Please come out and Socialize with Chicago WordPress MeetUp Group members in our first official Summer Social event on Friday, June 19, 2009, 5:30 PM – 9:00 PM.
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The 2009 Chicago Blog Awards will take place on Monday, September 28, 2009. The gala event will begin after an all-day workshop and expo featuring advanced WordPress and WordPress MU. The event will start at 9:00 AM and last until 9:00 PM in the evening.
Logistics and details will be announced later in June. Here’s a rundown of the exciting all day and early evening event so far:
Chicago Blog Awards 2009
Awards and honors will be given to:
1. Top 25 Chicago Blogs (out of 100)
2. Chicago Social Media and Marketing (FB Page, MySpace) Awards
3. Top Chicago Microblogging (Twitter) Awards
4. Top Chicago Photo (Flickr) Awards
5. Top Chicago Video (YouTube, Vimeo, Veoh, etc) Awards
6. Top Chicago Mobile Blog Awards
An all-day, advanced WordPress Workshop, targeted at agency professionals, companies and power users, will feature:

Advanced WordPress Workshop
MyWPLife.com Newspaper Workshop and Expo
1. Domain Name Setup, Hosting and MySQL Setup for WordPress
2. Advanced Blogging Using WordPress and WordPress MU
- Setup
- Theme Selection and Design
- Writing and Importing
- Photos, Video, MP3s, PDFs
- Comments
- Stats (Google Analytics, WordPress Stats, etc)
- Custom Admin Features in 2.8
- WordPress MU
- Search Engine Optimization (SEO)
3. Social Marketing and Media Plugins
4. Monetizing (eCommerce, Ad Sales, Donate Buttons and More)
5. Printed Version of your Blog, Blog Books, Publishing Your Blog
6. Special Events, Event Marketing, MeetUps (Ticket Sales, Admission, Sponsorships)
7. Advanced Facebook Page Setup (FBML)
8. Flickr Uploading and Advanced Photo Tagging
9. Hands-On Video Uploading on YouTube, Veoh, Vimeo
10. Advanced Twitter Techniques
A limited number of Expo Booth and Event Sponsorships will be available.
Attendance, via sponsored scholarships, will be free and open to the public by invitation from this website in a few weeks.
All members of Chicago WordPress MeetUp Group will be admitted free of charge and receive special advance invitations to both the Chicago Blog Awards ceremony and Advanced WordPress and WordPress MU workshop. Look for notification via the Chicago WordPress MeetUp Group mailing list.
For more information please contact Dante @ 312-446-7600 (cell).

Chicago Blog Awards 2009 in Association with Chicago WordPress Meetup Group and MyWPLife.com Newspaper.
For more information on Chicago Blog Awards 2009 please visit the below links:
- Chicago Blog Awards Website
- Chicago Blog Awards Facebook Fan Page
- Chicago Blog Awards Twitter Profile
Be sure to follow Chicago Blog Awards on Twitter for up to the ‘Tweet’ information.

Chicago WordPress Meetup Group April Meeting Photos are Online at Meetup.com Website and Facebook Page.
Here are links to Chicago WordPress Meetup Group April 25th Meeting photos below:
- Meetup.com Website
- Chicago WordPress Meetup Group Facebook Fan Page
- Chicago Blog Awards Facebook Fan Page
Enjoy!
Join Chicago WordPress Meetup Group on Saturday, April 25, 3:00 PM for our monthly meetup. For more information visit: http://meetup.com/mywplife.
Location Change
Our new location will be ING DIRECT Cafe Chicago, located at the below address:
- ING DIRECT Cafe
- 21 East Chestnut Street, Chicago IL
- Phone: 312-981-1236

ING DIRECT Cafe, 21 East Chestnut, Chicago, IL. April 25, 2009 Chicago WordPress Meetup group location. Meet inside Orange 'Ball' left of entrance.
Map of ING Cafe Location
Build Themes and Use WordPress to Create Amazing Sites
One of the best books I am currently reading on how to design for WordPress is How to be a Rockstar WordPress Designer. An early scan of its 303 pages makes it a must read. I recommend it. There is a companion website as well. More details to follow as I plow through the chapters and examples.




























