The Phoenix metropolitan area has a special connection to WordPress. WordCamp Phoenix is one of the oldest and first WordCamps. The Valley of the Sun is also fortunate to have a number of hosting companies and our community has cultivated and created strong relationships with these leaders in the industry. The Phoenix Meetup has grown steadily from around 250 members in 2011 to our current membership of over 2,200.
The Meetup currently has 3 monthly meetups located at different areas across the valley. These meetups take a specific niche of WordPress and has crafted the meetup around this speciality area. In addition to the three monthly meetups, our meetup has gone virtual and the connections continue constantly through our Slack channel. We currently have 256 members of our Slack channel and have 82K in storage of slack messages between these members. Our most popular channels are #burning-questions and #share-it where people are online at all hours sharing and helping each other in the community.
In preparing for this application, we wanted to get the voice of our members rather than those of the community leaders. During the October Tempe Meetup, we spent some time as a group discussing our community. Here are some things that our members had to say:
“The community is so patient with tech dorks like me”
“I like how we have so many different locations and work hard to make sure meetups are geographically spread to try and bring events to all parts of the valley.”
“Our leadership circle is tight-knit and strong. Other meetups often fade away but not this one! It is a great mix of long time leaders and new leaders rising up to become involved”
“We are really good at seeing and encouraging people to rise up to prominence and showcase our variety and brilliant minds in the community.”
“How extraordinarily nice the people are”
“The social aspect of our community is huge. Great friends and relationships developed by going out after meetups.”
As a community, we are proud to offer ongoing educational opportunities and options for our members to learn and use WordPress. Yet the Phoenix, AZ community is far more than just education and learning. The comments by our members about how we have truly created a community of friends and “WordPress family” through meetups and social gatherings make our community special.
Find them online: Meetup | FB WordPressPHX | FB WCPHX | WPAZ | WCPHX
Phoenix at a glance
3 Meetups/Month
Tempe – Beginning to Advanced User
NW Valley – WordPress with a Marketing Focus
Mesa – Advanced Developers
Coming Soon: Ecommerce
2009 Year Meetup Established
2200+ total Meetup members
1 WordCamp/Year: WordCamp Phoenix
Established 2009
November 2009 – Chandler, AZ
January 2011 – Chandler, AZ
February 2012 – Chandler, AZ
January 2013 – Chandler, AZ
January 2014 – Chandler, AZ
October 2016 – Phoenix, AZ
October 2017 – Phoenix, AZ
February 2018 – Phoenix AZ
450 2016 WordCamp Total Attendees
300 2017 (last) WordCamp Total Attendees
600 2018 projected WordCamp Total Attendees
As one of the community leaders, I have long wondered how this is perceived by those on the outside or who are new to our community. It is with great pride that I can share this quote by Dwayne McDaniel in his blog summary of WordCamp Phoenix 2017.
“I get the best feeling from the community I have met there; one of cohesiveness and togetherness that I see others strive for but have not as fully realized as they have in AZ.” -Dwayne McDaniel on WordCamp Phoenix.
Checkout our other WP Community Spotlights at the Community Bazaar, and be sure to visit the booths at the live event during WordCamp.