Yes there’s a press room, but it’s an oasis of calm for a few of us here at The Baby!, because all the bloggers are around the corner in the Blogger lounge!

Organised once more by Stephanie Agresta and Brian Solis, Room 19AB in the Austin Convention Center will be full of tables, bloggers, mini events, coffee, snacks, and lots of power strips. With backing from Samsung, the blogger lounge is a central meeting point for many at Southby. Just make sure you don;t spend all your time at Interactive in the room!

You can register in advance over on Eventbrite, although you can usually sign up at the door when you arrive.

If you haven’t got your badge for SXSW yet, what are you waiting for? At midnight tonight (Friday 7th) there will be no more discounts, and the badges will be at their maximum price point.

Here’s how the price for your badge looks now, and how it will look after Friday midnight right up to the time when you walk up to the Austin Convention Center and buy your badge because you forgot to do it beforehand.

If you are buying a badge at this stage, and especially if you are buying one to come to Interactive, then please check out available accomodation before you head to SXSW.com to buy the badge. There are no refunds, and hotel space is at a premium this year.

And by at a premium we mean there was more room in Bethlehem.

Jes Reynolds, via Instagram, and a view of the Austin Convention Center you might not be used to.

With the slow rise of Bolt and Megabus in the US (as covered by Bloomberg recently), taking to the skies to reach Austin may not be your only option. You could take the bus!

BUs Travel Review site Wanderu has put together a guide to getting the bus to Austin in general, and SXSW in particular. With details on how to get to the Texan state capital from LA, New York, or Chicago, you can kick off your Southby week with a bit of a road trip… and no liquid carry-on issues!

Just a quickie for those of you planning something big at SXSW (as opposed to turning up and seeing what sort of party everyone else is throwing), but the local City of Austin municipal website, AustinGo, launched its new public beta look at the end of 2011. Need to find information on parking, permits, special events, or anything else? Head to AustinTexas.gov, or read about the changes here.

Are we there yet?

Living here, I love Austin all year round, but I especially love Austin during the time leading up to and during South by Southwest. What I love most is that while the city’s population has grown from around 846,000 in 1990, to approximately 1.7 million twenty years later, it still has a small college town vibe.

This is evident in how it’s full of quirky little eateries and entertainment outlets, and new ones are popping up all the time. Newer additions to the Austin landscape are The Highball, adjacent to and owned by the management of the Alamo Drafthouse on South Lamar, Haddington’s on West 6th Street, and the Barley Swine on South Lamar.

Another recent development is the burgeoning beer scene. Last year at this time there were three microbreweries in Austin; Independence Brewing, Live Oak Brewing and 512 Brewing. Recent additions are Thirsty Planet Brewing, Circle Brewing and Jester King Brewing. There are also some brewpubs in town that brew small batches of their own beer (and serve food). Among the best is Uncle Billy’s Brew & Que on Barton Springs. These are all available in better establishments around Austin, so you should forego the huge volumes of free Miller Lite and Shiner Bock at parties and explore a nice local beer bar.

And come March, all this gets the huge injection that is SXSW, which has been growing up just as Austin has. Even in this, it’s 25th year, there are big changes afoot.

The Interactive conference has blossomed to cover what I’ve heard are 8 “campuses” around downtown, including the Convention Center and nearby Hotels. While nothing has been announced yet, expect some way of getting between the venues. SXSW Film’s regular shuttles continue to get you between the silver screens, and you just need to sneeze to get between the stages on 6th Street during SXSW Music.

As for me I’m really looking forward to my 6th year volunteering at SXSW. Can. Not. Wait.

This year Eric Young is one of the SXSW Crew Chiefs and is one of many volunteers that help the event run successfully. He also blogs at austinbeergeek.blogspot.com.

The Housing Desk team at SXSW have posted up a little warning regarding Hotel Accommodation in Austin during Interactive (and the first half of Film). In short, there’s no room at the Inn, the hotels are sold out (although there is still availability for Music).

If you did have plans to get yourself to SXSW and you haven’t yet made plans, you’re going to have to be (a) inventive (b) bunk up with someone who’s already got a hotel room or (c) forget about sleep and just trust in the power of Sixth Street to keep you going. Whatever choice you make, there’s some more practical advice here.

And don’t say we didn’t warn you!