Welcome to NIWeek 2011!

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Welcome to NIWeek and welcome to  Austin, Texas! We hope you are as excited as we are about the action-packed week ahead, including keynotes, technical sessions, and, of course, some great parties. Check  back here all week for real-time conference updates, new product demo videos, videos of other cool stuff happening on the show floor, and more. To leave comments or participate in group discussions, be sure to join the NIWeek 2011 group by logging in and clicking on "Join this group" in the right-side menu on the group homepage.

And if you want to follow along on Twitter, be sure to follow @NIWeek and type #niweek in your tweet to send updates to the entire NIWeek community. 

Track and summit sessions begin tomorrow. But if your NIWeek experience starts today, here's what's happening at the Austin Convention Center:

• Alliance Day: Hundreds of product developers, consultants, and systems integrators are joining members of the NI leadership team to celebrate the 20th anniversary of the NI Alliance Partner Network.
• Academic Forum: This forum is a platform for academic professionals to share best practices, discuss the future of engineering, and network. During his keynote, Dave Wilson, director of Academic and Corporate Marketing at NI, will explore the future of engineering education and the innovative technologies that are required to effectively prepare students for the challenges of tomorrow.
• Big Physics Symposium: The symposium brings together scientists, researchers and specialized vendors to network and discuss best practices and instrumentation strategies that can be applied in control, measurement and diagnostics. Ryotaro Tanaka, director of Controls and Computing Divison at JASRI/Spring-8, will give a keynote, “Adapting the Accelerator Control System – How Do We Meet the Demands,” that explains advanced accelerator operations.
• NIWeek Kickoff Happy Hour from 5:30-7 p.m. in the Expo Hall: Don't miss this opportunity to hang out and network with NI sales engineers, National Instruments Alliance Partners, the NI R&D team, LabVIEW Champions, exhibitors, and other NIWeek attendees

See you tomorrow!