Meetups, Tweetups and Happy Hours

Big Gig "How Can Google Not Love Us?" Happy Hour and Tweetup - Mar 23, 2010

In the closing days of the "Big Gig Austin" campaign, hundreds of supporters came together for a happy hour and tweetup celebration.

The Big Gig campaign had operated virtually, using the net to communicate and coordinate. This was an opportunity for the supporters to meet in person, and make one final effort to get nominations submitted.

The tweetup was hosted at The Highball, a perfect location for the event. The venue is owned by the creators the of the Alamo Drafthouse Cinema, one of the anchor institutions of the Austin film scene. The Highball is a favorite of the local creative and online cultural communities, and so a perfect site to bring big broadband supporters together.

Approximately 250 people attended the tweetup. Wi-Fi and laptops were provided so that attendees could browse our web site and submit nominations. Big Gig Austin co-founder Chip Rosenthal and Austin City Councilmember Laura Morrison gave brief presentations. Most of the evening, however, was informal mingling, and a great opportunity for various segments of our supporting community to meet.

For more information, visit the event information page.

AustinGo Happy Hour - Mar 14, 2010

The Austin Government Online (AustinGO) initiative is a City of Austin project to rebuild its online presence.

Om March 14, in the midst of the South By Southwest Interactive Festival, an AustinGO Happy Hour was held, where supporters gathered and talked about technology issues.

Although this was not sponsored by Big Gig Austin, there is significant overlap between the people interested in open government and local broadband. Excellent broadband has been identified as a key to success for the AustinGO project. The event organizers allowed us to participate at this event, hand out literature, and discuss the project.

You can read more about the event on their blog post.

Here is a press report from the event: City Hall Hustle: Austin Interacts (Austin Chronicle).

OpenAustin Meetup - Mar 10, 2010

OpenAustin is a volunteer group working to advance open government in Austin.

The City and OpenAustin have executed a strategic agreement, which will allow citizen volunteers to participate in the development of the new City web site.

This unusual and innovative arrangement demonstrates the skill and motivation of the local tech community, as well as the ability of the city and community to cooperate on strategic programs.

On March 10, OpenAustin held a happy hour for volunteers and interested people. Once again, although not a Big Gig Austin event, there is significant overlap of people who are interested in these efforts. The OpenAustin leaders cooperated with us to do outreach during their event.

You can read more about the event at their Facebook event page.