The South by Southwest (SXSW) Festival began in Austin, Texas, in 1987. The nickname “spring break for nerds” has been cited in print since at least March 2010; this sometimes refers only to SXSW Interactive.
SXSW Interactive has been nicknamed “summer camp for geeks.”
Wikipedia: South by Southwest
South by Southwest (SXSW) is a set of film, interactive, and music festivals and conferences that take place every spring (usually in March) in Austin, Texas, United States. SXSW began in 1987, and has continued to grow in size every year. In 2011, the conference lasted for 10 days, with SXSW Interactive lasting for five, Music for six, and Film running concurrently for nine days.
Outlandish Josh
Spring Break For Nerds
Submitted by Outlandish Josh on Fri, 2010-03-12 12:30
Assuming the weather doesn’t totally screw me, I’m headed to Texas for SXSW interactive.
CNN.com
SXSW a battleground for mobile ‘location war’
By Doug Gross, CNN
March 17, 2010—Updated 1700 GMT (0100 HKT)
(...)
They also hosted rival parties—both of them well-attended—across the street from each other on Monday night during what Foursquare CEO Dennis Crowley calls “spring break for nerds.”
My SA
SXSWi | A visual narrative of ‘spring break for nerds’
Posted on 03/24/2010 by jreckseidler
Its taken me a week to gather my thoughts. But here goes. For those who have been following my blogger colleagues and their travels through Austin for SXSW last week, well allow me to add my two cents to the mix.
CNN calls SXSW “Spring Break for nerds.” In fact its rather fitting. It was a jam packed 6 days of sessions, parties and keynotes that have me really thinking about the state of advertising, marketing and the impact digital avenues continue to have on our industry.
KMP Blog
SXSW 2011 – Network, Learn and Experience
posted in » Blogging Tips, Conferences, Marketing Tips, SXSW by KMP Blog on March 9th, 2011
How would you describe what SXSW is?! Lately I’ve been reading SXSW being described as, Spring Break for Nerds, Spring Break for Geeks, Spring Break for techies, movie and music lovers. Overall, SXSW is being described as a huge Spring Break minus the beach, and the bathing suits, but with tons of networking opportunity and tons of open bars and company sponsored parties/events. I kinda like that Spring Break.
New York (NY) Times
Reality Crashes the Technocrats’ Party
By ANAND GIRIDHARADAS
Published: March 25, 2011
(...)
SXSW, as it is known, had the feeling of a pilgrimage, where devotees of the civil religion of technology mix with what some dubbed “spring break for nerds” — all-night dance parties, ample free food and booze, massages stirred, as it were, with single malts.
Twitter
MC Casal
@mccasal
Spring break for nerds. That’s @sxsw according to @mill #p2pux #sxsw
10:36 AM - 11 Mar 13
The New Republic
APRIL 26, 2013
Spring Break for Nerds
A skeptic learns the secret to South by Southwest’s success
BY NOREEN MALONE
(...)
South by Southwest Interactive is in some ways a lot like the Internet itself. There are endless options all competing for your attention: hundreds of parties, both official and unofficial, 30,000 other attendees to meet, and more than a thousand panels on topics ranging from “Getting Started With Angel Investing” to “The Comfy Chair! Are We Sitting Too Much?”