---
layout: post
title: 2012 AustinJS SXSW 3 Year Anniversary Party
author: jmccann
---
It's that time of year again where Austin gets turned upside down and inside out. That's right, it's the AustinJS SXSW Party and this year, we are going all out.

We are celebrating over 3 years of community driven content, presentations and discussions at AustinJS from not only local members of the JavaScript community, but from members as far away as Canada, New York, and North Carolina. AustinJS is a group where anyone at any skill level can come and learn new things, talk shop with other members or provide a new perspective on seemingly anything from JavaScript, the front-end, the back-end, mobile or simply software engineering as a whole. This year, the event embraces the culture that is our community by providing an atmosphere where folks can close their laptops and crack open a few beers with their peers.

To honor our thriving community, we have have chartered a boat, but not just any boat, an electric, carbon-neutral, double-decker paddle-wheeled riverboat to be exact!

Since the beginning of 2012 AustinJS curator, [Joe McCann][1], has been opening up invitations to the event online and most importantly at the actual meetups themselves. Emailing or @replying on twitter was all it took and now, 150 community leaders and enthusiasts (the maximum legal capacity for the boat!) will be attending what will surely be an unforgettable event.

Attendees can expect a fully catered experience including plenty of authentic Texas beer, hand made margaritas (with real lime juice, not that crappy sweet and sour mix), and the best Tex-Mex cuisine Austin has to offer, including for dessert, bacon chocolate chip cookies from [Frank][2]! Plus, we will have [DJ Johnny Bravvo][3] spinning quality music (no autotune tracks guaranteed) on the top deck the entire time while local photographer extraordinaire, [Annie Ray][4], will be capturing the experience as well.

But wait, there's more.

We will also have VIP, front row seats for the viewing of the infamous "Austin bats" underneath the Congress bridge. What? You didn't know that Austin is home to the world's [largest urban bat colony][5]? Nearly 1.5 million bats fly out every night and it is quite a spectacle to see. We will be front and center!

Yes, there is still more.

Charlie Sheen isn't the only person who prefers to be winning, so we have curated a handful of awesome door prizes to be given away throughout the evening. No strings attached. Seriously. We don't even want your email address! To gauge what these prizes could be like, take last year's prizes as as benchmark:and then triple it. Just like Moms and Dads around the world we think everyone is a winner so if you don't score a door prize, don't fret, no one will go home empty handed.

Finally, it is of great privilege to call out those members of the community who are making this event a reality: our sponsors. This year we have many repeat sponsors from last year's epic event and some new faces as well. Support this year comes from the likes of:

* [Adobe][6]
* [Microsoft][7]
* [Mozilla][8]
* [subPrint][9]
* [Appcelerator][10]
* [Nodejitsu][11]
* [Geekli.st][12]
* [Telerik][13]
* [TEKSystems][14]
* [Mass Relevance][15]

All sponsors have played pivotal roles in making this event possible, so please, thank them on the boat when you see them!

So here's to our ever-growing community, may we all continue to build it up!

 [1]: http://twitter.com/joemccann
 [2]: http://hotdogscoldbeer.com/
 [3]: http://www.johnnybravvo.com
 [4]: http://annieray.net/
 [5]: http://www.roadsideamerica.com/story/10852
 [6]: http://adobe.com/
 [7]: http://microsoft.com/
 [8]: http://mozilla.com/
 [9]: http://subprint.com/
 [10]: http://appecelerator.com/
 [11]: http://nodejitsu.com/
 [12]: http://geekli.st/
 [13]: http://telerik.com/
 [14]: http://teksystems.com/
 [15]: http://massrelevance.com/
