Close-Up: Visit Austin to discover the joy of SXSW.(South by Southwest)

What can the ad industry learn from this hotbed of new creative technologies? Mel Exon writes.

South by Southwest, or SXSW as it is generally referred to, has celebrated emerging film and music for more than two decades. However, 2010 was the year the interactive component of the conference shifted up a gear and gained critical mass.

Last week, around 15,000 people descended on Austin, Texas for five days of neck-deep immersion in progressive digital culture.

Despite its mind-blowing scale, a few key themes emerged from SXSWi's smorgasbord of panels and presentations.

GEO-LOCATION, GEO-LOCATION, GEO-LOCATION

If 2009 saw Foursquare unveiled at SXSW to palpable excitement, 2010 saw the mobile and web app and its competitors come of age. More than 300,000 check-ins to Foursquare alone (others used Gowalla, Whrrl and the like) over the course of the conference translated to a whole host of SXSWers updating their location and notifying their friends where the great panels and parties were in real-time. Foursquare knows its audience likes nothing more than a bit of competition, so threw in some special SXSW 'badges' and temporary tattoos to collect.

Location strayed …