Growing a Tech
Community
Luke Melia
GORUCO
June 21st, 2014
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About this Rubyist
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About this Rubyist
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What am I going to cover?
★ Tips and tricks for growing a tech
community in NYC
★ Mostly ideas I’ve put to the test
growing Ember.js NYC.
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What is so special about
Ember.js NYC? 5
49 events
since April 2012
1100 members
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What is so special about
Ember.js NYC? 5
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What is so special about
Ember.js NYC? 6
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What is so special about
Ember.js NYC? 6
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Top Ten Tips for Growing a
Great Tech Community
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Tip #10 8
★ Think like a promoter
★ Build anticipation with out-of-town speakers
★ Spread awareness with joint events with
other meetups
★ Try not to schedule against “competitive”
meetups
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★ Nurture your speakers
★ Always be recruiting
★ Help with prep
★ Give positive reinforcement
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Tip #8 10
★ Use the ‘net!
★ Meetup.com
★ Twitter
★ YouTube
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Beyond the walls: video
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★ Partner with venues
★ Find a win-win situation with a
event host
★ Take care of the relationship
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Tip #6 16
★ Be welcoming
★ Emcee
★ Connect people
★ Engage people
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Tip #5 18
★ Food and drink is how
humans bond.
★ Don’t neglect “the
event after the event.”
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★ Share the work
★ Enlist help
★ Delegate liberally
★ Embrace volunteer efforts
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Tip #3 21
★ Trumpet your values
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I loved the ethos of the Ruby
community…
★ There was no corporate dictator. No
Sun, no Microsoft.
★ MINASWAN: “Matz is nice and so we
are nice.”
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I talk frequently at our events
about “Why Hacker Hours?”
★ In the beginning, it is vision
★ Eventually, it is truth
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Tip #2 24
★ Consistency wins.
★ Hack: Always schedule next meetup
before the one that is about to
happen.
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Tip #1 25
★ Small is beautiful.
★ Small groups facilitate bonding and
foster a supportive environment
★ Everything big started off small…
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The May 30th [2006] meeting
of the NYC Ruby user’s group
was incredibly well attended.
By a lot of nerds. -@jcn