Ciaos Creations

Kansas City is home to a surprising large number of technology groups. There is probably a social law that states individuals with similar interests will eventually concentrate. Through the four years I have lived in Kansas City, I have come to recognize three social categories: general user groups, institutional business organizations and large events. In this blog post, I will introduce the organizations and events I recommend to get a taste of the culture in Kansas City.

Joining a professional or trade organization is the simplest and easiest way to get involved. There is a user group for every programming language available as well as groups based on professional job title. I’m a frequent participant of the Kansas City Ruby Users group as well as a connector to several other organizations such as Social Media Club of Kansas City, the Cowtown Computer Congress, AIGA-the professional association for design and a few others. A list of groups I have visited and/or participated will be listed below.

Did you know Kansas City is home to one of the world’s leading organization for entrepreneurship, the Kauffman Foundation. There are also many other established resources for entrepreneurship such as the Entrepreneur of Johnson County, KC Source Link, The Chamber and KTEC. These groups are what I consider as institutional business organizations, they indirectly relate to technology. StartKC and OfficePort are entities that recently came into existence.

Larger events hold a special interest of mine, mainly because I am an organizer of a few events. In the past two years this category covers BarCamp, Highlight Midwest, Pre Dev Camp, Startup Weekend, Coders 4 Charity and a regional Ruby conference that my friends and I are organizing. This summer Kansas City will be hosting a Designer/Developer conference and a Kansas City Developer Day. I’m sure there are a few more events that I am unaware of.

Each social category attracts a different individuals. So don’t let one meeting or event spoil your desire to meet others and participate in the community.

Now here is a list of groups I’m connected to organized by memory:

• SMCKC – Social Media Club of Kansas City
• KCRUG – Kansas City Ruby Users Group
• KCJava – Kansas City Java Users Group
• DotNext – Meetup Group for Tech
• KCDOTNet – Kansas City .Net User Group
• Mobile Mondays – Mobile Discussion Group
• Adobe Design Core – Adobe Design Products User Group
• Adobe Film Core – Adobe File Products User Group
• Adobe Web Core – Adobe Web Product User Group
• Adobe Dev Core – Adobe RIA Product User Group
• AgileKC — User Group for Agile Software Methodology and Techniques.
• IFC – Independent Filmmaker’s Coalition of Kansas City
• AIGA – Association for Design
• Jelly – Group for Co-Working
• CCCKC – Cowtown Computer Congress of Kansas City [Hackerspace]
• MakeKC – User group of DIY and Builders
• KC/IABC – Kansas City International Association of Business Communicators

… and lets just stop there

I’m personally involved with a number of weekly, monthly, quarterly and yearly events. I don’t have specific list of roles for involvement, but just know for now involvement opportunities are available. I’m going to save it for another blog post tomorrow.

Here is a list of events I had involvement with and events I’m currently involved in.

• Ruby Midwest
• Startup Weekend KC [note there talks for another event in 2010]
• Pecha Kucha Night
• Social Media Club of Kansas City regular events
• CCCKC
• Pre Dev Camp
• BarCamp

Lets leave it at that. Please comment if there is an organization you have questions about and I will try my best to answer it.

The month of May will mark the date that I have been in Kansas City for four years. The last three of those years, I have been actively raise awareness of creative tech professionals in the city of Kansas City through annual events. Since DotNext in 2007, I work with my fellow colleagues and friends to organize events such as Startup Weekend, BarCamp and StartupKC Drinks.

For all the events that I have thrown, I still feel there are many individuals outside of our social networks who would be interested in Social Media Club and all the other interest groups Kansas City has to offer. Events are one of the best ways to raise awareness, but the single most helpful thing We call can do is talk about to others.

If you have an event that you want to see happen, lets talk about it. I’m always reachable by email, Twitter and phone. I’m sure we can make it happen. Planning events and spreading the word is what I love to do.

For those who are not aware of what Kansas City has to offer, I encourage you to join in and voice your thoughts and desires.  Kansas City is home to many groups, from hackers actively building hardware in the CCCKC caves, to entrepreneurs hashing their ideas during Startup Weekend, or artists speaking about their latest projects in 6 minutes at Pecha Kucha.  If you have an interest, there is another person in Kansas City who is interested in the same.

If you are a member of the Social Media Club of Kansas City, please vote for me.
http://socialmediaclubkc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/voting-is-now-open-for-the