon to collect your credentials. Please be sure to bring a photo ID.

The Austin Convention Center is located at 500 E. Cesar Chavez — for SXSW, you should enter at the northwest corner of the building (near i.e., Fourth & Trinity), then head up the escalators to the top floor of the building. Once you get to the top floor, the SXSW registration kiosks will be very visible.

Hours for registration / badge pick-up during SXSW Interactive are as follows:

Fri, March 11 noon to 8:00 pm
Sat, March 12 9:30 am to 8:00 pm
Sun, March 13 10 am to 7:00 pm
Mon, March 14 10 am to 6:00 pm
Tues, March 15 10 am to 8:00 pm

FRIDAY NIGHT, MARCH 11: FREE TOM FULP PRESENTATION

Be sure to attend the Tom Fulp presentation at 7:30 pm on Friday evening. Titled “Ducking Bullets and Blowing Up Barriers: The Indie Development of Alien Hominid,” this session will cover the unlikely journey of a game which started as a free Flash download and ended up on the console market. Fulp’s presentation is FREE FREE FREE, so please bring along all your friend’s who have not yet purchased a SXSW badge.

SATURDAY MORNING, MARCH 12: COOL CONTENT & FREE FOOD

Panel programming for the 2005 SXSW Interactive Festival starts at 10:00 am on Saturday morning with a session titled “The Imagination Challenge.” Led by Alexander Manu of the Ontario College of Art and Design, this presentation focuses on stretching the boundaries of human creativity in developing new art and technology. Then, at 11:30 am, Chipp Walters (Altuit) and Michael McGar (LocoMotion Studios) lead a session exploring some of the design tools used in the past and how tools tend to affect current design trends.

Otherwise, be sure to stop by Brush Square Park for some morning munchies, Tex-Mex style. Beginning at 11:00 am, we will have breakfast tacos, hot coffee and cold orange juice. This food is FREE for all SXSW Interactive, Gold and Platinum registrants. No worries if you haven’t picked up your badge yet — if you are pre-registered for the event, your name will be on the list at the entrance to the park. Brush Square Park is located at just west of the Hilton Hotel, directly across the street from the Austin Convention Center.

SATURDAY AFTERNOON: ZELDMAN OPENING REMARKS @ 2:00 pm

Whether or not you are able to attend the Saturday morning panels or the breakfast festivities, be sure to make it to the Austin Convention Center by 2:00 pm for Jeffrey Zeldman’s Opening Remarks. The author of “Designing with Web Standards” and “Taking Your Talent to the Web: Making the Transition from Graphic Design to Web Design,” Zeldman is creator of some of the web’s best-known brands. His Opening Remarks are humorously titled “Will the Last Blogger Out Please Turn Off the Lights?” After the talk, he will be signing copies of this book.

SXSW Interactive heads into full gear at 3:30 pm, with six different panel sessions covering everything from CSS to Digital Convergence. Panels continue through 6:00 pm, then head over to Lucky Lounge (209 A W 5th Street) for the annual Handshake Happy Hour. At 8:00 pm, go to 804 Congress for the Official SXSW Interactive Festival Opening Party, co-presented by Playlist Magazine and frog design. You must be a SXSW Interactive, Gold or Platinum badgeholder to attend the Opening Party and the Handshake Happy Hour.

For more information on the 2005 SXSW Interactive Festival, please refer the links below. We look forward to seeing you at the Austin Convention Center later this week!

Best regards,

Hugh Forrest
SXSW Interactive Festival
March 11-15, 2005
Austin, TX
http://www.sxsw.com/interactive

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ULTRA-HELPFUL SXSW INTERACTIVE FESTIVAL LINKS

SXSW Interactive Festival Community Blog
http://blog.sxsw.com

SXSW Interactive Panel Schedule
http://2005.sxsw.com/interactive/conference/panels/

SXSW Interactive Evening Events Schedule
http://2005.sxsw.com/interactive/evening_events/

SXSW Interactive / Film (iF!) Trade Show & Exhibition Info
http://2005.sxsw.com/tradeshow/if_exhibition/

SXSW Interactive / Film (iF!) Trade Show & Exhibition Book Signings
http://2005.sxsw.com/tradeshow/if_exhibition/sxbookstore/

SXSW Interactive / Film (iF!) Trade Show & Exhibition Day Stage
http://2005.sxsw.com/tradeshow/if_exhibition/daystage/

Link to FREE one-day Trade Show & Exhibition Pass
http://www.sxsw.com/if_pass

SXSW Registrants’ Toolbox / Geek Out
http://2005.sxsw.com/interactive/toolbox