The idea of Word Up! hatched into this world sometime in August 2000 in the office cubicles of Chong See Ming and Koon Mei Ching at JobStreet.com. The void of a forum for content professionals and free agents was begging for a good fix! See Ming had a large network of media/content contacts in Malaysia, and Mei Ching was looking out to meet with other editors and to scout for freelance writers. It seemed only logical to give it a go!

The non-profit networking group was set up both for the benefit of the talent hunters and novices wishing to expand their portfolio or break into the arena of writing and content development. The content field is notoriously difficult to penetrate and feels entirely cliquey if you haven't been privy to the right stack of business cards. We wanted to give the editors/companies a wider pool of talent to choose from, provide an avenue for aspiring writers and content producers to break into the field and build up their portfolio, and finally, build an inclusive community to help that made the world of content a little cosier.

Word Up! Events are essentially gatherings of people, passionate about or involved in the production of content in traditional and new media. The physical events take place in an informal and comfortable setting - cosy pubs, hip clubs or delicious restaurants - once a month. Since its inception, our numbers per gathering have grown from 28 to circa 100 per event. The mailing list we started to support the gathering, has grown to over 1000 in membership to date (last updated November 2005)…and these numbers will be null and void by tomorrow as more join in!

Looking back through the years and all its fickle trends, we are proud to say that Word Up! has maintainted its vision and achieved what it set out to do; expand our community's horizons, widen and deepen the content pool of talent, inspire novices to plunge into the swirling pool of writing and bring friends together down at the pub.

Most of all, it is really the remarkable community of Word Up-pians who have made this possible. And to all of you, kudos and salutations, our friends!

** And for a completely different angle on who we are, try this for character flavour: Word Up! is a 25-30 year old female acquaintance, mysteriously sexy, intellectually stimulating and very vibrant. Friendly but not loud, knowledgeable about the editorial/publishing world, organised - yet, thankfully, not anal, dabbles in multimedia design, an ardent fan of theatrical arts. Not one afraid of taking risks and sees the world full of opportunity - you might say an always-full glass type. She is currently single and dating.

Word Up! Events are essentially gatherings of people, passionate about or involved in the production of content in traditional and new media. The physical events take place in an informal and comfortable setting - cosy pubs, hip clubs or delicious restaurants - once a month.
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