It was the first Friday in May of 2008 that I met Justin Kistner. I’d heard about Beer and Blog on Twitter, was intrigue by its slogan Bloggers Helping Bloggers Over Beer, and so I went to the Green Dragon that day to check it out. I arrived to find 10 or so men sitting at tables in the back, all of them intensely clicking keys—blogging, maybe coding—on their laptops. All, except one guy: Justin. He was drinking a beer, taking it easy, talking in low tones to someone. I think. I can’t remember who it was. I sat down and introduced myself, and then more people started to arrive. The laptops closed, and voices streaked with laughter began to fill the small, tall space. I started asking questions. I found out that Beer and Blog had started a few months earlier, in January. I learned that there were people there who would answer my questions about developing websites, designing apps, and getting gigs. I heard there were no stupid questions. And I left that night empowered by the support of a group of strangers that came together and helped each other out, just because. A few Beer and Blogs later I wrote a blog post about my appreciation for the gathering that Justin Kistner saw. He invited me to be Beer and Blog’s Provost (which is kind of like being The Love Boat’s Julie McCoy) to which I said “Hell YEAH.” I’ve been a part of Beer and Blog ever since. About a year ago I was promoted to fill in for Justin, as Beer and Blog’s Person in Charge. It’s the most rewarding volunteer gig I’ve ever had. Beer and Blog is, by design, a community fueled by social capital. Justin and I have had several long conversations about this core idea, of the wealth that can be distributed in a diverse group of people willing to share their expertise. About how having no rules and no expectations—just a regular time and place for question to be answered in a relaxing, friendly atmosphere—enriches both the person seeking answers and the person answering. Beer and blog is a community that runs itself, and it’s the community that makes Beer and Blog special and rewarding. Today, almost four years since that first gathering in Portland, Oregon, Beer and Blog has chapters all over the world, each with their own schedule and diverse group of Beer and Bloggers. Our weekly gatherings attract between 5 and 200 people, depending on the weather, the event, and the business of life. And now our founder, Mr. Justin Kistner, is moving to San Francisco next month. In his honor, next Friday’s Beer and Blog is dedicated to him and his movement to help empower bloggers with a little help from their friends. Please join us September 30th from 4-6pm at the Green Dragon to say Bon Voyage to our friend and founder. There will be cake, and a tequila shot special, and lots of chances to make his face turn red from the heat of our admiration for all he’s done for the Beer and Blog community. Hope to see you there! RSVP on Upcoming or get your deets on Calagator. Our Founder, Justin Kistner

Last February I asked my friend Robin Cangie to join me as Co-Captain of Portland’s Beer and Blog. After much begging and threats of extortion, she ceded with a smile and for six magical months she was our beer loving, philosophy debating, friendly leader and my partner. That all changes this weekend when she moves to San Ramon to work for a startup that was smart enough to realize she’s an amazing person and invaluable employee. That sucks for us Beer and Blog-gers, but we have chance to tell her just how much it sucks at her last Beer and Blog. We can tell her that we’ll miss her terribly and that we wish her all the luck in her new adventure which unfortunately takes her far, far away from us. SOB. Please join me Friday, August 19th, at the Green Dragon from 4-6pm on the patio for your last chance to see Robin before she moves from Portland, Oregon to the Land of Startups. We can send her on her way knowing we appreciate her contribution to the Beer and Blog community.

We’ve been treated to free beer by some really great, deep-pocket sponsors in the past cough Google, Wieden + Kennedy, Groupon cough and now we’re proudly adding another name to the list: The Oregonian News Network.

This Friday, citizen journalist advocate Cornelius Swart will pass out drink tickets, take swag raffle entries, and extol the finer points of the Oregon News Network’s pilot project. He wants to meet Oregon-focused bloggers and independent news sites who want to see their stories promoted on the OregonLive platform via aggregated post excerpts and backlinks. If selected to be a part of the ONN, bloggers get training, technical support and significant referral traffic (the OregonLive gets over 2 million unique visitors a month). In return, OregonLive and its subscribers get more news from a broader geographic spectrum. In other words, hyper-local bloggers get more eyeballs and OregonLive gets more content from all parts of Oregon. So…want free beer, swag and more blog traffic? Join us on the patio of the Green Dragon this Friday, August 12, from 4-6pm. We’ll be the ones drinking the free beer and talking nerdy about blogs.

Beer and Blog is on a roll with top-notch sponsors this year! We’re thrilled to announce that our latest high-profile sponsor is, drumroll please… Groupon! Yes, in addition to giving you steep discounts at cool local businesses, the daily deals giant wants to buy you a beer. And it all happens this Friday, June 24. Former Beer and Blog captain Kerry Finsand will represent on behalf of Groupon Portland, so make sure to say hi and congratulate him on his new marketing role (where he gets to do this kind of thing all the time, maybe even at a future Beer and Blog? Hint, hint…). In addition to providing beer for all attendees, one very lucky person will win a $100 Groupon gift certificate! You must be present to win. As always, your free pint or beverage of choice is first come first served. We’ll see you this Friday from 4-6pm at the Green Dragon!

We’re pleased to announce a last-minute sponsor for this week’s Beer and Blog! San Francisco-based start-up Bolder just happened to be in town, and when they heard about Beer and Blog, they generously stepped up to sponsor. Bolder believes that everyone has the power to change the world through their actions, and they’ve built a platform where businesses and individuals can come together and do just that. It’s very simple: take a challenge, share your action, and get rewarded. In return for buying you a beer, all Bolder asks is that you give the platform a try, take a challenge or two (and maybe even start one of your own?), and bring any feedback with you to Beer and Blog. Drinks, as always, are first come first served, so arrive early to secure your free pint or other beverage of choice. See you at the Green Dragon!

Have a great start-up idea? Need to refine your pitch? You’re in luck, because on June 3, Portland Seed Fund is coming to Beer and Blog. The Portland Seed Fund seeks out exceptional entrepreneurs and offers them funding, mentoring and advising with the goal of creating jobs, driving economic activity and promoting entrepreneurship in the region. And this Friday only, they’ll buy a beer or other beverage of your choice for anyone who pitches an idea. Shine your shoes, polish your language, and make sure you’re at the Green Dragon this Friday from 4-6pm. They might not fund your startup, but at least they’ll fund your drink! Please RSVP here (only your name is required) so we can get a sense of who’ll be pitching. We’ll see you there!

You’re invited to a very special Beer and Blog this Wednesday, May 25th, at the Spirit of 77 bar, in conjunction with the popular robot-themed conference WebVisions. Exploring the future of the web since 2001, the WebVisions conference is all about spotting the first glimmer of shiny baubles in web design, content creation, user experience, and business strategy trends, as told by the brightest web visionaries in the solar system. This year’s presentation line-up includes several Beer and Bloggers…including Mr. Beer and Blog himself, the founder of our community, Justin Kistner. To celebrate, this Wednesday the WebVisions conference is having a few of their presenters who are authors sign their books from 5:15-6:15pm at Spirit 77, and they’re buying a beer (or drink) for anyone who buys a book. Here’s a list of the authors and their books: Susan Beal, World of Geekcraft Whitney Quesenbery & Kevin Brooks, Storytelling for UX Jason Glaspey, From Idea to Startup in 21 Days: Creating bacn.com Aaron Gustafson, Adaptive Web Design: Crafting Rich Experiences… Jason Cranford Teague, CSS3: Visual Quickstart & Fluid Web Typography I hope to see you at the book signing Wednesday and at WebVisions, which starts this week. P.S. Today’s the last day to register for WebVisions online and enter to win an XBox 360, so if you’ve been planning on attending, you should probably get on that. The robots—and shiny web baubles—are waiting for you…

Paul (the tallest guy) at Beer and Blog's @turoczy Halloween Extravaganza As most of you know, our beloved film/tech/train/jazz/labyrinth/werewolf/volunteering-loving Renaissance man Paul Bingham passed away from cancer on April 3, 2011. A private memorial in his honor is planned for this Sunday, April 17, at the Portland Art Museum’s Whitsell Auditorium. All are welcome (There will be chocolate! And a labyrinth!) but you must RSVP because there is a capacity cap. You can do that here: http://friendsofpaulbingman.eventbrite.com/ What you might not know is that the organization planning the memorial–they appropriately call themselves Friend’s of Paul Bingham–is raising funds to cover the expenses related to the memorial. They are also raising money to donate to two of his favorite organizations in his name: The Northwest Film Center and The Trinity Labyrinth Guild. You can donate money via this website: http://paulbingman.chipin.com/memorial-event-for-paul-bingman Because Paul’s interests were so varied and vast (and so are the friends he made) the Friend’s of Paul Bingham group is asking all of us help spread the word about his memorial. Not all of the lives he touched are Internet savvy, so they might not know about the memorial. They might not even know that Paul has passed. So, if you’re part of a group that Paul had been involved with, we ask that you share the news of his death and invite anyone who may have experienced his bear hugs and kindness to RSVP and attend the memorial. This Friday’s Beer and Blog meetup is dedicated to the memory of our dedicated friendly soul Paul, the man everyone loved so much. We’ll be accepting donations to turn over the the Friend’s of Paul Bingham group. And we’ll be sharing stories about the giant with the giant heart. We hope to see you there. I know Paul will be, in spirit. RSVP on Upcoming or get your deets on Calagator.

Next week brings yet another SXSW Interactive conference (and hordes of party-seeking geeks) to downtown Austin, TX. Called “spring break for creatives” and “magical” by past attendees (read: me) this very popular long-running tech event is rolled in chance meetings and dipped in celebrity sightings. It’s also very, very expensive if you don’t live in Austin or “know people,” no matter how early you buy your badge or how late you secure your accommodations. Is the magic of SXSW worth the time and money (and liver function)? This Friday at Beer and Blog we invite you join us this Friday for our little Pre-SXSWi party. There’s no free beer this time (BTW, didja see the wrap-up post of the Beer and Blog party Google Hotpot sponsored on their blog?) but I guarantee there will be plenty of interesting (maybe even heated!) discussions on all things SXSW. Regardless of whether you’re headed to Austin this month, we’d love to see you this Friday from 4-6pm at the Green Dragon. Cheers!

Here's to a beerfully, bloggingly wonderful 2011!Oh my gosh, you guys. Just a couple weeks ago, I was sitting at home, minding my own business, when our fearless leader mediaChick popped up on Gmail chat and asked if I wanted to help her co-captain the Portland Beer and Blog. First I did a little happy dance (I’m glad she couldn’t see me) and then demurely accepted her offer. And by demurely I mean, “Oh my gosh! Yes! YES! This is gonna be SO AWESOME! Holy cow, it will be amazing. So seriously. Uh… what do I have to do again?” Hey, it’s a subjective term, right? I’m thrilled to take up the helm with Michelle and totally rock Beer and Blog in 2011! But first I need your help. What kinds of events do you want to see from us this year? We know, we know, more sponsored beer. But think outside the beer keg, peeps. Do you want to meet more local companies? Learn some stuff from guest speakers? Have informal topics of discussion? Other? Fire away in the comments! (Oh yeah, and here’s a little more information about me.)

Toast to a healthy and happy 2011! It’s the first day of a new year! Beer and Blog looks forward to another year of Fridays spent with you at the Green Dragon, talking about blogs over beer. This year you can expect more of the same, plus some changes to shake things up. (More on that soon.) But before we turn away from last year, here’s a short re-cap of the good times we had:

VIPs from WebVisions, Wieden+Kennedy and Read Write Web all stopped by throughout the year to chat us up and pick up the beer tab. Alaska Airlines paid for beer AND many platters of appetizers! Burk Jackson of CreativeCares came by to explain how his non-profit matches needy organizations with graphic designers and web developers We threw a Celebrate Lexie Day party to make sure our long-time Green Dragon waitress knows how much we love her (and we managed to raise almost $300 for her, too!) We were entertained by the hilarious and very SexyNurd We were visited by the crazy-haired CTO of Seesmic Portland’s own Mayor Sam Adams

Oh, and one other thing happened. Mr. Beer and Blog, Justin Kistner, passed the Beer and Blog stein to beer guy Kerry Finsand, who then passed it on…to me. ME. That’s right, folks, after years of toiling as Portland’s Chapter Provost, Michelle Anderson aka mediaChick…is in charge. Oddly, my duties are exactly the same
We hope that 2011 will be a banner year for the Beer and Blog community. Happy 2011!

If you’ve ever attended Beer and Blog, chance are you’ve met Lexie. She’s the very small nine-armed goddess/waitress who has kind of turned into our group’s personal server in the years that we’ve been meeting on Friday’s at the Green Dragon. And, let me tell you…Lexie pretty much rocks. This woman has stored in her sharp-witted brain the individual beverage preferences of anyone who has ordered from her more than once. She can check your pulse and ask after your mother’s maiden name and then choose the perfect beer for you. Lexie can even prevent the absent-minded from leaving credit cards behind (which, believe you me, is an incredibly difficult task). Yes, the world is better with Lexie bringing us tall ice teas and beer and seasoned fries, and we at Beer and Blog want to celebrate her awesomeness. That’s why we’ve invited her to hang up her apron this Friday from 4-6pm to attend the Lexie Appreciation Day party at the Green Dragon
As guest of honor, we’ll be presenting her with flowers and a card, and a large banner will be hung for all to express forever in Sharpies their Lexie love letters. We’d love to see people bring large signs (like the kind you’d see at a concert for a rock show) broadcasting accolades. Also — and this is important — a Tip Hat will be passed around. Lexie is taking time off her shift to attend this party, and if we all chip in we can help make up for lost tips. Why? Because Lexie ROCKS! If you appreciate Lexie like we do (and we know you do!) please come and get to know our wonderful multi-talented waitress/goddess better. Come on down to the Green Dragon this Friday from 4-6pm to appreciate Lexie in fine style with your Beer and Blog pals. See you there!

This Thursday is Ignite Corvallis, and the presentations sound really interesting. I’m especially curious about Memoirs of an accountant……or two (because in my experience “number” people can really tie one one). And I’ll bet everyone’s looking forward to How to really screw yourself at a traffic stop. Seriously, who wouldn’t want to learn how to avoid the back seat of a police cruiser? And, thanks to the Willamette Innovators Network, you CAN. WiN is sponsoring a special shuttle bound for Ignite Corvallis, which leaves at 3pm from downtown Portland on Thursday. It has FREE wi-fi, and FREE beer, and space for you and 55 of your closest friends. And if a sweet road trip like that isn’t inciting enough, check this out: You can also also win an orange 16 GB iPod Nano. Hurray! Register for the shuttle right now, and learn how to save yourself some traffic ticket money at Ignite Corvallis.

We’re thrilled to have Burk Jackson, volunteer superhero and talented photographer, come to this Friday’s Beer and Blog to chat up his wonderful non-profit CreativeCares. It’s sort of a casual dating service for non-profits who are looking for mutually satisfying relationships with volunteer creatives and techies to build websites, develop digital marketing strategies, and create logos for them. It’s no strings attached, and everyone’s left with warm-and-fuzzy memories.

It works like this: CreativeCares partners with non-profits in need of creative and technical services worldwide and matches professionals who wish to volunteer their expertise with organizations who need their help. Volunteers are needed both locally (the Right Brain Initiative, Habitat for Humanity, the ReBuilding Center and many more) and internationally (the Disability Aid Abroad program which works to improve the lives of people living in developing countries). With so many cash-strapped non-profits in need our help in crafting their stories, planning their social media marketing campaigns, and building databases for their online community portals, CreativeCares is currently looking for several volunteers expertise in:

Photography Film/video Graphic design Web design and development Art direction Marketing Copywriting Public relations Strategy Creative direction

Please join us and hear Burk describe his vision for CreativeCares at 4:30pm this Friday, October 1. He’ll be around until at least 6pm for informal mingling and Q&A. Can’t make it Friday but want to be a creative that cares? Head on over to the CreativeCares website and apply online here: http://creativecares.org/join-our-cause/sign-up-here RSVP on Upcoming or get your deets on Calagator. See you there!

Fresh from the shower of fantastic press and outstanding numbers from the very successful “Smell Like a Man, Man” digital marketing campaign for Old Spice, Wieden+Kennedy is steaming hot. They’re so hot, in fact, they’re sending three of their digital strategists and $500 in beer money to Beer and Blog this Friday to talk about the future of W+K Digital and how you might be a part of it if you’re a strategist or community manger. This means 1) FREE beer and 2) W+K is hiring. 3) You’re coming. Join us on the patio of the Green Dragon this Friday from 4pm to 6pm to chat up W+K’s digital strategists Dean McBeth, Ken Brady, and Cody Corona. They’ll have the drink tickets, so be on your best behavior
P.S. I dare someone to arrive on the back of Loch Ness creature looking ridiculously good-looking while changing a baby’s diaper and playing chess. RSVP on Upcoming or get your information on Calagator. One more thing! There will be some folks in town Friday — three folks, to be exact — who are traveling the U.S. to find new members to join their group called Way Below Status Quo. They’re a sassy bunch of entrepreneurs, so I know they’ll fit right at Beer and Blog. They’ll stop by the Green Dragon patio and mingle before their event later in the evening at Amnesia Brewery on N. Mississippi Ave. (More info here:  http://statusquo-portlandor.eventbrite.com/)

Any self-respecting Portland tech geek knows that the CTO of Seesmic is coming to visit this weekend, thanks to Rick Turoczy and his Silicon Florist post helpfully listing things he should while in town. Things that are uniquely Portland-esque. Like Beer and Blog! And if you’re active on twitter, you know about Seesmic. I’m a proud devotee. When Justin Kistner (what UP dawg!) demoed the elegance of the desktop version  for me I promptly broke up with Twhirl and haven’t looked back. I use the mobile version as well.  Like the cool kids they are, Seemsic recently opened their desktop platform so the super geeky can now add or tweak any service to their liking. (Video on that here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NigLYdbcNf4) But just who this tech rock star anyway? A surface investigation reveals him to be an argyle sweater-wearing French guy named Johann Romefort who’s Twitter bio links to a 403 “permission denied” page and who is rumored to hold the title of Biggest Hair in Technology. How mysterious! Come meet Johann and mingle with your Beer and Blog pals at The Green Dragon this Friday from 4-6pm (which, as you know, sometimes runs from earlier than that until later than that). See you there! (And for all my WordPress buddies who’ll be joining us…did you know the Seesmic blog runs on TypePad? I’m thinking maybe someone should bring that topic up…cough.)

Special Guest, Mayor Sam Adams The final Friday of our 2nd anniversary celebration is here. So far this  month we’ve given away lots of free booze and cool stuff (courtesy of @AlaskaAir, @SexyNurd, and @DarkHorseComics) to record-breaking numbers of Beer and Bloggers. Even the staff @LaughingSquid stopped by to join in on the hoopla. Sweet! Have you been enjoying yourself so far? We hope so! And now, for our final Friday celebration, we’ve managed to work our way into the schedule of a very special guest who’s heard good things about Beer and Blog and wants to come and celebrated with us: Portland’s own Mayor Sam Adams! We’re honored by a visit from the Mayor of the city we love so much. We believe it’s the spirit of community that Portland, Oregon is known for that has kept Beer and Blog humming along, growing steady and strong like we have the past two years. Portland is Weird, it’s awesomesauce, and a visit from Sam Adams is pretty much a Seal of Portland Approval in my eyes. Please join your fellow Beer and Bloggers this Friday at the Green Dragon for the final round of cheers in celebration  of our 2nd year. We’ll start gathering at 4pm as usual, and expect the Mayor around 5:30pm. A very special W00t! to long-time Beer and Blog supporter @faddah for coordinating the introduction to Mayor’s Office
RSVP on Upcoming or get the 411 on Calagator

That’s right, time to End Bloglessness, AGAIN! Whoo-Hoo! Gather up your friends, family, or any one else you can think of who has been looking to start a blog and come join us!

Sunday, October 4th from 12:00-5:00pm Format Each session will be 1 hour: 15 minute presentation and 45 minutes of assisted help. During assisted help, attendees can raise their hands to get help from one of our assistants. Assistants are folks from the Portland tech scene that have done this process before who can help you with your questions. Agenda

Session 1 – Sign up for your blog 12:00-1:00pm; Session 2 – Dial in the settings for your blog 1:00-2:00pm; Session 3 – Intro to posting on your blog 2:00-3:00pm; Session 4 – How to promote your blog 3:00-4:00pm; 4:00-5:00pm will be an open help time to ask help with anything you’d like.

What to expect We are focusing on WordPress blogs for this workshop. We chose WordPress so that if your blog is going well enough and you need to graduate to a hosted blog, you’re data and experience will be compatible. By the time you leave the workshop, you’ll have a blog that is ready to go and some direction on how to connect with other local bloggers. We are expecting people from all skill levels, including the technically challenged. Everyone will be treated with respect and will be encouraged. We’ll be hosting the event at Webtrends. There are some computers available to use, but we highly recommend bringing your laptop if you have one as there likely won’t be enough computers for everyone. Help us get the word out! Most of the people we’re hoping to reach are either to far outside of our social circles or are offline completely. We could use your help in letting people know about this free workshop to get a blog up and running. We don’t care if your motivation to blog is personal, professional, or political; we’ll help you get one up and running.

Tweet the link to this page http://bit.ly/ufsYL Email this page to a friend RSVP on Upcoming and Calagator Tell someone in real life using your voice. Crazy, huh?

Why is this free? We’re hoping to make new friends and be good citizens. We don’t want to be an insular group, so we want to enable others to join. And, because we’re Portlanders inspired by other Portlanders to DIY and that Yes We Can.
Help out If you have experience with installing WordPress, we’d love to have you help answer people’s questions. Please leave us a comment below if you’re interested in helping!

Very soon — this Saturday and Sunday, to be exact — a mass of bloggers will pack the conference rooms of Webtrends for the 2009 WordCamp Portland. This is a fun and informative couple of days stuffed with opportunities to learn tasty tidbits about the popular open source web site software WordPress. Perhaps you’ve heard of this WordPress thing? It’s a free and mighty powerful content management system that makes hosting your own blog a snap. And with two solid days of learning such things as how to be your podcast’s dom and not its sub, how to build (and how NOT to build) a WP plugin, and how to make your blog load efficiently, you know it’s going to be where all the cool kids are. Tickets have been sold out for weeks (great job Aaron, Betsy and Dale!!) but if you were lucky enough to get your name on the attendees list I congratulate you on your good fortune! Last year I didn’t get around to buying my WordCamp ticket before it was too late, and it was torturous seeing my twitter stream inundated with remarks of camp joviality, WordPress “Ah-ha!” moments, and links to flickr images of the smiling faces of my fellow bloggers. (OK, fine. I’ll admit it. I simmered in silent resentment at some of the more active tweeters at last year’s WordCamp Portland. But all is forgiven now. Mostly.) Whether or not you’ve got yourself a ticket, please join Beer and Blog in extending a warm welcome to several WordPress speakers (and many attendees) for beers and conversation the day before the camp starting bell rings. We’ll be at the Green Dragon. I’ll be there, too, trying not to rub salt in the wounds of the ticketless. I feel your pain…and I’ll be thinking about the pain Ill be inflicting while I drown my twitter stream in bragging, gleefull tweets with the excessive use of the #wcpdx tag. You’re welcome. RSVP on Upcoming or get thee deets on Caligator…

Last Friday at Beer and Blog @evacatherder’s name was chosen from a pitcher stuffed full of the names of people hoping to win a 4G Sprint network card with a one year data plan. Judging from her tweets, Eva seems to be enjoying her new toy and I think I speak for all of us when I say we’re all very happy that she won it! It’s a pretty awesome score, no? (Thanks again for the hook-up @BMW!) This Friday we’re thrilled to give away MORE stuff, and this time the odds of winning are much better! Courtesy of Network Redux, the first 50 Beer and Bloggers that want it will get 1 free shared Internet hosting account FOR LIFE. That’s right, for a lifetime. AND the first 100 attendees get beer koozie, modeled here by Network Redux’s Director of Communication Laura Gonzales. Get koozie with Laura and Network Redux Handy and stylish, yes? And that’s not all! To sweeten this amazing FREE giveaway deal, Network Redux is also paying the tab — up to 300 buckeroos — for our beer. That’s right. FREE BEER. We know how much you like free beer. It just tastes better, doesn’t it? Starting at 4pm at the Green Dragon (on the patio, of course) a sign-up sheet will be available for the free hosting program. After that’s done you can celebrate your lifetime of hosting by ordering a complementary beer and picking out your stylish beer koozie. Will you choose the black one…or the black one? You decide. FREELY! Ha! If you want more info, head over to the Network Redux blog where Laura explains a bit more. And remember: as awesome as free is, eventually what’s free is all gone. Don’t take your sweet time getting to this Friday’s Beer and Blog or you’ll miss out on the goodies! Hope to see you there! And don’t forget to RSVP on upcoming or get yer details on Calagator