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The Little Meetup That Could A Rails Girls Atlanta Scrapbook Kylie Stradley & Pamela Vickers @RailsGirlsATL Great Wide Open 2016

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But before there can be a leadership board…

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there has to be a meetup.

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And before there can be a meetup…

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there has to be a need.

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Rails Girls Workshops • Founded by Linda Liukas & Karri Saarinen • November 2010 in Helsinki, Finland

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1st Atlanta Workshop •December 2012

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-Everyone what now?

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¯\_()_/¯ -Us

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Workshop round 2 •May 2013

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what now? -Everyone

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Come to our monthly meetup! -Us

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• Paid Meetup.com account • ! • Confirmed venue • Tweeted January 2013 (1st Meetup)

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• Assigned “homework” • Scheduled a speaker January 2013 (1st Meetup)

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January 2013 (1st Meetup) • ~20 people came • People said nice things • Used Google Hangouts for out-of-town workshop attendees

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Short Lessons • Set expectations early

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Short Lessons • Set expectations early • Order vegetarian options

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Long(er) Lessons • Not every talk is for every attendee.

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1 month later

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February 2013 Bug Fix • !+"#$ %

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February 2013 • Handpicked Project Euler problems

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• Handpicked Project Euler problems • Lower attendance despite higher RSVP count than first meetup February 2013

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& First Recruiter &

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Short Lessons • RSVP count != Attendance count (ordering food is hard) • Recruiters will find any technology meetup (but that’s not always bad)

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Long(er) Lessons • Not every talk is for every attendee. • There’s no formula for predicting attendance numbers.

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• Not every talk is for every attendee. • There’s no formula for predicting attendance numbers. • Don’t make assumptions about recruiters. Long(er) Lessons

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1 month later

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March 2013 Bug Fix

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&Our Treasurer’s 1st RGATL &

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• Not every talk is for every attendee. • There’s no formula for predicting attendance numbers. • Don’t make assumptions about recruiters. Long(er) Lessons

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• Not every talk is for every attendee. Why are some talks better than others for our meetup? • There’s no formula for predicting attendance numbers. • Don’t make assumptions about recruiters. Long(er) Lessons

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2 months later

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May 2013 ✨New feature✨ • Rolled out ToDo List project assignment • Slowly introducing Rails into the monthly assignments

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1 month later

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June 2013 ✨New feature✨ • Offered milestone 1 of the Todo List as public Github repo

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& RGATL’s half birthday &

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& Kylie’s 1st RGATL &

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2 months later

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August 2013 • Continued working through and reviewing ToDo List milestones • Bootstrap talk from ATLRUG’s Patrick van Stee to prepare for front-end focused milestone

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& Our Event Facilitator’s 1st RGATL &

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& Our Event Facilitator’s 1st RGATL &

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2 months later

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October 2013 • Jordan Killpack gave talk on building silly apps to prep for 
 our November 
 “Silly Hacks Only” aka “Wackity Hack” event

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& 1st Absentee Organizer & Community Facilitated Meetup&

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1 month later

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November 2013 ✨New Feature✨ • Regularly scheduled meetup was too close to Thanksgiving • Saturday afternoon hack event

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The good news:

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The less good news:

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Not a lot of people came to enjoy our coffee, snacks, and prizes. (

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Short Lessons • Set expectations for events, especially when hoping beginners will come to a hack event

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1 month later

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December 2013 ✨New Feature✨ • Talk given by one of our regularly attending members

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& First year of RGATL &

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& Smallest Attendance of the Year &

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& First time handling the “but I saw that you had other male members, so I figured it was fine for me to come” situation. &

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• You’re going to have awkward encounters when you organize community focused groups • Set clear expectations for who should attend your meetup Short Lessons

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• Not every talk is for every attendee. Why are some talks better than others for our meetup? • There’s no formula for predicting attendance numbers. • Don’t make assumptions about recruiters. Long(er) Lessons

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• Not every talk is for every attendee. Why are some talks better than others for our meetup? Recycle good talks. • There’s no formula for predicting attendance numbers. • Don’t make assumptions about recruiters. Long(er) Lessons

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• Not every talk is for every attendee. Why are some talks better than others for our meetup? Recycle good talks. • There’s no formula for predicting attendance numbers. Holidays make it even harder to predict. • Don’t make assumptions about recruiters. Long(er) Lessons

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1st Year Retrospective • Worked on projects and assignments as a group • Built membership base • Saw core members begin contributing in small ways

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Release Notes • Improved food ordering • Improved expectation setting for all events • Improved meetup content

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Release Notes • Improved food ordering • Order vegetarian options • There’s no formula for predicting attendance numbers

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Release Notes • Improved expectation setting for all events • Who should come • What they should bring • What they will learn

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Release Notes • Improved meetup content • Not every talk is for every attendee • Recycle good talks

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Release Notes • Improved food ordering • Improved expectation setting for all events • Improved meetup content

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1 month later

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January 2014

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Hothlanta 2014 January 2014

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Let’s try this again

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1 month later

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February 2014 Bug Fixes • Made meetup location private for non-members • Added some leading questions for new members: “Are you a lady? If not: who are you here with?”

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February 2014 (With special guests from Atlanta chapters of PyLadies, WomenWhoCode, and Systers)

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Short Lessons • Joint community events are fun • No experience required content == higher attendance and engagement

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Long(er) Lessons • Time set aside for just conversation builds stronger community connections.

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1 month later

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March 2014

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& Our Membership Outreach Coordinator’s 1st RGATL &

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Long(er) Lessons • Time set aside for just conversation builds stronger community connections.

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Long(er) Lessons • Time set aside for just conversation builds stronger community connections. • Our small meetup is a great place to foster new speakers.

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And now for something completely different

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April 2014 ✨New Feature✨

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Later that month

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April 2014 • ⚡ Lightning talks from four members ⚡

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& Our Sponsorship Coordinator’s 1st RGATL &

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Long(er) Lessons • Time set aside for just conversation builds stronger community connections. • Our small meetup is a great place to foster new speakers.

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Long(er) Lessons • Time set aside for just conversation builds stronger community connections. • Our small meetup is a great place to foster new speakers. ⚡Lightning talks⚡ are less intimidating for 1st time speakers.

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1 month later

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May 2014 • ⚡ Lightning talks ⚡

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again.

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1 month later

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June 2014 • ⚡ Lightning talks ⚡

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again?!

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Long(er) Lessons • Time set aside for just conversation builds stronger community connections. • Our small meetup is a great place to foster new speakers. ⚡Lightning talks⚡ are less intimidating for 1st time speakers.

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Long(er) Lessons • Time set aside for just conversation builds stronger community connections. • Our small meetup is a great place to foster new speakers. ⚡Lightning talks⚡ are less intimidating for 1st time speakers. • Recognize organizer fatigue.

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1 month later

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July 2014 • Attempted to revive project based meetup • Goals: make open source contributions more accessible, work on project as a group, renew excitement around shared progress

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July 2014 • Attempted to revive project based meetup • Goals: make open source contributions more accessible, work on project as a group, renew excitement around shared progress • Results: blank stares, intimidated members, no movement on any of the goals

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& Our Meetup Facilitator’s 1st RGATL &

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Long(er) Lessons • Time set aside for just conversation builds stronger community connections. • Our small meetup is a great place to foster new speakers. ⚡Lightning talks⚡ are less intimidating for 1st time speakers. • Recognize organizer fatigue.

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Long(er) Lessons • Time set aside for just conversation builds stronger community connections. • Our small meetup is a great place to foster new speakers. ⚡Lightning talks⚡ are less intimidating for 1st time speakers. • Recognize organizer fatigue. • Shape content around community’s immediate needs.

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Over the next several months

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Early Fall(ish) 2014 • Several great talks • Hit-or-miss on engagement

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Short Lessons • Just because a talk is great doesn’t mean it is great for our meetup

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Long(er) Lessons • Time set aside for just conversation builds stronger community connections. • Our small meetup is a great place to foster new speakers. ⚡Lightning talks⚡ are less intimidating for 1st time speakers. • Recognize organizer fatigue. • Shape content around community’s immediate needs.

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Long(er) Lessons • Time set aside for just conversation builds stronger community connections. • Our small meetup is a great place to foster new speakers. ⚡Lightning talks⚡ are less intimidating for 1st time speakers. • Recognize organizer fatigue. • Shape content around community’s immediate needs.

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At the end of the year

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2nd Year Retrospective • Talk based format • Became an established Atlanta meetup • More core members, and more core member involvement

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Release Notes • Improved expectation setting for events • Patched hole in Atlanta women’s meetups landscape with supplementary social meetup • Increased speaking opportunities for members • Improved talk selection based on our community’s needs


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Release Notes • Improved expectation setting for events • No experience required content == higher attendance and engagement • Time set aside for just conversation builds stronger community connections

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Release Notes • Patched hole in Atlanta women’s meetups landscape with supplementary social meetup • Joint community events are fun • Time set aside for just conversation builds stronger community connections

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Release Notes • Increased speaking opportunities for members • Our small meetup is a great place to foster new speakers • ⚡Lightning talks⚡ are less intimidating for 1st time speakers

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Release Notes • Improved talk selection based on our community’s needs • Just because a talk is great doesn’t mean it’s great for our meetup • Recognize organizer fatigue. Otherwise, content can suffer • Shape content around community’s immediate needs


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Release Notes • Improved expectation setting for events • Patched hole in Atlanta women’s meetups landscape with supplementary social meetup • Increased speaking opportunities for members • Improved talk selection based on our community’s needs


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1 month later

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January 2015 • New Year, New Environments! • Got everyone set up to do actual Ruby on Rails development in anticipation of working through a curriculum as a group

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Long(er) Lessons • Members who aren’t served directly by our content appreciated the opportunity to gain knowledge by volunteering.

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1 month later

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February 2015

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Hothlanta 2015 February 2015

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1 month later

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March 2015 • Community member presented on Ruby tool • Worked through RailsBridge curriculum

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Long(er) Lessons • Members who aren’t served directly by our content appreciated the opportunity to gain knowledge by volunteering.

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Long(er) Lessons • Members who aren’t served directly by our content appreciated the opportunity to gain knowledge by volunteering. Volunteering is easier when you have expectations about what you’ll be helping with.

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Long(er) Lessons • Members who aren’t served directly by our content appreciated the opportunity to gain knowledge by volunteering. Volunteering is easier when you have expectations about what you’ll be helping with. • Beginners like structured learning and opportunities to get help.

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1 month later

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April 2015

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April 2015

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April 2015 • Held our first RailsBridge workshop with many of the coaches coming from our own Rails Girls community. • Held a meetup to keep working on the workshop materials

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Short Lessons • Stuff happens (like a power outage resulting in no lunch ***)

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1 month later

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May 2015 • Held a meetup to keep working on the workshop materials • Ticket Giveaway for Github’s CodeConf in Nashville (several members attended)

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Long(er) Lessons • Members who aren’t served directly by our content appreciated the opportunity to gain knowledge by volunteering. Volunteering is easier when you have expectations about what you’ll be helping with. • Beginners like structured learning and opportunities to get help.

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Long(er) Lessons • Members who aren’t served directly by our content appreciated the opportunity to gain knowledge by volunteering. Volunteering is easier when you have expectations about what you’ll be helping with. • Beginners like structured learning and opportunities to get help.

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Long(er) Lessons • Members who aren’t served directly by our content appreciated the opportunity to gain knowledge by volunteering. Volunteering is easier when you have expectations about what you’ll be helping with. • Beginners like structured learning and opportunities to get help. • Going to a meetup alone for the first time is intimidating; going to a conference alone for the first time is more intimidating.

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1 month later

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June 2015 • Presentation: “Git Workflow: Little Red Riding Hood and the Big Bad Ogre” • Workshop: “Git-it Git & GitHub”

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June 2015

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June 2015

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Short Lessons • It is possible to have too much of a good thing

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1 month later

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July 2015 • One of our most popular presentations “A Day in the Life of a Full Time Developer”

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July 2015

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& Communication Coordinator’s 1st RGATL &

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Long(er) Lessons • Members who aren’t served directly by our content appreciated the opportunity to gain knowledge by volunteering. Volunteering is easier when you have expectations about what you’ll be helping with. • Beginners like structured learning and opportunities to get help. • Going to a meetup alone for the first time is intimidating; going to a conference alone for the first time is more intimidating.

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Long(er) Lessons • Members who aren’t served directly by our content appreciated the opportunity to gain knowledge by volunteering. Volunteering is easier when you have expectations about what you’ll be helping with. • Beginners like structured learning and opportunities to get help. • Going to a meetup alone for the first time is intimidating; going to a conference alone for the first time is more intimidating. • The best talks for a technology meetup aren’t always technology focused.

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1 month later

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August 2015 Bug Fix

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August 2015 Bug Fix

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August 2015 • Try out “new” study group/team ongoing project format • Provided opportunity for members to sign up as participants or coaches

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August 2015

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August 2015

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2 months later

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October 2015 • Andy Lindeman presented “Intro to Automated Testing with RSpec” (requested topic)

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Long(er) Lessons • Members who aren’t served directly by our content appreciated the opportunity to gain knowledge by volunteering. Volunteering is easier when you have expectations about what you’ll be helping with. • Beginners like structured learning and opportunities to get help. • Going to a meetup alone for the first time is intimidating; going to a conference alone for the first time is more intimidating. • The best talks for a technology meetup aren’t always technology focused.

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Long(er) Lessons • Members who aren’t served directly by our content appreciated the opportunity to gain knowledge by volunteering. Volunteering is easier when you have expectations about what you’ll be helping with. • Beginners like structured learning and opportunities to get help. • Going to a meetup alone for the first time is intimidating; going to a conference alone for the first time is more intimidating. • The best talks for a technology meetup aren’t always technology focused. • Make it easy for your community to tell you what they need.

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2 months later

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December 2015

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Short Lessons • We still don’t know how to host a hackathons

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Long(er) Lessons • Members who aren’t served directly by our content appreciated the opportunity to gain knowledge by volunteering. Volunteering is easier when you have expectations about what you’ll be helping with. • Beginners like structured learning and opportunities to get help. • Going to a meetup alone for the first time is intimidating; going to a conference alone for the first time is more intimidating. • The best talks for a technology meetup aren’t always technology focused. • Make it easy for your community to tell you what they need.

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Long(er) Lessons • Members who aren’t served directly by our content appreciated the opportunity to gain knowledge by volunteering. Volunteering is easier when you have expectations about what you’ll be helping with. • Beginners like structured learning and opportunities to get help. • Going to a meetup alone for the first time is intimidating; going to a conference alone for the first time is more intimidating. • The best talks for a technology meetup aren’t always technology focused. • Make it easy for your community to tell you what they need. • Sometimes, Rails Girls just want to have fun

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3rd Year Retrospective • Structured-learning-with- occasional-talks based format • Hosted a RailsBridge workshop • Put plans in motion to share organization responsibilities

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Release Notes • Improved volunteering opportunities for members • Provided space for members to request content • Improved food ordering • Added opportunities for community members to organize and lead

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Release Notes • Improved volunteering opportunities for members • Members who aren’t served directly by our content appreciated the opportunity to gain knowledge by volunteering • Volunteering is easier when you have expectations about what you’ll be helping with • Beginners like structured learning and opportunities to get help

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Release Notes • Provided space for members to request content • The best talks for a technology meetup aren’t always technology focused • Make it easy for your community to tell you what they need

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Release Notes • Improved food ordering

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Release Notes • Improved volunteering opportunities for members • Provided space for members to request content • Improved food ordering • Added opportunities for community members to organize and lead

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Release Notes • Improved volunteering opportunities for members • Provided space for members to request content • Improved food ordering • Added opportunities for community members to organize and lead

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Chae, Treasurer

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Megan, Communication Coordinator

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Britni, Event Facilitator

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Mallory, Membership Outreach Coordinator

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Kristin, Meetup Facilitator

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Anika, Sponsorship Coordinator

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Kylie, Co-Director

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WIP • Board terms and responsibility handoff • Sponsorship • Attaining • Maintaining • Processing and accessing funds • ✨https://opencollective.com/railsgirlsatl✨


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WIP • Setting up formalized conference buddy system when we’re given tickets (thanks GWO for all the tickets!) • Hackathons: how even

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+ hello@railsgirlsatl.com , @RailsGirlsATL - opencollective.com/railsgirlsatl ,ZMJF4USBEMFZ
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 4PGUXBSF&OHJOFFS .BJM$IJNQ
 !LZGBTU 1BNFMB7JDLFST
 QBNFMB!SBJMTHJSMTBUMDPN
 4PGUXBSF&OHJOFFSJOH.BOBHFS
 .BJM$IJNQ
 !QXOFMB ⡓ ⡘

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