It's Raining in Austin But, Dammit, We're Having Fun

This SXSW coverage is brought to you by Red Square Agency. The agency that also brought you irreverence.

There's really nothing worse than rain during SXSW. Why? SXSW is in Texas. Austin, Texas. And it's supposed to be warm and sunny here. All. The. Time. Well at least during SXSW when the entire country decides to call it home for five days. Alas, we can expect sun only one of the five days during SXSW Interactive. But we're not going to let a little rain get us down.

And the rain isn't letting the marketers down either. Even more so than last year, the brands are out in full force. Even GE. Yes, GE. Now you might wonder, what the hell does a company like GE have to do with marketing or social media. Well they've set up GE Garages, a hands-on lab filled with their latest technology for people to check out. The Garage will enable people to create personalized products for themselves using laser cutters, 3D printers, metal inert gas welders, computer numeric control mills and more.

As GE describes it, Capturing the essence of the Maker Movement, GE Garages is a traveling manufacturing training center, where people can play and learn new skills in design and manufacturing and gain exposure to the latest technologies riveting the world today. Garages has something for the hobby inventor, adventurer, entrepreneur and Maker in all of us."

So if you're in two for SXSW, check it out. It's on fourth street, I think.

Back at the Austin Convention Center, everyone from Microsoft to Samsung to Chevrolet to Pepsi were busy today putting the final touches on their SXSW presence. And outside the ACC, CNN, like last year, has taken over and rebranded an entire restaurant. Fast Company has done the same.

This morning, we were interviewed by Leo Burnett's AskDavid. We discussed the conference, why it's important for brands to attend, how so called geeks and brands can work together for mutual benefit, what people looking to get into the world of advertising and social media can do to get started and why hot girls will always be integral to many a company's success. You can see the video here once it's published.

In the afternoon, we checked out co-working space, Grind. They weren't yet open for business but, smartly, were adding sides to their open air location so as to make working in this terrible weather possible.

The most wonderful thing about SXSW, really, is that fact so many people in the business are here. It's the one time each year when you can have some face to face time with the people you interact with all year long. We are human, after all. And as much as we love the increasingly digital aspects of our lives, nothing really replaces true face to face human interaction.

If you're here, great. Find us. If not, read everything you can about it and consider coming next year.

This SXSW coverage has been brought to you by Red Square, a small national agency that just happens to be located in the SXSE.