On Wednesday night, the Philly ‘burbs WordPress Meetup held its Kick-Off Meetup in the friendly settings of the Sly Fox in Phoenixville. With more than 20 group members attending, the first session was a vibrant and exciting evening of shared ideas on how the group wanted the meetup sessions organized and formatted. The mix of designers, developers, bloggers, writers, marketing consultants and self-acclaimed “WordPress pre-novices” made for an interesting discussion about what WordPress topics really mattered to them.
The Amazing WordPress Community
Although I’ve been working with WordPress since 2007, it was not until 2011 that I attended my first WordCamp. Since heading to Philly WordCamp, my eyes have been opened to the wonderfully supportive and open community that is WordPress. An open source powerhouse, WordPress has a refreshing following of people who are eager to help out fellow WordPress-o-philes in any way that is needed. Maybe it’s the leadership that Matt Mullenweg provides; maybe it’s the fact that WordPress is open source. I am not sure. What I am sure about is the sense of commitment and involvement that so many people within the WordPress community offer to fellow WordPress designers, developers, themers, bloggers and more.
That sense of community was certainly prevalent at Wednesday’s Kick-Off Meetup. There was a real vibe to the conversation — a desire to put together something amazing that would be as beneficial to as many people as possible. I certainly felt the mood and was really pleased to be a part of it.
Next Steps
As my co-organizer, Coreen Tossona, and I gather our notes and work quickly to get the next Meetup scheduled, we were both heartened by the willingness of the group to engage in and support dynamic and flowing conversations about WordPress.
At this point, we are working to get the next meetup organized for first half July. Keep an eye on the Philly ‘burbs WordPress Meetup site for further details.