Chris Ross (@darkrock on twitter), as part of his excellent talk on defining success on the App Store at iOSDevUK last week, said something that resonated with me. Based around the topic of iterating and evolution, Chris said that collaboration helps to bring great ideas to the forefront and to filter out the bad ones.

Coming from Brighton, Chris has access to a plethora of dense tech talent in a relatively small area, and as he discussed how he found his business partner through the Brighton iPhone Creators meetup, he said something really quite profound.

If a local group exists, join it. If it doesn't, create one.

Chris Ross

This caused an almost involuntary tweet to spring, via my fingers, from my brain:

What say you, @daveaddey – shall we start one in the midlands? #iosdevuk

— Anthony Williams (@abitgone) September 8, 2011

The response from Dave Addey and other midlands-based attendees was encouraging enough for us to get together during the BarCamp that evening and fix a date and a venue – or, in this case, two venues.

When and where?

We're going to meet up on every fourth Thursday of the month, and we're going to alternate the venue on a two-month basis.

Starting on September 22nd this year, we'll meet in Leamington Spa on the odd months of the year – that'll be January, March, May, July, September and November. I'll be speaking to people at The White Horse, The Sozzled Sausage and The Fox who all have rooms that would be available for such a gathering.

Then, starting on October 27th this year, we'll meet in Birmingham on the even months of the year – that'll be February, April, June, August and October. I imagine you may have other things on you rmind, or be somewhere else on the fourth Thursday of December, so we'll have a festive break during that month. I've already spoken to people at Birmingham Science Park Aston who would be very happy to host us for such an event.

As for a name, we've gone for "iOS Midlands Meetup" – if you've got a better idea, I'm all ears – the events are listed on Lanyrd as "iOS Midlands Meetup" (or just subscribe to the events in your calendar) so if you're interested in attending, please add yourself on Lanyrd.

So the local group now exists. All you need to do now is join it.