Awesome Austin Tech Events, May 22–28
The Forrest Four-Cast: May 21, 2017
The strength of the Central Texas technology / startup scene helps SXSW thrive as an epicenter of innovation. Some of the most interesting events in Austin for the week of May 22 through May 28 are as follows:
Monday, May 22: SmartAustin: “Suds & Startups” (FREE)
Join us for a preview of a NEW Startup Access Program being developed by the City of Austin and an introduction to the civic engagement and policy development that’s being supported by the newly-launched Austin Tech Alliance. At Capital Factory at 5:00 pm
Monday, May 22: Philanthropitch
This social impact, fast pitch competition spotlights some of Austin’s most promising nonprofits and the innovative solutions they bring to local challenges. Eight nonprofit finalists will pitch for human and financial capital to expedite organizational growth, including potential grant funding of $130,000 and possible acceptance into the Mission Accelerator. At LBJ Auditorium at 5:30 pm. Tickets $35.
Monday, May 22: Three Hacks to Recode Your Career
Learn three hacks that will change the course of a mediocre career to one you’re meant to have: Hack yourself, hack your place, and hack the job. At General Assembly at 6:00 pm. Tickets $45.
Monday, May 22: New Thinking on Motivating Action (FREE)
Your goals have a huge influence on your behavior. The active goals you have also influence your emotions, which in turn affect your preferences and thinking. Dr Art Markman (co-host of the radio show and podcast Two Guys on Your Head) will cover new research on motivation theory including approach and avoidance — two key motivational states that may influence how you design for behavior change. At Capital Factory at 6:30 pm.
Tuesday, May 23: Capital Factory Crash Landing (FREE)
We’ll help you navigate the Capital Factory experience. Whether you’re connecting via coworking, or blasting off with our Accelerator, our team is here to help you get the best information on how to maximize your membership at Capital Factory. At Capital Factory at 4:30 pm.
Tuesday, May 23: Civic Hack Night (FREE)
Open Austin’s bi-monthly Civic Hack Night is a hands on meet up for “hackers” interested in contributing to civic apps. Developers, designers, writers, data analyst, policy wonks and people of all skill levels are encouraged to attend. At Dev Bootcamp at 6:30 pm.
Tuesday, May 23: Intro to HTML & CSS for Women Coders (FREE)
In this Learn to Code workshop, you’ll learn the essentials of HTML and CSS, both of which combine to make up the tools of virtually all web design. This workshop will be taught by a several of Galvanize’s female alumni who graduated from the Web Development Immersive Program. At Galvanize at 6:30 pm.
Tuesday, May 23: Austin Mobile & Indie Game Meet Up (FREE)
Our events focus on the nuts and bolts of building games in a small team or for new platforms. We feature talks by professional and hobbyist developers that are heavy on useful takeaways in areas like engineering, game design, art, production, promotion, and more! At Capital Factory at 7:00 pm.
Wednesday, May 24: Charles Thornburgh Lecture
In 2011, Thornburgh launched Civitas Learning, one of the fastest growing ed-tech startups in history with the goal of leveraging the best of design thinking, data science and predictive analytics to help a million more students a year learn well, finish with a degree, and go on to brighter futures and careers. At Capital Factory at 11:30 am. Tickets $10 and $20.
Wednesday, May 24: Smart Scaling for Startups
Join the Austin Business Journal and Austin Inno for Smart Scaling for Startups Sponsored by CDW; an evening of discussion, networking and refreshments. The theme will focus around scaling smart and the technology solutions to help businesses accelerate growth. At Trinity Hall at 6:00 pm. Tickets $15.
Wednesday, May 24: Austin PaaS, Cloud and Bluemix Meet Up (FREE)
This is an IBM sponsored PaaS meetup group. Geared towards developers, architects and all Bluemix enthusiasts, we learn about Bluemix hands on with fellow developers. Learn how to use this new PaaS product with the current apps. At Galvanize at 6:30 pm.
Thursday, May 25: Austin A-List Awards Ceremony
Join your peers and other startup leaders as we celebrate innovation in Austin! As pictured above, this event reveals the 2017 A-List of the city’s most promising startups. Speakers include Burnie Burns (Rooster Teeth), Doreen Lorenzo (Center for Integrated Design), Roy Spence (GSD&M), Ingrid Vanderveldt (EBW2020) plus various other local innovators. At ACL Live at 4:30 pm. Tickets $25 and $35.
Thursday, May 25: #BunkerBrewsATX Happy Hour Meet Up (FREE)
Bunker Brews is a meet-up or happy hour where Bunker Labs members, the military community (transitioning active duty, military spouses and veterans alike) can network with hiring managers, mentors, subject matter experts, innovators, investors and thought leaders, creating a robust community environment for growth and development to empower veterans as leaders in innovation and entrepreneurship. At Capital Factory at 5:00 pm.
Thursday, May 25: Creator Awards Viewing Ceremony (FREE)
Join us as we cheer on the Detroit finalists at the Creator Awards Ceremony. We’ll be tuning-in on live stream, with cocktails, hors d’oeuvres, and live entertainment. At WeWork Congress at 5:00 pm.
Thursday, May 25: Austin Tech Happy Hour
Since 2007 the Austin Tech Happy Hour has been the place for the emerging technology community to relax and network with each other. Come and meet the people you’ve friended, added, and twittered, discuss current technology innovations, and perhaps even find a candidate to add to your team! At the Dogwood at 5:30 pm. Tickets $7.50.
Thursday, May 25: Healthcare Informatics Framework (FREE)
Healthcare informatics framework is an interdisciplinary engagement model (methodologies and roadmap) that facilitates a communication bridge between stakeholders and informaticians to create a healthcare information solutions architecture. At IBM Austin at 7:00 pm.
Saturday, May 27: Chatbots & AI: An Intro & Build Your Own Bot (FREE)
In this talk, we discuss the three main approaches used to build chatbots, i.e. generative dialog, narrative dialog, and intent-driven dialog, as well as tools on which to build chatbots (such as Bitfusion). The goal is to show the audience how to use open source data to create a generative dialog chatbot, as well as cover increasingly complex development strategies. Throughout, we will consider the other options that could be taken for chatbot dialog preference, and how to keep the bot architecture flexible for cross-platform development. At Galvanize at 10:00 am.
On the horizon: ATX Hack for Change (June 2–4), Bank SNB Entrepreneur’s Happy Hour (June 6), Austin Forum (June 8), Smart Cities Connect (June 25–28), SXSW 2018 PanelPicker Entry Period (June 26-July 21), SXSW 2018 badge sales begin (August 1).
Hugh Forrest tries to write at least four paragraphs per day on Medium. These posts often (but not always) cover technology-related trends. When not attempting to wordsmith or meditating, he serves as Chief Programming Officer at SXSW in Austin.
