There’s just over a week to SXSW Music (and even less time for Interactive and Film), but if you’re all set to play, and not done anything else about your showcase, Clyde Smith has some advice on Hypebot for those of you who’ve been putting it off. The headline topics are:

• Contact Your Hometown Media
• Prepare A Video Shoot of Your Show
• Organize Your Social Media Presence Beforehand

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!

There’s little doubt that the story of Foursquare (the popular location based web service) can ignore South by Southwest. From the launch in 2009 to the acceleration in 2010 and beyond, the focus of smartphone users in Austin makes Foursquare almost invaluable (let’s not talk about how it feels like a ghost town when Interactive leave and Music takes over).

Foursquare is now in the position that it’s used as a tool by others, and Mashable have highlighted six social media campaigns using Foursquare… and Pepsi’s SXSW 2011 is featured.

Each March, digital natives descend upon Austin, Texas for SXSW Interactive. Naturally, they check in to bars, restaurants, events and food trucks. This year, if users followed Big Boi on Foursquare and checked in throughout Austin, they could unlock the Golden Ticket badge, which pops up after checking in, just like any other badge. The Golden Ticket earned users a spot at a Big Boi concert during SXSW.

There’s lessons here for any campaign at SXSW, be it a product launch or capturing the buzz.