We’d like to introduce you to Build Guild Louisville. Build Guild is a monthly gathering of web folks that enjoy chatting over drinks. If you’ve been to a Refresh event over the past year, this sounds a lot like what you’ve been involved in: drinking beer and talking about the web on a regular basis and not much else. It’s simple and it’s perfect. So what gives?

Refresh Louisville has become something it’s not. It is supposed to be centered around gatherings, sharing of ideas often through presentations or intentional sharing, organization, planning and discussions around one or more focused topic. That’s great, but it’s not what we’ve become. Maintaining the group the way it was intended became an administrative headache that I gave up on long ago. I’ll be honest and say that this move centers mainly around administration and overall how the group is maintained.

So when I heard about Build Guild from a friend in the Boston area and looked at their site I found myself thinking “hey, that’s what we are!” Except it wasn’t what we were supposed to be. It seemed like setting aside Refresh and creating a Build Guild chapter was a logical transition for the people who attend. It’s just easier.

The beautiful thing for me is that the founders actually care about their groups. You don’t just get a domain name, copy some text and call yourself a chapter (no offense to Refresh). I spent about an hour on the phone with the gents who created the initial chapter and still run it today. They care about their brand and want to make sure their chapters are going to be around for the long haul. They have a Basecamp account for all “leaders” to collaborate, share ideas, bitch and complain. They care so much that they prefer each chapter to have not 1 leader but 2, sharing co-leadership responsibilities. I thought of many people who have been a part of the group for years but knew sir Bryan Volz was my go-to guy to help keep things truckin. He agreed and after some deep soul-searching from both Bryan and myself as well as the Build Guild guys, we agreed to start a Louisville chapter.

So, there you have it. Lots of people are asking me why we’re doing this and I hope this helps explain. Come on out on the 3rd Tuesday in October to kick off the new group with us, drink beer and exchange high fives. Mustaches are optional but strongly recommended.