What's Happening?

Years ago, when I first joined the KC IT Community, there were a handful of "special interest" user groups that met on a regular basis and discussed the latest and greatest in Microsoft, Oracle, Java, Access, and a handful of other technologies. One of the longest running groups I know is the Heartland User Group. I thought it would be fun to look at their archived site from 2000. My how far we've come in 14 years.

In those 14 years the number of local special interest groups has morphed into a community dedicated to advancing technology in the community. Groups like Adam Arredando' Start Up Village, Ryan Weber's KC Next, and Mike Gelphman's KCITP have done some amazing things promoting the Kansas City IT community. If you're not familiar with these groups you need to check them out.

One site that seems to have accelerated the growth of special interest groups in KC is MeetUp.com. I'm sure many of you are familiar with Meetup, but every week I run into someone who hasn't heard of it so it's worth a mention. MeetUp is a mash-up of social media and good old fashioned "get together" networking. 

RiverPoint has been a key sponsor for two of the technology related Meet-Ups:

KC Java User Group
Upfront

Those two groups are just the tip of the Meet-Up Iceberg. Here's a sampling of groups on MeetUp that meet on a regular basis here in KC.

Wordpress
Node
Drupal
AdobeAdobe Visual Design
Adobe WebCore
PHP
.NET
Big Data
Mobile App Developers
Ruby
Python
Just for the Girls

There's also groups that aren't on Meet-Up

KC Oracle User Group
Kansas City Quality Assurance Association
KC International Institute of Business Analysts
If nothing is grabbing your attention there are still many other groups you can find on this list.  I'd also like to say if you are in any of these groups and would like to have RiverPoint get involved as a sponsor feel free to reach out - we're always happy to help.

If you are interested in these events, we keep an up-to-date list at our LinkedIn Group so please join us and sign up for the daily or weekly digests to stay on top of these events.

Speaking of events - there's two events next week you should consider attending.

Mobile Midwest Conference The latest conference set up by KCITP will feature thought leaders from across the US including Ben Milne (Founder - Dwolla), Steve Huffman Co-Founder of Reddit), and Matt Galligan (Co-Founder - Circa) among others. Mobile is where technology is heading and this is a great chance to learn from some of the best and brightest in the business.

Digital Consumer Workshop KCNext hosts Accenture as they share the results of their latest consumer research where you'll hear from senior thought leaders on the latest strategies to better engage customers. They'll also demonstrate some of the latest technologies to keep the non-stop digital consumer satisfied.