As usual, it was all Twitter’s fault. This morning @justinkistner mentioned that he and @emailstine were going to head south for The First Official Offshoot Chapter Of Beer And Blog. I asked if it would be possible to get a ride there with them, and Justin said of COURSE it would be possible. (See? I told you! Stupid Twitter.) So we coordinated addresses and I was given permission to leave a little early today, so off we went to Corvallis. Block 15, to be exact. This was history in the making, people!
Let me back up.
Almost a year ago, Justin was getting bombarded (mostly via Twitter, I know, AGAIN with the Twitter!) by support questions and blog issues and decided to get all the askers in one room at the Lucky Lab with some beer so they could all ask at once. Some folks who missed it wanted another crack at picking Mister Kistner’s brain, so he did it again. Then I wanted to talk about the essentials when you finally jump into your own WordPress installation, so we did that too, and eventually it got a name and a logo and was a regular event that moved to the Green Dragon and eventually turned their patio into THE happening place for the Portland Geek/Nerd who wasn’t afraid to socialize.
We didn’t just stop there, oh no! There was a Beer And Squirtguns session the Friday it was over a HUNDRED degrees, a Beer And Bowl session, a field trip to North Portland, all kinds of awesome speakers and ideas and generally good things happening. In fact WordCamp Portland actually came out of a Beer And Blog where we were talking about WordCamps in other cities and how we should have one….well why don’t we go for it? And well, we did and it was AWESOME.
I was telling Justin tonight that the moment it hit me something special was happening was when people stopped asking if it was going to happen this Friday and started asking who was going to speak or when people were going to start showing up. When people took for granted that this was always going to happen, that’s when I thought we might really be on to something. Well we were, and now not only are we on to something, but we are on to something contagious. (Listen to me, “we” like I run it or something!)
So that’s where it started, and that brings us to tonight, the three of us heading south. WE HAD A BLAST! I got to meet some great folks, talk about Star Wars and iPhones and Cameras and Goonies and Blogging (yeah we ended up there eventually) and WordPress and it was SUCH a good time! We ended up staying longer than intended and got back later than scheduled but I could have stayed the whole evening there in the upstairs part of Block 15.
Here’s the thing: Any city can start their own Beer And Blog Chapter. But it will fall flat EVERY time if you have no community to tap into or group of folks who are willing to talk to strangers and get people mingling. It’s really just an outlet for something you already have going on. If you have no community of any kind, you can’t get the word out. If you have no social people, you’ll just get a restaurant full of people on their laptops instant messaging each other about how they aren’t having fun. This isn’t to say don’t try it. But see if you can get a couple of your chatty friends to come with you and maybe have the nerve yourself (if this isn’t your usual M.O.) to walk up to someone and say “Hi, I’m _____ and we haven’t met yet.” Sometimes that’s ALL it takes. Well. That and smile at someone who comes up to you and says the same thing.
I think Portland REALLY works for this because we’re a social bunch and we have a fundamentally helpful attitude. Want proof? Sign in to Twitter and ask for help. With ANYTHING. Someone in Portland will offer you exactly what you need, something really close, or an introduction to someone else who can help you. This is another reason I adore it here. I really do enjoy helping out, and something that to me is no big deal can mean the world to somebody else.
So I threatened to go to bed about an hour ago and still haven’t because my head is still buzzing from all the ideas and the good conversation and the amazing energy I got to soak up in that loud crowded AWESOME group of Corvallians (I can’t think of a better word) who decided a little Beer and a little Blog was the perfect thing for a December Wednesday. Thanks for having me!
One Comment
So cool to hear how it all started- and here we are… tiny little Corvallis and bringing in a crowd like that? So awesome! (of course, you guys laid one heck of a foundation.
)
It was a powerful and inspirational experience for me. I had a blast and it really was wonderful to meet and chat with you (as well as all the other awesome folks I met there).
I can feel it… This IS the start of something big for tiny C-Town.
Thanks so much for making the trip!
(Oh, and the photo of the table and group looks FABULOUS! I need to get it posted and I’ll send the link to you. Thanks so much for hopping up on the bench to snap the shot!)