Earlier today, there was a new section of the WordPress.org forums created specifically for meetups. In the announcement post, Jane Wells explained what the purpose of the forum was.
This forum is the first step toward WordPress.org helping to facilitate local WordPress meetups. Some meetups are specific to skill/interest (users, developers, theme designers, etc) while others are general interest groups that touch on all topics around publishing with and developing for WordPress.
We’ll be rolling out features on this site over the coming year to help support these groups, but in the meantime, we hope this forum will provide an easier way to find like minded WordPress friends and collaborators in your area.
If you’re an organizer of a WordPress specific meetup, this is an excellent opportunity for you to spread the word. Although the service is not free for organizers, you can see if there is a meetup in your area by visiting WordPress.meetup.com which is what I used to find a few meetups near me.
Speaking of meetups, there is one coming up for the Northeast Ohio area on March 24th that will go in depth on WordPress 3.1.
A lot of meetups don’t use meetup.com b/c it’s a commercial business and costs money, plus then meetup.com owns all the data. There are a number of meetup groups running their own sites on WordPress and/or BuddyPress.