Don’t just sit there being sad that WordCamp Atlanta is over for another year. While you are waiting for WordCamp to roll around again, get yourself to some of our local WordPress Meetups. They are held all over the Metro-Atlanta area.

These Meetups feature specific topics geared to the various levels ranging from beginners through developers. Attending Meetups are a good way to learn more about WordPress and how to use it, whatever your level is. If you have some degree of proficiency, WordPress Meetups are a great way to share your WordPress knowledge with others by getting involved and speaking. A good number of our WordCamp speakers are drawn from speakers from our local Meetups.

We are always looking for people to step up and hold their own WordPress Meetups. If you are interested in a particular topic you can plan a Meetup session yourself or volunteer to get on the schedule for one of the existing times and places. If you want to know more, contact one of the current WordPress Meetup leaders.

But even if you are not ready to speak, come and get involved. Sign up at Meetup.com and search for WordPress where you can find and join our various local WordPress Meetup Groups. You will then receive e-mails announcing the groups and their monthly topics. You can come to one or all. We have included a list with links to some of them below.

Metro Atlanta Area WordPress Meetups:

• ATLANTA – Atlanta WordPress Users Group
  This group is the oldest and largest Atlanta WordPress Meetup. It is usually held in the evening, on the 3rd Thursday of each month, at the Westside Cultural Arts Center near Downtown, Atlanta. We have one or two presentations depending on the degree of complexity of the topic. The presentations are designed for beginners and/or intermediates to learn to use, build, customize,and maintain WordPress websites. We will also cover plugins as well as how to address business uses such as ecommerce, membership sites and supporting multiple languages.
 Bring your questions about your WordPress project. We include time for refreshments, networking and trouble shooting.
• NORTHWEST ATLANTA / MARIETTA – Atlanta WordPress Hands on Learning Group
  We meet monthly on the 2nd Thursday in the evening to learn from each other, troubleshoot problems, and kick around a topic or two. This is a hands-on working group, not a lecture.
  • Don’t know what you don’t know? Not sure what questions to ask? Tell us what you want to do and we’ll guide you.
  • Struggling to get something to work? 
We’ll help you stop wasting hours and pulling your hair out in frustration.
• NORTHWEST ATLANTA / MARIETTA – All Things WordPress—N. Atlanta
  A monthly daytime Meetup, typically held on the third Thursday of each month, discussing the intersection of WordPress and social media. We’ll spend 20-30 minutes presenting the latest topic and giving you hands-on ideas to incorporate, and the rest of the time will be spent working with each other on the daily topic or any other WordPress or social media issue that you might have.
• NORTH ATLANTA / ALPHARETTA – Atlanta WordPress, SEO, and Web Design
  This groups convenes normally on the Second Tuesday of every month. If you are starting a business or need help promoting an existing business, this is the meetup to be in. By attending our meetup, you will learn the following:
  • Create, design and publish a WordPress site
  • Plugins, Themes and Widgets
  • Website tweaks and best practices
  • Search Engine Optimization (SEO)
  • Small Business Web Tools
  • Google Services, Adwords, Adsense and Google Places
  • Online Marketing
• NORTHEAST ATLANTA / GWINNETT – WordPress Gwinnett
  We meet every 3rd Thursday of the month at 7PM.
  • plugin development
  • professional development workflow
  • performance and scaling
  • custom CMS solutions
  • industry-specific solutions e.g. NPOs
  • following and contributing to core
  • WordPress business models
  • WordPress current events
• SOUTH ATLANTA – SouthATL WordPress Users Group
  This group is to help WordPress Users who want to learn and network on the Southside of Atlanta. We are working to build a strong WordPress network of users and service providers on our side of ATL. We meet on the 3rd Saturday of the month at the new Wolf Creek Library.