Much of the web design and development work we do around here, including this website, is developed using WordPress. We often find ourselves discussing the pros and cons, the quirks, how-to’s, and other WP related stuff around the office, and sometimes with our close friends and family. The latter, we are starting to realize, probably doesn’t think it is nearly as interesting as we do. Because of that, we have decided to reach out to our design and development peers in the area and invite them to come talk shop with us on a regular basis.

So, I’m very proud to announce that we are now the Co-Organizers of the Central Wisconsin WordPress Meetup group. We were able to partner up with WordPress itself as our Co-Organizer, and so far we have a small but growing number of WordPress users, developers, and designers joining our group.

We held our first meetup last Wednesday at our studio. Despite the below zero temperatures, the snow, and the face-eating windchill, some very brave WordPress people ventured out to share in some light refreshments and talk about WordPress among other design/development related things. Since it was our inaugural meeting, and our group was small, we kept everything very informal. Each person introduced themselves and spoke a little about their current job, their interest and experience in WordPress and what they hoped to gain from attending this series of meetups. From there, discussion happened very naturally, and before we knew it and hour and half passed.

Personally, I had a great time. It was a pleasure meeting other people interested in the same nerdy things, and I am am already looking forward to the next one. We’re now trying to keep to a schedule of meeting the 3rd Wednesday of every month. For further meetings we hope to invite speakers, give some demos and other show-and-tell, and maybe even a panel discussion or two. If anyone out there has any interest in joining, giving a presentation, or sharing any other bits of WordPress magic, please don’t hesitate to let us know.