The East Bay WordPress Meetup follows a regular format. We meet from 1-3:30 PM on the third Sunday of the month at Tech Liminal in Oakland. On very rare occasions, circumstances will force us to meet on a different day or at a different location, but assume it will be the third Sunday at Tech Liminal.
Getting There
For some reason, Sunday is the worst day to find parking spaces in this part of Oakland, so give yourself an extra 10-15 minutes if you are driving. Street parking is free if you can find it, but the Kaiser Mall lot is closed on Sundays. You can also take BART to the 19th Street or Lake Merritt stops. Check the schedules: service is less frequent on Sundays.
When You Arrive
- Print yourself a name tag so we know who you are. Even if the organizers know who you are, there are always new members who won’t.
- Find a seat. There are plenty of power outlets for those who need them. The wi-fi code is posted on the walls.
- Ground-floor bathrooms are past the shipping containers.
Refreshments
We’ll always have soft drinks and light snacks. Sometimes a generous group member or other person will also act as the “pizza sponsor” and provide food. It doesn’t have to be pizza, though that’s usually popular. It DOES have to be something people can eat without utensils, that’s not too messy. If you volunteer as pizza sponsor, you get your logo and a link to your site up on the Meetup site here under “sponsors” for a month, plus the whole group will applaud you. Contact the organizer for more info, including the name of pizza shops that deliver on Sundays.
I’ll make an announcement about whether we have a sponsor providing food. If not, you should either eat before you come or bring lunch for yourself. Otherwise, you’ll be ready to chow down on your iPad before the Meetup is over.
Introductions
First, we take a few minutes to get introduced. Give us your name, business name, and tell us about your interest in WordPress. If you have business cards, you can pass them out. When the Organizer gets it together sufficiently, we run a slideshow of member website screenshots in the background. (There isn’t time to visit them one by one and talk about them.)
Quick Demos
This is an opportunity for meetup members to show off something they’ve done recently. At each meetup we have time for 2 5-minute demos. Possibilities for what to show are: how you’re using a plugin, how you’re using a core feature of WordPress, a layout you’ve customized, an integration with a third-party service.
Open Q & A
This is your chance to ask your burning questions about WordPress, or to tell the group something new you learned. Total newbie questions are welcome, and so are difficult developer questions. If the answer is too complicated, someone will volunteer to talk to you after the meeting. There are a lot of smart people in this group who are happy to help out. On those occasions when you need the kind of help that has to be paid for, we’ll let you know.
Main Program
This usually lasts about an hour, including questions, which you can ask at any time. The programs are always about something to do with WordPress, rather than general blogging topics. Some of the meetings are aimed more at beginners, some at experts. The descriptions usually make it pretty clear which is which, but you’re always welcome at any meetup, no matter what your experience.
Open Networking
Unless Anca has to close up the space, everyone is welcome to hang out and talk or do some impromptu problem-solving after the formal conclusion of the Meetup.
