It’s often said that the real action at SXSW doesn’t take place at the panels or the keynotes, but in the surrounding cafes and bars where entrepreneurs and investors do deals over a breakfast taco or a shot of tequila. For most attendees, the sit-downs, dinners and parties are more important than the event’s programming because of the business relationships they foster. “One relationship can move the needle $100,000,” said Neil Blumenthal, the CEO and founder of the eyeglasses company Warby Parker, as the clock struck midnight at a Beachmint party. “That’s why I’m not at home right now.”

You can read the full list on CNBC. How many of these did you manage, or have they missed something obvious?

Interactive: March 8th – March 12th 2013.
Film: March 8th – March 16th 2013.
Music: March 13th – March 16th 2013.

Simon Willison and Natalie Downe (Lanyrd)

Nir Paniry and Gabriel Cowan (Extracted)

Music from Gemma Ray.

Follow the SXSW Baby blog for more South by Southwest fun, and what we’re up to on the ground via Twitter and @SXSWbaby. Got news about SXSW for us? Get in touch via SXSW Baby’s contact form! Don’t forget to follow the podcast via the RSS feed!

Mark Kendall, director of La Camioneta.

Artist Hugh MacLeod, www.gapingvoid.com.

Music from Anamanaguchi.

Follow the SXSW Baby blog for more South by Southwest fun, and what we’re up to on the ground via Twitter and @SXSWbaby. Got news about SXSW for us? Get in touch via SXSW Baby’s contact form! Don’t forget to follow the podcast via the RSS feed!

• Waiting for Lightning (SXSchedule)
7:45pm Canon

• SXSW Trade Show (Info)
11:00am – 6:00pm

• Panels
WallE or Terminator: Predicting the rise of AI(SXSchedule)

Director Timo Vuorensola and Proucer Tero Kaukomma talk about their “Nazis from Space” feature, Iron Sky.

Steven Lowe talks about the impact on SXSW Interactive on a ‘regular’ delegate.

Music from The Balkan Beat Box, “War Again”.

Follow the SXSW Baby blog for more South by Southwest fun, and what we’re up to on the ground via Twitter and @SXSWbaby. Got news about SXSW for us? Get in touch via SXSW Baby’s contact form! Don’t forget to follow the podcast via the RSS feed!

• Beware of Mr. Baker (SXSchedule)
2:15p Alamo C

• SXSW Trade Show (Info)
11:00am – 6:00pm in the Convention Center

• Panels
Play Time Kids and Game based learning (SXSchedule)

Restoring History: 100 Years of Universal Films(SXSchedule)
11:00 am Paramount

We explored the HP NVIDIA lounge on 6th, the Beacon, the Microsoft, and the Samsung Bloggers lounges in the Convention Center, and the Gemalto lounge in the Hilton.

There are many others, so step off the path, and explore!

John Yost, CEO of Super Better.

The cast and crew of King Kelly.

Music from Ruby Jane.

Follow the SXSW Baby blog for more South by Southwest fun, and what we’re up to on the ground via Twitter and @SXSWbaby. Got news about SXSW for us? Get in touch via SXSW Baby’s contact form! Don’t forget to follow the podcast via the RSS feed!

• SXSW Social Breakfast
8am at Magnolia Cafe

• ITALY LOVE IT OR LEAVE IT (SXSchedule)
11:30am The Alamo Ritz 2

• Panels
Anime More than Cartoons (SXSchedule)

• Parties
Copyblogger: Computer Blue at Rattle Inn, 610 Nueces Street

Why have I chosen Eventbrite, Glancee, Highlig.ht, Lanyrd, and Pinwheel? You’ll need to read on at Forbes to find out

The first is the traditional SXSW Social Breakfast at Magnolias, organised by the SXSW Baby team. Running from 8am on Saturday 10th March, we have the back patio at Magnolias (South Congress) for some great chat with old and new friends – and gingerbread pancakes. RSVP on Facebook (and we know 7 million have signed up, but we expect around forty to be awake in time).

One more that’s gathering a lot of repeat customers every year is the Great British Breakfast, put on by Chinwag and the UK Trade and Investment team. A touch later (10am-noon) at Cedar Street Courtyard, expect a quintessential full British breakfast to be served.

Booth Design

Booths should be inviting and allow for space for visitors to enter the booth instead of just talking across the table from the aisle. This allows for better traffic flow and provides for better interaction.

 Staff

Some visitors will want to chat about the product, others may just want a pamphlet. To avoid scaring away the masses, don’t play used car salesman (ie; don’t jump on each visitor with a canned spiel). Instead introduce yourself and offer to answer any questions they may have.

SWAG (What everyone *really* wants)

We’ve seen every sort of SWAG, some that stick around and others that just get discarded. For the best impact and long lasting brand recognition, we suggest the following pointers:

Stuff we can use DURING SXSW:

• Sharpies – either the regular ones or the baby ones. These are almost a necessity during SXSW and are guarded jealously
• Pens (but Sharpies are better)
• Small notebooks – not everyone comes prepared for class
• Blistex – This is really useful, and if you use the name brand item it is more likely to be held onto past SXSW (ie lasting brand recognition)
• Sunglasses – cheap is okay, there are going to be lost, broken, forgotten shades, and they will be retained past SXSW
• Gum
• Bandannas

Stuff we can use AFTER SXSW:

• Bottle openers – unique shapes will catch the eye.
• USB drives – these are a great resource. We’ve even seen some companies provide content on them, which is very useful, but don’t make it so that the drive cannot be formatted for general use after the content has been viewed, otherwise it winds up in the landfill.
• Phone cases
• T-shirts – These are always a favorite, but try to have “SXSW 2012” somewhere on it, it’ll mean more and be less likely to wind up at Goodwill.
• Reusable shopping bags

Stuff that doesn’t have staying power (stay away from this, if it is taken it will most likely not stay around long)

• Lanyards – everyone already has one. Suggestion: pony up to sponsor official SXSW lanyards.
• Mints – especially in non-recycleable containers
• Mini flashlights – most people just use their iPhone so these wind up in the trash when the battery dies
• Hand fans
• Stickers, magnets, sweatbands, guitar picks, lighters etc. (unless your marketing plan is to advertise on guitar cases)

By the way, SXSW announced their list of Trade Show Exhibitors yesterday. Go check it out.

But that’s okay, because the next web company that’s going to try to wrestle the mantle of SXSW success is based around Twitter. We’ve mentioned Lanyrd here before, but they’ve just launched their SXSW Interactive Session Planner over at sxsw.lanyrd.com. Punch in your Twitter name and  you’ll not only get alerts on your favourite sessions when they are about to start, but also see which sessions your friends on Twitter are attending, which have the buzz, and which will be attended by the TNW crew and Hermionie’s ever-present video camera.

I love that Lanyrd lets you export the data in a common format so you can pop it in your electronic diaries. Perfect. Seemingly they have more tools to come out over the next four weeks to keep the press hype going… the cads.

Are you a designer, maker, mover & shaker selling your goods online? If so, then stop by the first-ever CraftMakerCamp at SXSW to meet like-minded souls. With a full day of programming specifically developed for creative entrepreneurs, CraftMakerCamp at SXSW will inspire and educate you for a more successful and productive year ahead. Check out Schedule.SXSW for complete details on this all-new space.

Now this sound fun. I mean everything sounds fun at SXSW, there’s buckets to choose from, but I’ve noted it down in the diary and will swing by the sessions and spaces to see what’s going on. There’s so much buzz around hand-made and small run goods that I can see a lot of people swinging by to share ideas and learn something new.

You’ll find more details on Willo’s website.

Take lots of business cards with you, and keep a fine Sharpie handy so you can note down important information on the back of each one you take. You’re likely to meet lots of people and forget what conversations you had, so little reminders can make all the difference.

More hints, and links, over on the Lanyrd blog (and thanks to Sophie for linking through to us). And if you want to keep an eye on Lanyrd, they have a dedicated twitter feed for Austin… @LanyrdSXSW.

That’s assuming we’re looking out for something new to pop up – many people forget that Twitter and Foursquare had a few years at SXSW to cement their “overnight success” tag. Given that, there might already be a victor in the App Stores and Marketplaces of the world… Eventbrite.

If you look at the huge number of parties and events being organised at Southby (especially during Interactive) you might notice many of them using the Eventbrite events and invite website. Which means if you’re being smart and signing up to a bundle of parties, your Eventbrite account has tickets and timing filling up your profile. What better way to have them close with you that through Eventbrite’s own smartphone application – giving you a personal guide to SXSW and QR codes to replace all your tickets?

Available right now for iOS (with a promising “Coming Soon” for Android), it might not be flashy or catch the headlines, but Eventbrite might just be the app to have at SXSW.

Marvel has been making a big push to move into digital comics. They launched Marvel Digital Comics in 2007, which was really the first major digital comics program around. And yes… there is an app for that, on both iOS and Android.

While I am excited to be there as I am all for comics, my ComicCon friends they seemed to be a little prickly that Marvel is going to a non comic event to do a big announcement. Let me tell you it started a very heated discussion over digital comics versus traditional that made me regret even mentioning it. Personally I think it could be a great platform to make an interactive innovation announcement.

To borrow a roller derby term I am fresh meat for SXSW (this year will be my first to finally attend!) so I find myself wondering how the traditionalists see a comic incursion to the Festival. Is this blurring the line between the festival and the plethora of comic cons a little too much? Or is it just another example of how many different aspects of our lives are touched by interactive media?

Among the 21 companies that have already been announced are Bazaarvoice, Whale Shark Media, All Web Leads, Cosential, Rackspace Hosting,Teksystems, and SpaceTimeStudios. The event is billed as a place for “talented professionals can easily connect with the best tech jobs and career opportunities – all in one centralized location at SXSW.”

The event runs on Friday, March 9, from 11am to 5pm and on Saturday, March 10th from 12pm to 5pm, with a Happy Hour sponsored by WhaleShark Media on Saturday from 5pm to 8:30pm. Registration is not required, but they ask that you register so they know how many to expect.

Check out the their site for more info. And spread the word!

HATCH is a pitch competition at the SXSW 2012 Startup Village for startups with revolutionary ideas. Fifteen finalists will be selected to present their business plans to a panel of corporate, angel, and venture investor judges in front of a well-connected SXSW audience on March 11th, 2012 in Austin, TX. The event, presented by Houston Technology Center, is geared toward tech startups with an interesting or disruptive product and strong growth potential.

If that sounds like something you want to do, then www.hatchpitch.com is your next stop – but do note this is a pay to pitch opportunity (that might not be the case now, see comments), and this is far too short a blog post to go into the ethics of paying, pitching, presenting, and powerpoints. If you’re just grabbing the popcorn from Whole Foods, then head to the Startup Village at SXSW on March 11th.

Over to Kevin:

Five minutes. One live microphone. Your stories.

Every year since 2000, attendees of SXSWi have gathered to tell stories. Before Twitter, before Facebook, before Blogs. Fray Cafe has been there before them all. This year, the legendary evening of true personal storytelling returns to Austin. The only ground rules: your story must be true, it must be about you, and it can’t be a plug for anything.

Here’s how it works: Anyone can attend. No badge required. You show up and listen. If you wish to tell a story, add your name to the sign up sheet. We get to as many as we can before 11. Past tales have included: Marriage Proposals, crimes committed, faces fallen flat upon and great triumphs of will. You know, that whole all of the human experience thing.

Does this sound like an evening well spent? Audiences for 12 years at SXSW have thought so. Join us. You’ll be glad you did.

We’ll be there – and I’ll be asking very nicely if I can tell another story. I’ve been behind that microphone every year since 2006 (BTW Kevin’s the only storyteller that’s managed every single Fray - word).

It goes something like this (long time Baby! fans, it’s okay to get something in your eye).

Far too many to list here, so we’ll go for Lego George.., because everyone loves Lego. If you want to explore the rest of the nominees, head over to the full list.

Like they did last year, Sliderocket is offering a free pro account to presenters, that will remain active until January 2013. (This is well after when the world is supposedly going to end.) Looking at the webpage, the pricing for this kind of account comes out to approximately $288.

As someone who is passionately opposed to death by powerpoint, the idea of something that is more web friendly, easily updatable,  and has nothing to do with what OS your computer is running?  Fascinating. I wonder if it keeps more people awake?