As many people know, I enjoy going into the city to attend technology events. I actually ran the Philadelphia WordPress meetup for a while, and I’ve attended many other meetups, including the blogger meetup, PANMA events, the PhillyCHI design slam, the Philly Standards meetup, DrupalCamp, and the Philly PHP meetup. I’ve even presented topics at a couple of these meetings. While all of these meetups have been fun and educational, I think it would be beneficial to have some events exclusive to the suburbs and attract suburban developers who might want to attend regular meetings without having to drag themselves into the city every month.
With the economy the way it is, some folks might consider it useful to informally enhance their skills or extend them into other areas. Networking with other people in these fields could also lead to more industry contacts when times get rough.
So I’ve been considering which to do. It’s always been a thought of mine to build a local blogger meetup. I think it should start off on the right foot, too. Rather than being just a social gathering of bloggers, it could hit those topics that bloggers always find themselves asking about, like how to make money doing it, how it can benefit your business in a practical way, what software to use, and even what to write about. But blogging… It’s got a stigma attached to it that maybe it deserves (“Today for lunch I ate…”) and maybe it doesn’t (see any of the excellent journalistic blogs on the net).
Instead, maybe it should simply be a technology meetup. We could talk about blogging, or we could talk about development, or we could talk about… Whatever technology-related topic someone wants to bring forward. The only reason I’d consider this is because I think it might offer more value to the common person than a blogging-specific meetup.
I realize that there are classic “user groups” that meet in our area, and I mean to attend at least one of their meetings. But my impression based on what I’ve read is that they’re really user-oriented, readers or blogs or consumers of technology, and not creator-oriented. Also, I get the impression of them being run by the stereotypical 80’s computer geek, who looks and acts much like that comic book guy on the Simpsons. None of the meetups I’ve attended in the city give that impression, and I’d want to stick with the format I know and like - informal but regular and informative presentations along with useful and enlightening networking social events.
What do you think? Are you local in the suburbs to me? I’m thinking that a good place to hold these meetups would be in the Exton, Downingtown. or West Chester areas, since those are fairly central and built-up places to suburbanites in my area. But Phoenixville might also be a worthwhile destination. Would you be willing to travel that short a distance, rather than into the city? And what topic would you like to discuss? If there’s enough interest (and we’d only really need a handful of people to get the ball rolling), I’d be happy to start the organizing process.
