Welcome to the Origin Story of LAWP

Did you know that the first WordPress Meetup Community in all of Southern California was born in Long Beach over a decade ago – and was started by one woman and then financed and lead by another woman for two whole years? Here’s the story of how that happened, how Los Angeles WordPress Meetup developed, and what it looks like now. Ten years later, Long Beach has wrapped up its first WordPress conference. We’ve come full circle.

WordCamp Long Beach (WCLB) grew directly out of the Long Beach Chapter of Los Angeles WordPress (LAWP) Meetup. Five of our 10 WCLB Organizers also organize local bi-monthly Long Beach Meetup events. And we used LAWP to recruit staff and promote our conference.

Up until now, a comprehensive history of LAWP hadn’t been written down anywhere. So WCLB Lead Organizer and LAWP Co-Organizer Christiana Mohr wrote this with the help of former LAWP Co-Organizers Natalie MacLees and Greg Madore after WCLB 2019 wrapped up. Now the history of Los Angeles WordPress Meetup has a permanent, public home on an eternally-hosted website managed by the WordPress Foundation. Yay!

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Historic LAWP at a Glance

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The Early Years: 2009-2015

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SoCalWP

In February 2009, a woman named Fern began a group called SoCalWP on the Meetup platform – the first Southern California WordPress community – and it was based in Long Beach. It had 40 members to start and its initial events had five or six attendees each.

Two months later, Meetup emailed SoCalWP’s 40 group members to tell them Fern had stepped down, offering the leadership role to anyone interested. No one stepped up. A month later, Meetup put out the call again, saying a new leader needed to take charge or the group would get shut down the next day. Natalie MacLees answered the call.

In May 2009, Natalie MacLees became the sole Organizer of SoCalWP and lead it alone for two years. Back then, Meetup was quite different. It was a fledgling company and not many people were on the platform, but registered members tended to attend events, especially those who RSVPed. Natalie financed the group with her own money and it met once a month, typically at the Santa Monica library or other relatively inexpensive venues near the coast and in Los Angeles city.

Noel Saw began a Santa Monica Meetup in 2011 separate from SoCalWP. Natalie reached out to him and asked to join forces. He agreed, but each group kept its original Meetup account.

A few months later in 2011, Natalie and Noel began working together to lead monthly events, switching locations between Downtown LA and Santa Monica. Venues in Santa Monica were hard to afford, but they could easily find free event space downtown, often at restaurants and co-working spaces owned by Noel’s friends.

That same year, the WordPress Foundation took SoCalWP under its wing. The Foundation didn’t like the group’s name, because it was too broad.

In the early years, before a sponsor approached them, Natalie and Noel financed SoCalWP events themselves, splitting the cost. Sometimes, because they hosted the only WordPress Meetup in Southern California, up to 150 members would show up at once, and their monthly event quickly grew to the size of a small WordCamp. The Santa Monica Library wouldn’t let them charge members to cover costs and their group was bursting at the seams. Logistics and funding were pretty difficult.

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Enter Hollywood

In 2013, Gregory Douglas began the Hollywood WordPress Meetup distinct from SoCalWP. Roy Sivan joined Greg Douglas as a Co-Organizer of Hollywood that same year. Greg D. and Roy ran their group in parallel with SoCalWP as other WordPress communities began to spring up nearby, easing the pressure off Natalie and Noel. And Gregory Madore began organizing in 2014.

The earliest Hollywood meetings took place at Roy Sivan’s office, and the group’s most recent home was at WeWork in Hollywood.

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Sponsorship Begins

In 2013, WP Engine began picking up the tab for both groups, which helped ease the difficulty of organizing. They reached out to Natalie through Meetup, and after a bit of negotiation, settled on a sponsorship budget of $200 a month.

Both Meetup groups used Sponsorship funds to pay for event space rental fees, food and beverages, and equipment. Natalie and Noel pooled their money over time and bought a portable PA system, projector, and screen. And the two Gregs and Roy bought a PA system, too.

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The Rebranding: 2015-2016

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The Merger

In 2015, Natalie and Noel decided to step back from organizing but didn’t want to shut down their SoCalWP Group. They worked closely with Greg D. to figure out a way to keep both groups active while they stepped back.

Greg D., Greg M., and Roy merged SoCalWP Meetup group and Hollywood Meetup group and rebranded it Los Angeles WordPress (LAWP) Meetup group with the support of the WordPress Foundation, which wanted to see all of LA come under one umbrella. The rebranding took some time, but eventually, everyone was on board under the LAWP name.

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Chapter Two, Etc.

In 2016, Greg M. brought in Scott Buscemi to join the organizing team, and together they created a system of multiple chapters inspired by what Scott had seen in Phoenix. Scott continued to help both chapters grow until mid 2018.

LAWP group now had two distinct chapters: Downtown and Hollywood. That same year, Greg M. brought in Lara Schenk and Leo Postovoit as Co-Organizers. Greg D. and Roy Sivan stepped back to focus on other things.

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Return to the Coast: 2017-2019

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Return to Santa Monica

Scott Vosburgh began hosting West LA chapter events in Santa Monica in early 2019 at Metropolis, a cafe and versatile small event space. He began planning his community in late 2018 with the support of Greg M., who stepped back from LAWP that same year. One of the hardest parts was finding an affordable space in Santa Monica. But once Scott V. secured a location, his chapter grew steadily, and he recruited Amy Kamala to help him lead it.

West LA Chapter meets once a month at Metropolis and is planning to expand to twice a month in 2020.

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Return to LA: 2019

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The LAWP Guide

Chris created the Long Beach Meetup Manual – later renamed LAWP Guide – to help continue to grow the group after she inherited the Treasurer position from Lara Schenk in early 2019, when Lara stepped back. Previous Treasurers included Greg Madore, Scott Buscemi, and Greg Douglas. The LAWP Guide includes everything the group needs to train new Co-Organizers, track money and equipment, store legal documents and build marketing strategies. Chris laid out spending thresholds and began negotiating for a new style of contract, which is still being negotiated. LAWP’s currently running on a budget of $300 a month and wants to expand to $8,000 a year.

In the summer of 2019, Chris began to actively look for new Co-Organizers to begin or restart chapters, particularly in LA city, after figuring out LAWP had enough funds to cover more events in other areas.

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University Park Begins

Nicholas Santillan (Nick) wrote to WordPress Community Support in the summer of 2019 asking to start a new Meetup in Los Angeles on USC’s campus. With the full knowledge of WCLB Mentor Cambra Kaos (Cami) and the WordPress Foundation, Chris helped Nick meet Steve McNally and Sarah Montoro, who had replied to her call for Co-Organizers.

Nick, Steve, and Sarah planned the new University Park Chapter during the summer of 2019 and lead their first meeting in September, 2019. During the first meeting, they lead an open discussion on future topics their new chapter attendees wanted to learn more about. They’re now planning a series on web accessibility.

University Park Chapter meets once a month at USC and is planning to expand to twice a month in 2020.

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And Now…

What started as a little 40 member Meetup group in Long Beach financed and lead by one woman has transformed a decade later into a 2,800 member LA County-wide Meetup group lead by 11 Co-Organizers running three chapters simultaneously, officially sanctioned by the WordPress Foundation, sponsored by an out-of-state globally recognized corporation, and feeding into annual multi-day conferences attended by hundreds and hundreds of people.

And that, folks, is LAWP: A History.

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Join Us!

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