The Austin Post has sat down with SXSW Intereactive’s oversee’er, Hugh Forrest, to talk about SXSW and its place in the ‘Interactive’ community. The explosion of the first half of the SXSW week is now arguably the largest portion, at least in terms of attendees, and that puts a lot of pressure on both SXSW and the Austin amenities.

It is a challenge at this point for how we manage this growth. Creating these smaller events [such as SXSW V2V] as a way to pull a little growth away from the main event is one strategy. Beyond that, we’re continuing to work a lot with the city in terms of making the downtown area as manageable as possible during the event. We get a lot of great feedback from the community on things we can do to continue to improve the user experience.

As much as the event grows and that’s fun to see, your individual techie doesn’t care that much about who else is there as long as they can make valuable connections. We want to provide a platform where people are inspired by other creative people.

The full interview is available at the Austin Post’s website.

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Music is in full swing, there’s duelling guitars all along 6th Street (and a cinema slap bang in the middle). You just have to love SXSW right now!

Jonathan Lisecki and Jenn Harris (Gayby),

Chat and music from Nive Nielsen.

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!

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Interactive bows out, Music takes over, and Film keeps on screening. We’re just past the half way mark!

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!

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The rain appears to be lessening, but that’s nothing comapred to the growth and buzz in the air around INteractive and Film – Music is in the background as well, ready to take over. But for now, let’s chat to:

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!

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SXSW starts again, and as we all hide from the rain, what delights have we uncovered four our daily podcast from Austin?

Jeffrey Kimball
The Central Park Effect

Ville Heijari
Angry Birds Space

David Tenczar
The Greatcoats

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!

Next week, many of us will be heading over to Austin for SXSW – the Interactive and Film crowds will start the gatherings to all intents around lunchtime on Thursday 8th March, and while the Music crowds will take a bit longer to drift to the Texan Capital, the SXSW 2012 clock will have started.

Just time for some last-minute thoughts and things to do in our “Weeks to Go” series.

What I’d suggest now is you take a calm ten minutes, and quietly go through your preparations. Plane tickets, hotel reservations, AirBNB arrangements, all of the stuff that needs to be done… is it done? Have you copies of the information you’ll need? Will you print them out because you know your smartphone will go flat if you rely on it in Austin? I know I said cover the basics at six weeks to go, but let’s check them once more (and that includes Visa or ETSA applications that those Southbyers outside of the US will need to apply for before you fly).

Do it now, and you have just enough time to do a panic order on whatever it is you have.

Everyone has a story to tell at SXSW, and many of you are going to be looking at media outlets, bloggers, websites, newspapers, radio, and anyone else you can find to get the message out. Now is the time to reach out to them, with a short, succinct message, and a clear request of what you’d like (come to our show, are you doing interviews, would you download the application please).

Build up the intrigue on the social networks as well if you are doing a launch, tease a track from a new album, release a new film trailer… SXSW is close enough now that the PR legwork you do now will be remembered next week as it all starts. And for us in the media who are booking interviews with interesting people, great musicians, and amazing films, this is week we want to lock down or diary of appointments. So let’s have both sides help each other out!