If you’re an NIWeek veteran, you might already know the unofficial “fun” schedule. If you’re a newbie, you’ll be delighted to know there’s something cool going on almost every night. You just need to know where to look…
Saturday night (July 30)
NI throws their Sales Conference the weekend before NIWeek. So if you happen to be in town super-early, text your friendly NI Sales folks Saturday night after dinner to find the party. Or just go wandering around downtown and keep an eye out. Buffalo Billiards and Maggie Mae’s on 6th Street are typical haunts, as are Cedar Street and Fado Irish Pub on 4th Street.
For additional haunts, check out this handy Map of Cool NIWeek Spots that Mark Balla (@mballa) posted on the LAVA Forum.
Sunday night (July 31)
Approx 8pm: If you’re in town Sunday night, join your LAVA friends at The Ginger Man for an informal pre-conference warm-up. Drop by and grab a few beers before things get hectic! There’s no official time for this, but generally people start wandering in at 8pm or so. Check the LAVA NIWeek forum to see if people are talking about it!
Monday night (August 1)
5:30-7pm: Don’t miss the NIWeek Kick-off Party in the Expo hall – free BEvERages on NI. This year NI celebrates the 20th anniversary of theAlliance program, so there just might be an even bigger party than usual…
Tuesday night (August 2)
5-7pm: Enjoy another night of free food, beer, and music on NI at the Community Block Diagram Party and Happy Hour in the Expo hall. You can watch the Challenge the Champions contest in the Technology Theater, participate in the third annual expo floor scavenger Hunt starting at the Connect @NIWeek lounge, or play with robots and meet robotics mentors who want to make a difference in the engineering industry.
If you want to Challenge the Champions on interactive trivia yourself, sign up in the LabVIEW Zone. You can catch the Coding Challenge finals on Thursday from 12-1pm in the Technology Theater.
7-9pm: 2011 LAVA/OpenG NIWeek BBQ – Celebrating its 10th year! Eat, drink and be merry with your LAVA and OpenG friends with delicious BBQ at Austin’s classic Scholz Garden. You don’t need to be a community member – everyone’s welcome! Buy your $30 ticket in advance in this LAVA thread.
8:30pm-?: For the 4th year in a row, the Dan Quinn Band will be performing on the great patio at 4th Street's Fado Irish Pub in downtown Austin. Dan does an outstanding show - and he’s an NI DSM - so he always draws an enthusiastic crowd.
Wednesday night (August 3)
7-10:30pm: The Big Bash, aka Annual NIWeek Conference Party – a party you don’t want to miss! Food, drinks, and dancin’ fools flow freely here. This year we have the most awesome venue: the brand-new Austin City Limits theater, where concerts are recorded for the popular music series. And it’s right on 2nd Street, so you can very easily walk (no buses this time!).
Thursday night (August 4)
If you haven’t fallen over from exhaustion, rally your new friends and enjoy Austin!
A few tips:
- Outside, Austin is HOT this time of year, usually in the 100s. Dress accordingly.
- Inside, the AustinConvention Centeris freezing cold. Seriously, it’s like a meat locker. Dress accordingly.
- Keep up with the chaos of the NIWeek social activities by following the hashtags #niweek and #lavag on Twitter! We'll be posting about the latest happenings too - follow us at @jkisoftware. And if you’re having fun, tweet about it and tell the world!
