Tonight, Steve Mortiboy and I went to the WPHackathon in Raleigh, North Carolina. It was great seeing other local WordPress people again like Glenn Ansley, Sam England, Steve Ollice, and Chad Simon, as well as meeting a number of new people.
If you’re local to the Triangle area, and a WordPress enthusiast, make sure you join the WordPress Meetup Group. With over 178 members, we’re a very active group with monthly meetings, and a WordCamp.
It was _great_ to see the interest in all things WordPress last night. We had the full range – from the curious (I hate the term newbie, it’s so condescending) to the veterans.
So I took away two things last night:
1) There is a bigger, growing WordPress community in RTP than I thought
2) While it was a great event, it was a poor learning experience.
More space, better wireless, and even breaking in to a few smaller groups (in the InterOp days we used to call them BOFs – Birds of a Feather sessions) would have helped. Don’t get me wrong, I think the sponsors and supporters rocked for pulling it together!!
But although I _totally_ enjoyed it, I left just a bit on the sad side. It’s another 9 months until WordCamp Raleigh 2011. I can’t (literally) wait!
Hi Doug,
I was great seeing you again. I’m glad you’re able to find the meetups a great learning experience. We work hard to ensure great speakers and content.
I’m looking forward to WordCamp Raleigh 2011 too, but don’t be sad, there will be another meetup in a few weeks. 🙂
It was good to see you last night Doug. I was impressed with how many new faces I saw at the WP Hackathon and pleased to see some WP Meetup members there.
On the subject of Meetups, we always appreciate feedback from members as to how we can make them better for you. Your comments about the poor learning experience of last night’s WP Hackathon and what could have been done differently are noted for our Meetups. I would like to hold more Meetups where we split into groups for different levels of WordPress users/developers and have topics that fit each group based on what you are looking to learn. This is very much what the next Meetup will be on Wednesday 15th September. I will be looking to have round tables with groups discussing how they use WordPress, what they know, plugins and themes they use (or don’t use), etc.
Please spread the word about the next Meetup. We are only successful with these if we encourage members to participate.
I look forward to seeing you in a few weeks.
Steve
I agree with Doug…maybe next time break the people up into groups and hold it in a little larger room as it was a bit crowded…
Had a great time meeting with old friends and meeting new ones as well…
Wordcamp…Wordcamp…Wordcamp…can’t wait till the next one comes around…
Also be sure to join Michaels meetup group, it is a great place to learn all about WordPress and meet local people who have the same interest.
http://www.meetup.com/Raleigh-WordPress-Meetup-Group/
WordCamp Raleigh 2011 will be here before you know it! I’ll see you at the next WordCamp Raleigh Meetup next month. 🙂
Hi Sam,
Please see my comments to Doug about the Meetup on September 15th and what we are planning for that and future Meetups.
Great to see you again!
Steve
Hey – It was great to you guys at the hackathon. Thanks for the pics, they look great.
I would also highly recommend the WordPress meetup group. Great format with covering specific topics.
http://www.meetup.com/Raleigh-WordPress-Meetup-Group/
Thanks Glenn, it was great seeing you again too. It seems like it was only last weekend we were hanging out in Savannah. 😉
Hey Guys It was gr8 to see you Doug about the Meetup on September 15th and what we are planning for that and future Meetups.