[Goronmon]

It's funny, I first heard of SXSW only in the context of the music/film stuff and was thoroughly confused later when I heard it mentioned as some sort of "tech" event and actually thought maybe they were two different events. It's good to know I wasn't totally off-base.

[_delirium]

I think it's also only recently that the interactive part has been big at all. Not entirely sure, but it feels like 2007 or 2008 was the first year it was one of those big all-the-cool-kids-in-SF-must-fly-to-Austin deals. Certainly the late-90s SXSWs didn't have anyone flying there for the tech content (though plenty were flying there for the music and films).

[jamesbritt]

I know a number of web designers who refer to SXSW as "geek spring break", and could never quite figure out just what was so geeky about the event. Outside of the music/film part, it's a marketing schmooze fest for "Web 2.0" types.