You may be thinking to yourself, “Internet Week? Isn’t every week Internet Week?” Perhaps you’re thinking, “Internet Week is really a thing that exists? Where? Why?” Or maybe you’re simply wondering “what in the sweet hell is happening in this picture and how does it relate to the internet in even the most remote way?”

These are valid questions deserving of answers.

This week, NY’s digerati (a term that is used to describe one who considers themselves a digital media or technology industry person; also, an unsuspecting douche) will wear lanyards and sit in well lit conference rooms listening to their friends and enemies talk shop about working on and/or with the internet. They will also go out every night of the week and party because let’s face it, it’s New York and these are the kind of people who don’t really need much of an excuse to go to a party on a Thursday.

A badge gets you all kinds of neat shit like access to panels, cocktails, and screenings; in total about 250 different events all across New York City over this entire week. That amount of stuff could get you out of entire days of work, and if you have any sense you’ll figure out a way to get your company to pay for it, too. Thought leadership is an important part of professional development, as is “networking” (drinking). That one’s free.

So do your lead up into Memorial Day weekend proper and come to the Metropolitan Pavilion for Internet Week New York, going on until tomorrow. It’s a thing that really exists...all of the time, for some of us. Badges available here.

Gawker Media is an official media partner of IWNY and this post was produced in collaboration with them. No money exchanged hands, but we are sneaking into each others’ parties next week. Also, Gawker Media’s President of Advertising & Partnerships Andrew Gorenstein is sitting down with Casper Mattress CEO Philip Krim for a “fireside chat” that will not have a real fire, but should be about as exciting as if there legitimately was a fire pit to sit around...ignoring the fact that an indoor fire pit could become a problem very quickly without proper ventilation. I guess that would still be kind of exciting, though?