so back when Covid happened a lot of PHP meetups sort of ceased existing because you know they got out of the rhythm they got out of the flow and as part of that you know we've lost a lot of that connection that we've had over the years um and Chris Morel has come up with this bright idea to create this thing called phbx which is brand new meet UPS and uh just kinda get the community back together uh so welcome to the show Chris and uh tell us a little bit about this uh thing you're starting
thanks uh I'm happy to be here I I don't wanna take full credit for it uh for sure um I think that you know really Joe Tannenbaum uh is responsible for the the phpx name um and there was there was really a sort of a community conversation about this idea a little while ago um that a bunch of people kind of contributed to so I I definitely you know I definitely agree though like I way back when I was pretty involved in a bunch of local meetups I was involved with a PHP meetup
I was involved with a couple other tech meetups um and I felt like even before Covid a lot of the meet up culture was kinda going away I don't know if that was unique to Philadelphia and I certainly know there are other cities that have had uh strong meet UPS and and we have some um but it felt like it was changing I don't know if it was like a changing of the guard and and the new folks um weren't quite ready to to organise or I I don't know what happened um you know I know
I know for me it's like I had kids I had other things that I needed to do I was less able to be involved um and it felt like Covid was like the death blow ha ha you know for anyone else who did still uh exist or any any meet up that did exist it felt like that was that was what put it to an end you know there there were some meet UPS that kept on doing online events and that was fantastic but for the most part um and so then when uh you know when things started to open up
and I started to go to laricons again specifically I know for myself I was just like I can't only have this once a year you know like the I I I feel like in a lot of ways one of the few upsides of Covid for me was I got to connect with this like developer community online in a new way um I think I I had to put myself out there to kinda say sane ha um and I made some real connections that way um you can pop it with me big meet up of a bunch of friends you know um that was my experience uh
two years ago that was my experience with this one um and so yeah after that first lyric on us uh it just felt like okay we need we need something like this in Philly um thank you and I know a bunch of other people were talk kinda talking about it so I started up a group I can't even remember what we called it it was just Phil you know Philadelphia PHP or I think it was um I think we were talking about making it a little bit more focused on just general open source not PHP specifically um
and we had a couple people it was the three of us met at a pizza shop you know that uh huh and at the same time Joe started up PHP NYC um and frankly he just did a better job of promoting it and uh you know and and he you know his energy was just really right um and so he he got that first New York meet up going um and so like I've been able to kind of play we've been playing on the that energy and the and the like interest that's come from that we've had a bunch of people
in New York come down to Philly even Connecticut and all sorts of sorts of you know that's it's surprising how far people have travelled and then a bunch of Philly people have come up to the New York events so there's like a little bit of cross colonization there um and so yeah now we're you know we're on our third we just had our third meet up we went from from three people in a pizza shop well I guess technically fourth right three people in a pizza shop to six people to um you know I
I guess no and like what you are so cute and I know that New York has been doing the same um and it's been awesome I mean I could just keep on going but I feel like I've just been speaking non stop for 10 minutes so no worries you know it's funny cause I here in I'm in Charlotte and we used to have a fairly big PHP meet up group and it like you said it just fizzled out and like I don't know if it was just like too much headache of planning around it or you know if it was once a month
so people just kind of like overwhelmed um but then I actually met you we went to the PHP in um Spartanburg not Spartanburg Greenville yeah upstate PHP which is only like two hours from Charlotte maybe an hour and a half but you know it was so it was so much fun it was like I don't remember the meetups being this much fun and it's definitely something everybody should do and just you know meet the local community meet the local developers cause it's um those I mean they've put on a couple events
but getting to go down there and get to see everybody it was it was really fun for sure for sure um so you're this PHP X thing so so Joe Tanobob started PHP X NYC and then you you did PHP X Philly and then now it's sort of catching on and how many I I think in the last two days I've seen what two three four more people already um starting them in in their uh cities it is awesome it's like all the sudden everyone who kind of had been thinking about it is coming out of the woodwork
or coming out of the woodwork um and I think a few people maybe bought to means but weren't sure what they were gonna do if they were gonna do it yet um but yeah someone I saw I guess I saw um I wanna say it was Jace um Jace um Languasco posted something about an Atlanta meet up and I just replied hey if you want uh the the way I built PHP xfili is you know it's it's a multi tenant app it's ready to like host other meetups cause I've been thinking about this a lot um and and you know
he was like yeah like I don't wanna have to build this site haha and then sort of in reaction to that uh Andy New House was like well let's add Chicago um and then uh oh my God um and so I think I think that's the list yeah like in the last few days we've got uh Atlanta Chicago Minneapolis we also have Saint Louis starting up um and then there's like there's the Greenville meet up there's a there's a really strong meet up run by uh Ron Northrip in Lexington uh Kentucky
the Kentucky Peachp User Users Group um so now you know I've started to like build out this idea of there's the sort of internal network of HPX and then there's sort of the external network of of uh you know sister sister organizations um and you know we're we're starting to have that conversation about like how do we make make this network or this system like a little bit more flexible to support a bunch of different meetups um and I have a lot of ideas there I was gonna say
this is sort of coming at a perfect time because if I'm not mistaken like the the old like meet up.com or whatever um had recently just like went way up on their pricing and everything and it's it's making it sort of expensive just to try to run a meet up um you know so having some sort of system outside of that would be you know super sweet yeah I mean the nice thing about meet up.com is that it was not just a platform for hosting your meet UPS it was also a way to let people find meet UPS
you know but that has been I mean that has changed I don't think most people think to go to meet up.com now um the first the first like sort of proper PHP x filly um we we have a a a co organizer Andrew Meade who's hosted the events at his office down uh down south Philly and um you know it was him and me and a couple people we knew but uh it was kind of amazing we just had one complete random stranger walk in who had just found the meet up on meet up.com and came and and they were like
just an incredible addition to the group because um you know it went from a handful of people who kind of knew each other to like you know more of that like meet up feel which was really fun um so I'm still a little torn on meet up.com but it is nice to have an option especially for smaller groups that don't wanna to pay that fee for sure right yeah I was gonna say and you know you've got you've got to be able to add an API so that way I can pull um all the future meetups into Louisville news
and then that way I can share them out with the Louisville community at least I know I know you're going more generic with like PHP but you know I feel like the Louisville ecosystem is big enough to wear you know what might would help market through all that um and then the other thing is like are you thinking I mean this is sort of I know this is all came about in like the last what 10 days or something um but are you thinking of like more long term things like maybe even like having you know
resources available if you want to start meet UPS um you know like a a crew of speakers you can like sit around that's willing to go anywhere things like that yeah that's the dream um I think they're organising a meet up it's it can be daunting um you know you can do it in a pretty low key way that's what we do in Philly and that's kind of uh how I survive it because if I tried to do it quote unquote the right way I think that it just it would just mean that I never scheduled another event
um so we kinda just pick a date that seems to work and stop and I think that's fine um but even that uh can be a little daunting and so yeah I've been thinking a lot 4 5 6 what can we do to make it easier for other groups to sort of learn from the lessons that we've Learned and sort of pool resources around sponsors and around speakers other things like that you know I don't mind I I I'm happy to buy a couple pizzas and and some uh drinks and stuff like that but you know
I don't want that that could be a burden for someone uh who's running a meet up I a place that that can offer space for free mean look um and so I wanna find a way to uh build maybe a directory of all cars that were on me um and some resources for meetups to to to use around organizing and promoting and um you know even things like okay uh 25 people rsvp'd how many people are likely to actually show right like that's a that's a calculation that you have to kind of figure out
because it's not 25 um and you know that first that first meet up where uh six people showed I I walked home with uh you know two and a half whole pizzas ha ha ha um which is fine you know but figuring that stuff out like it cause that makes it much harder because right and now yeah I was gonna say you you kinda touched on that but like even the sponsorships like it seems like as a company it would be much easier just to send a check to I don't know
phpx and then let you just divvy this out to how you know whatever meet up needs it um versus you know um going to each one individually um could be I could be wrong on that but that's just where my head goes as a business owner I'm like well if I could just send it to one place and I'm done that would be seems easier well there there's also you know you can also think about it as they can sponsor the or the group and you know potentially get their logo not just on the Philly meet up site
but also on the site you know the sites for all the groups at the same time there are some benefits there yeah I've been looking at um you know the PHP Foundation uses Open Collective um and Open Collective is a platform for um this type of thing you know like uh organizing fundraising and the cool thing is they maintain the legal entity um and and do some of the governance side of things um so it's potentially a way to have sort of a you know an official entity that could hold some
you know hold some money and distribute some money um and they they build in a lot of ways to make that really transparent which is really cool um and that way cause I you know the thing I don't wanna do is I don't wanna like just have people send me send me checks and then like send you know send out uh venmos to you know I'm I'm I'm not interested in doing that but um I think that there's an opportunity there I don't know you know that it that's a little daunting I'm gonna be honest um
so someone is listening to this that's like hey I I love doing that side you know I wanna get involved and I I would be a good person to to do some of the administrative and organizational side of things definitely reach out because um I am really interested in seeing it happen I'm willing to put some personal money into like setting that up if that's necessary but like I don't know if I can commit the time right yeah that was that's the enemy of everybody right haha well um and then I guess
so most of the phpx group so far are sort of what northeast like located I guess they're all pretty drivable right um except for like Atlanta and upstate I guess most of them are more um more directed that way um is there any reason you see that or if it just not expanded out west yet yeah I don't know um I think it's just it just is kinda how it happened to to fall um and uh yeah if there are folks you know if there are folks out there that are interested
like definitely Reach out and even if it's a if it's a an existing PHP user group or a Laraville meetup or whatever um well I'll add you to the externals list you know might as well get everybody in the same place and yeah I'm I already have a an API that that gets a list of the groups um also put together an API that gets a list of the meet up so then you know sites like Laraville News could that's right yeah that would be sweet um I was gonna say as an organizer and as as a you know
meet up attendee what do you think is best like an in depth speaker or the show and tale stuff or do you just like a mix of everything I think in my experience so far and it's relatively limited uh this time around at least I think that they draw different groups and I think that they all have different uh value you know when we had uh nothing that were clearly there because they wanted to do this sort of like you know professional development side of the meet up um and weren't necessarily
as interested in the social side um when we had more of an informal thing you know that allowed um a different kind of conversation happen although that that happens before and after anyway but um the sort of smaller social meet up you know it was really nice to just like sit down with people and talk about the the word word press uh you know nonsense and uh I can't remember exactly what else was going on then but um so I I think that at least we're peach be Philly and um I look
like mixing social uh show and tell and like proper presentations uh is a really good way to sort of like connect with a bunch of different people um another thing that we're talking about doing is like uh you know a PHP filly like axe throwing it together or like a go kart racing or rock climbing or whatever you know like come on but just like let's get together in different settings and like maybe do an escape room together or something like that or you know um so I think that's interesting
we haven't tried it yet but I I really like the mix and I think it the different types of events like meet different types of people in the right way yeah I I actually like that idea um cause I remember like so we we both went to the upstate PHP meet up back in band uh it was the two ago was the one I went to it was back back in the summer I think but anyway we all went early and we just had lunch hung out you know I I think it you actually had a hotel room so we were all everybody went up there
we just hung out for a little bit and then and then we walked over and it was great just sort of being away from like having to listen to a talk we're just like you know talking and just make be you know becoming friends basically in real life and then uh so it's always great to have those you know outside of just hate you have to learn at this meet up thing haha I mean also it's hard it's hard to get a speaker for every event and I I know for certain that there are meet UPS that
basically died because the organizer ended up having to speak at at at like all the meet UPS that they couldn't get a speaker for and like that just became too much of a burden um so I think setting things up in the beginning where it's like we're not gonna do that same format every time is is definitely a good way to go and like experiment with different different ways of getting together yeah that's true um what do you think um as far as like PHP Philly some of these other ones I know um
upstate PHP does it quarterly are you gonna try to do monthly or quarterly or do you have um what do you know what's best I don't know I I am calling it bimonthly ish um I think that probably being on a regular schedule makes a lot of sense and and maybe someday we will um right now being a little bit more flexible is just what makes it work for for Andrew and myself and um I just think that's that's just better but I think um excuse me I think that monthly is hard to pull off
I think quarterly is great I think I for me bimonthly feels like a really good cadence because it's a little bit more frequent but you have enough space and time to figure out each event um I think it also probably depends on like sort of the size of the the region right if you're in a bigger city you can probably do more frequent events because even if not everyone shows for each event like you're good um if you're in a smaller region I don't know why because you need to like
kinda rely on a core group of people to show um just because there's fewer people around you know so that probably makes a big big impact yes I love that I'm I'm very I'm very much here for the user group resurgence um I think I think it's gonna be great for the community great for developers it's just gonna build everybody up in the end if all this kind of works out and people start getting together more often than just big tech conferences you know once or twice a year
yeah the tech conferences are awesome I mean Lara Con is such an incredible event Lara Con US so I will say it is impossible for me we came out of profit yes well the the problem I run into at these big conversations is there's just too many people to you can't spend a whole lot of time with each individual um before the conference is over and then you're like oh man it's like I really want to talk to them but oh well I I missed them ha ha yeah even at even at 22 I couldn't get to
really have a conversation with everybody in the room at the last PHP Philly it's you know really if you wanna have like real actual conversations with people there's only so many that those that you can do in a night right mm hmm for sure for sure well um Chris I wanna thank you tremendously for you know taking time out your day and tell me all about this new PHB thing that's that you've been working on cause I I keep seeing it all over um the blue sky feed uh
which is also making the resurgence and uh it's it's kinda cool to see see all this coming together and everybody you know being pumped about it so I'm I'm super excited to see where this goes you know the next few months yeah absolutely I can't wait to see you you know another dozen of these pop up over the next couple months let's make it happen for sure for sure and I'll have uh links to all these in the show notes links to Chris's uh socials so you can reach out to him if you you know wanna
wanna start one or have questions or anything like that um but um if if I didn't leave if I didn't leave leave anything out and if you want anything go ahead um but um no I mean the only thing that I I would follow that up with is you know if if you're out there and you're interested in getting together with other people um even if you're not sure about set you know organizing a meet up yourself um I think the next one of the next things that I wanna add to this like HPX um
event system is sort of a a way to show interest or a way like sort of a a placeholder type um meet up so you know what let's set up your city and see if anyone sort of shows up and and go from there so you don't even have to necessarily commit to to fully organising and again if if you run an existing you know PP user group a Laravale user group meet up whatever it is um and you wanna get added to the list definitely reach out cause I'd love to you know I'd love to get uh
as many of these meet UPS out there and it and as much as much exposure as possible for them sweet that sounds awesome well thanks again and man it was a blast as always talking to Chris absolutely thanks for having me