Lane Becker's black hair is streaked with dark blue undertones, as if he stepped out of a Superman comic book. The 34-year-old president and co-founder of customer-service startup Get Satisfaction normally sports a more natural hue on his head, but he tinted his locks with "Blue Mayhem" in preparation for this week's upcoming South by Southwest Interactive conference in Austin, Texas.
Only South by Southwest (SXSW) could inspire him to do a dye job. The conference, begun as a music festival in 1987 before expanding to include film and interactive media in 1994, has a reputation as a sort of "spring break for the internet," which sort-of justifies Becker's impromptu makeover, as hair-dyeing is something of a spring break tradition among students. And, Becker says, it's not something he'd do for any other conference.
"This is definitely a one-time thing," Becker says.
For networking with Web 2.0 startup founders, programmers, web developers, A-list tech bloggers and other digital scenemakers, SXSW is unparalleled. From March 7-11, an expected 6,000 "digital creatives" will invade the Texas capital to drink beer, eat barbecue and cut loose under the Austin sun.
Oh, and maybe attend a panel discussion or two. The conference part of SXSW takes place at the Austin Convention Center from Friday until Tuesday. The broad panel topics at South by Southwest are the results of popular vote: Prospective speakers for this year's conference submitted their proposed topics last summer, and the general public voted for the panels that are on this year's schedule.
As a result, badge holders will be able to drop in on talks with catchy titles like "Friend Me! Vote for Me! Donate Now!," which is about the social network strategies engaged by political candidates. Need motivation to step away from the screen? Check out "Body Optimization: Why Stop at Health & Fitness?" on Saturday. Looking for justification for your BitTorrent habit? "How Piracy Will Save the Music Industry" is Monday.
Aubrey Sabala, marketing manager at news aggregator Digg, has attended SXSW four out of the last five years. "It's a conference like no other," she says. "Every year I feel like the panels keep getting better and better."
Although the panels are front and center, most people are looking forward to the opportunity to meet other industry insiders. SXSW is "absolutely the best tech industry networking event you can find," Becker says.
And then there are the nightly parties. Numerous tech companies and startups are hosting evening get-togethers, which promise to be light on work and heavy on beverages. Google, Adobe and Facebook all have evening events planned. Get Satisfaction is co-hosting a party on Saturday night at the Scoot Inn with Austin-based self-styled "freakshow" 999 Eyes as the entertainment. Digg is hosting "The Bigg Digg Shindigg," which promises to go until 4 a.m on Tuesday night, at the Pure Volume Ranch.
So, what should a first-time attendee expect? Becker, who says he has attended SXSW since its first year, advises, "It's impossible to do everything and exhausting to try, so just relax and enjoy wherever you happen to end up and whoever you happen to end up with. Be like a leaf in the river."
