South by Southwest begins on Friday, and thousands of geeks and film buffs are arriving in Texas' capital for the festival. Convention halls are still empty, but workers are toiling away.
Tomorrow, the Texas capital will be swarming with thousands and thousands of geeks, and thousands more film buffs. It's South by Southwest (SXSW) time, after all, with the SXSW Interactive and Film festivals about to kick off.
But before the hordes descend, there's a lot of work to do, and a lot of rooms and halls that will be overrun in just 24 hours are sitting empty right now.
Just across the street from the Austin Convention Center -- ground zero for SXSW -- are two Marriott hotels, the Courtyard Marriott and the Residence Inn. The hotels plan a comfort lounge for attendees, but as of Thursday afternoon, things like armchairs were still wrapped in plastic. By tomorrow, the area will no doubt be packed with people.
Once SXSW is in full swing, Microsoft will be hosting hundreds of people at the appropriately named Microsoft Studio. It is advertised as a "must-see space for attendees to collaborate, innovate, fuel up and recharge during the day, and party along at night. There's something for everyone — daytime meetups, evening parties, and more, all featuring Xbox, Windows and Windows Phone!"
But that will all have to wait. On Thursday, workers were still feverishly putting it all together.