The Ex Outlet

They call it interactive for a reason. It’s spring break time for geeks and grow-ups. And this spring break doesn’t happen on a beach. It happens in lecture rooms, tents, and off the beaten path bars. The dress attire is not a bikini and a spray-tan, but jeans and your favorite pair of hipster sneakers. Welcome to Austin, TX and welcome to South by Southwest. It’s time to get your geek on.

If you are going you might want to put away your iPhone4 and your business cards, because if you have either of these you will feel like Charlie Sheen and his goddesses in a Catholic church. #completelyoutofplace. It is completely acceptable, however, to pull out your Droid, and exchange contact info on your Hashable app.

Badges and hotel rooms are expensive so there will be a lot of shameless flirtation and shacking up under the Texas moonlight. The funny thing about this high tech conference is this is the one weekend where tech-savvy online daters are actually better at meeting and greeting offline. You just might meet (And possibly date) the next Jack Dorsey or Dennis Crowley. And there is nothing geeky about that.

If your offline social skills are somewhat questionable, no worries. This is SXSW. There will be a handful of online dating sites, eFlirt experts, and wardrobe consultants to help you get your game on. There will also be SWAG. Yep, the Stuff We All Get. So if it doesn’t work out with the founder of the hottest new tech company at SXSW Interactive, you can always sell the promotional t-shirt he or she gave you on The Ex Outlet, push it to Twitter, share it on Facebook, and then wait for the online fun to begin again next year. #SXSWLOVE