DEMO and VentureBeat land in Austin, so long Boston!

The DEMO-VentureBeat bus has arrived in Austin.

We’re holding cocktails tonight at the rooftop of the Lanai lounge, and we’re inviting entrepreneurs — and any other interested professionals interested in learning about DEMO — to join us. It’s expected to be sizzling 90-plus degree weather, so wear a T-shirt, not a sports jacket.

The first 40 people in the door get a free drink, on ice!

Make sure you register. Yesterday, before even posting this, there were already 150 people signed up. This will be a good networking event.

It’s just the latest stop in our quest to find the best companies to launch at the DEMOfall conference in September.

We’re arriving from Boston, where more than 130 people showed up for cocktails at Vox on Monday night. Below is a short video of one attendee — Michael Robbins, now 23, who launched a company called American Computer Experience at DEMO back in 1999, when he was only 13.

He presents himself modestly in the video, but he’s a rocket scientist, literally. He’s just finished four years at MIT, where among other things he designed a 20lb-thrust rocket fueled on ethanol and liquid oxygen. Now he’s working on another company, which builds educational kits for high schools and colleges. He might just join us at DEMO in September.

DEMO is the leading conference for emerging technology product launches. DEMOfall is being held Sept. 21-23 in San Diego.

Chris and I will be holding meetings with local entrepreneurs on Thursday. Just fill out a form (pick either launch or pitch), and drop me a note that you’d like to meet, and we’ll get in touch and set something up.

By the way, here are some reasons you should consider launching at DEMO: The alumni companies that have launched are impressive: Adobe Acrobat, Sun’s Java, Netscape Navigator, Palm Computing, WebEx, Salesforce.com, TiVo, E-Trade; VM Ware, Google’s first foray into mobile search, to name a few.

This, in turn, keeps entrepreneurs, press, investors, M&A and corporate development executives coming back.

Here’s a smattering of the national and international press that come each year: Business Week, CBS Television, CNET, Forbes, GigaOm, InfoWorld, Los Angeles Times, Mashable, Network World, PC World, Popular Science, Read Write Web, Reuters, San Jose Mercury News, Wall Street Journal, USA Today and, of course, VentureBeat.

If I don’t see you in Austin, but you’re interested in launching at DEMO, get in touch with me!

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People: Jerry Buhlmann