Hi from OINK-PUG

Hello!
I'm Elizabeth and I coordinate the mighty OINK-PUG (Ohio, Indiana, Northern
Kentucky PHP Users Group)... which basically encompasses the greater
Cincinnati, Ohio area.

Like the Atlanta group, we started out using Meetup.com, back in 2003. When
Meetup started charging for their services, we effectively disbanded the
group.  A month later (in Feb 2005) a new group was started with the name
OINK-PUG that was it's own entity.

We hold official meetings every month with an informal "after-meeting" at a
nearby pub. Our meetings are held at the downtown office of Bridge
Worldwide, so we are able to host formal presentations. Meeting attendance
usually ranges from 10-20 people, but before we had this formal meeting
place, we struggled to have 5 or 6 people there. It's difficult because
we've tried to hold meetings at various locations throughout the city (and
even north of the city so we could co-exist with a Dayton, Ohio PHP user
group) but found that we couldn't make everybody happy. The downtown
location is more convenient for some than others, but we're thankful to have
the nice office space donated so nobody's complaining. Bridge has also
thrown in pizza and beer a time or two, which makes everybody happy.

My goal has been to keep the formal presentations going, so we've hosted
people like Jay Pipes (who thankfully is gracious enough to drive the hour+
distance to present to us) and recently Chris Shiflett. We've also recently
struck up a deal with Bridge for financial assistance to help bring speakers
in... it really benefits all involved. Hopefully we'll be able to keep them
coming (and if anyone wants to come visit wonderful Cincinnati and present a
talk let me know!).

As far as formality goes, we are not an official non-profit, nor do our
members pay any dues or anything like that. We do try to promote the group
as often as we can at events like the Ohio LinuxFest that sponsors dot-org
tables. Promotional materials usually come out of my pocket, or through
donations from group members.

We do have a site on Ning, and a twitter account, but most of our
correspondence occurs through the mailing list.

We try to keep things as informal and fun as possible; which has worked out
well for us.

Cheers!
Elizabeth


-- 
____________________
Elizabeth Naramore
Inflection Point, Inc.
654 Springs Lane
Cincinnati, OH 45255
(513) 947-1122 ext 111
www.inflection-point.com
www.giftsforengineers.com