If you are interested in being a part of the upcoming user group, which is forming chapters both nationally and internationally, you should join the forum for the user group here and take part in the polls they have, which will determine the group's name and focus.
The goal of these user groups will be to have fun and meet new people with similar interests in online journalling and weblogging. I suspect there will be a lot of other activities growing around the user groups, such as picnics, movie nights, and other social events, but they'll also be a great place to share ideas and learn things too. There is a lot of chatter starting up by people wanting to create new groups all over the place, so if you are looking for a user group in your area, this is the place to find it. Don't be afraid to post, asking for others in your area... that's how gatherings get started, after all.
The user group forum is also a great place to announce parties and gatherings. If any of you want to throw a local LiveJournal gathering sometime, think about announcing it on the forum too, and opening it up to all those other webloggers, diarists, and journalers in your area. There are a lot of cool people out there, living their lives on the Internet just like us.
LiveJournal is an open source project. We should not only be a strong community here, but we should be an active part of the larger community too. After all, we've earned a bit of respect and a seat at the table... Let's take it!
Go LJ!
m.