It’s a big week here in Washington, DC. First, DC Week — our annual technology and arts celebration — is underway, with a full schedule of community events, conference sessions, and parties scattered around the city. Then, of course, tomorrow is Election Day! Remember to vote, and to head to your favorite bar to watch the results come in. Below is our roundup of recommended technology events happening this week, and we recommend you check out DC Week’s full schedule.

Monday, November 5

6:45 pm

DT:DC: Designing DC Focused Design Challenges : This event from the DT:DC design thinking meetup group will look at the steps and tools needed to define a problem and create and refine a design challenge to meet it. If you’re interested in design methodology and what goes into design challenges, check this event out.

Wednesday, November 7

6:30 pm

NoVa Node Meetup : After being postponed due to Sandy last week, NoVa Node will get together to look at a case study of deploying node.js in production.

7:00–9:00 pm

GeoDC Meetup on Election Mapping : Right on the heels of Election Day, the GeoDC group will look at how two major news sources — USA Today and the Washington Post — mapped election results and used maps and graphs in their overall coverage.

7:00–9:00 pm

DC Week Keynotes : Come out to hear some inspiring talks from people leading local start up companies like Uber, Buzzcar, and the Girl Effect on what they do, how they got there, and why they do it. DC Mayor Vincent Gray will kick off the talks, and hopefully talk a bit about what he’s doing to foster the tech community here in town.

Thursday, November 8

6:00 pm

DC Week Tech Cocktail : Tech Cocktail brings together tech entrepreneurs, developers, designers, investors, and employers looking to mix and mingle over drinks. If this sounds like you, come out to meet some new people and get introduced to a handful a tech startups featured in their showcase.

Friday, November 9

8:00 pm

DC Week Closing Party : DC Week will come to a close this Friday and go out with a bang — and a big party. Come out to celebrate with tech folks, enjoy the open bar, rock out to live music, and check out an art show.