When you do a quick search for advice on networking, you’ll see tons of great advice, ranging from how to dress to how to behave and how to prepare. That advice is all well and good for most networking events, but not always for the Big Ass Social Happy Hour (BASHH).

Why? Because we’re different.

Yeah, yeah, you’ve heard it all before, but this time it’s really true. Most networking events have all sorts of activities – speakers, raffles, games, you name it. And those work tremendously well for those events, but when you gather a bunch of tech folks, we’re a cynical bunch and tend to roll our eyes at those kinds of things.

So I wanted to share a key piece of advice for going to BASHH, especially for your first time. Just go. That’s the entire advice.

Don’t do homework in advance and research who all is going. Don’t practice your elevator pitch. Just go.

Now I realize this contradicts all advice others (and even we) have given about networking, but this is how BASHH differs.

The networking you’ll experience in the chill environment of a brewery is organic. Far more organic than you would expect.

Strangers sit next to each other and just start chatting (which to me is intimidating, but I can muster it for a few hours each month).

What does an entry level UX designer have in common with a senior level back end developer and an ad agency owner? Well, let’s sit together with a drink and find out!

At BASHH, we’re more likely to talk about Austin topics or gardening or ghosts or hobbies than work.

Sure, work comes up – we’re here to network. But we’re more likely to chit chat about life outside of work to find our commonalities.

Those commonalities have forged hundreds of meaningful friendships in Austin, crafted co-founding opportunities, conversations that have led to promotions, moments that have organically solved local challenges.

I want to personally invite you to come join us with no preparation in mind, no pitch, no targets, just come make organic connections and see where it takes you without the pressure of “networking.”

We’ve had an odd history with scheduling BASHH in recent years. For those following, you know we took a lot of heat cancelling events back in January 2020 when the world was still open, but we were opting to be abundantly cautious.

We got a lot of hate mail and were accused of overreacting and most people hadn’t really heard of the pandemic.

Fast forward to 2021, and case numbers started to improve in Travis County in the fall, and we started the ol’ BASHH machine back up.

In January of 2022, we nixed events again as Travis County entered Stage 5 (the highest stage of caution to date).

Now, as we get back to Stage 4, where we were when events renewed last fall, we are finalizing plans for our March event, which will be post-SXSW.

Another question we get about timing is regarding our being the unofficial kickoff to SXSW, but we no longer do that because the events have spread out to a week before and a week after. When we had the massive event, it was when no other events existed to welcome people to town that arrived a day early.

So to answer many of your questions: No, we’re not booking a pre-SX event, and yes, we’re trying to see you in March, we miss you too.

Stay tuned for the next date, we hope to announce soon!

In January of 2020, COVID wasn’t yet considered a pandemic, and we cancelled BASHH. We got a LOT of hate mail about it. We were accused of overreacting. The rest is history.

We’ve gotten a lot of feedback from y’all and we hear you loud and clear – you want BASHH back.

We’ll follow whatever the current requirements are at the time, and if things get to wild, we’ll cancel, but as it stands now, we’re ready to rock and roll.

This last year or so has been extremely difficult – we’ve all lost people we care about, we have all had to adjust our lives, and while online is amazing, there’s still something about kicking back with a drink and some fellow nerds.

To mark a new era, we’re trading in the posh downtown venues for the more laid back brewery environment. Our foray back into the offline world will be at Austin Beerworks (which y’all have NO idea how pumped we are about that, we’re huge fans)! We hosted there in August and it was very chill, just perfect for our bunch.

There will be FREE PARKING. That’ll be nice.

There will be a FOOD TRUCK. That’ll be nice.

There will be BEER. That’ll be nice.

If you have questions, we invite them any time. And we’ll see you in August!