Brian Hartvigsen

Wanted something a little more, so hacked this together:

set cmd to "away"
tell application "HipChat"
    activate
    tell application "System Events"
        tell process "HipChat"
            set window_name to name of window 1
        end tell
        if window_name = "HipChat - Lobby" then
            tell process "HipChat"
                set tab_name to name of UI element 1 of row 2 of table 1 of scroll area 1 of splitter group 1 of window 1
            end tell
            keystroke "t" using command down
            keystroke tab_name
            keystroke return
        end if

        keystroke "/" & cmd
        keystroke return
        keystroke tab using command down
    end tell
end tell

You can actually pass messages as well if you really wanted to (set cmd to "away food")