Faris Chebib - Help! I'm now the leader of our Meetup group!

After attending your local dev meetup for months, you suddenly get the dreaded email: "Your Organizer just stepped down without nominating a replacement."

But the community relies on this meetup! It brings together devs from all around to engage in networking, learning, and comradery! So you step up. I mean, how hard could it be, right?

Oh no. This is much harder than you thought. You have to organize a venue, figure out refreshments, get a speaker, ensure people show up.

In this talk, you'll learn the skills need to start and sustain a vibrant meetup and tech community.

https://us.pycon.org/2019/schedule/presentation/164/

Transcript

1. Help! Help! I'm now the leader of our Meetup Group! I'm now the leader of our Meetup Group!
2. Who is this guy? Who is this guy? Started the SLCPython Meetup Group Big fan of Django meetup in Vancouver and the good old days of S.L.U.G. (Salt Lake Linux Users Group) @siraf (https://twitter.com/siraf)
6. Disclaimers! Disclaimers! This talk was originally sketched out before Teem became part of the WeWork family The views in this talk are my own and do not represent the viewpoint of The We Company or Meetup.com I am only giving advice from my personal experiences — your mileage will vary!
8. KEEP THIS GROUP GOING! KEEP THIS GROUP GOING!
9. Help! I'm now an organizer of the meetup group!
10. It's going to be ok It's going to be ok Because you're at this presentation!
11. First thing's rst: Meetup take-over checklist: Schedule a chat with the old organizer Ensure meetup.com dues are paid (Re)-Introduce yourself to your members! Plan and schedule your next meetup!
12. Seriously, it's going to be ok Seriously, it's going to be ok Because Python has a superpower...
13. The Community The Community
17. art by: <tt>@deadbinky</tt>
19. Python is Awesome Python is Awesome but but Pythonistas are Awe-Inspiring are Awe-Inspiring
20. Python wouldn't be the language it is today if it wasn't for the remarkable community.
21. The python community has never forgotten that software is written for people. Not computers.
22. Now you get to orchestrate a community experience!
23. Community Experience Community Experience
24. What the Heck is "Community Experience"? What the Heck is "Community Experience"? Any gathering of people is a community experience. Airports Rodeos PyCon
25. Your meetup is just small-scale PyCon
26. Community de nes Python Community de nes Python
27. So how do I run a successful meetup? So how do I run a successful meetup?
28. 1. Go to Meetups or PyCon
29. ...Oh, look at that, you're already here!
30. Absorb your experience Absorb your experience What was your favourite experience at PyCon? Copy it Improve it
31. Keep a consistent date Keep a consistent date Start with no more than one meetup a month Be sure it’s the same time every month For example, SLCPython meets up on the rst Wednesday of each month at the University of Utah.
32. In [3]: # First Wednesday of the month -- SLCPython meetup from datetime import datetime from dateutil.rrule import rrule from dateutil.rrule import MONTHLY, WE first_slcpython = datetime(2014, 2, 1, 19, 30) rr = rrule(freq=MONTHLY, byweekday=(WE(1),), dtstart=first_slcpython, count=5) print_dtlist(rr) 2014-02-05 19:30:00 2014-03-05 19:30:00 2014-04-02 19:30:00 2014-05-07 19:30:00 2014-06-04 19:30:00
33. Venue Venue This can prove to be the hardest thing to get
34. Venue Ideas: Venue Ideas: Your local library! Your local college or university Reach out to local companies with intention of maintaining a consistent location
35. WeWork Community Associate or Community Lead of Hospitality Are they speakers or presenters? /shrug
36. Every meetup you host is an opportunity to nd speakers Encourage members to step up and try giving a talk You will likely be the rst speaker at your meetup.
37. Sponsorship / Money Sponsorship / Money Run a good meetup and the sponsorship is easy.
38. Follow these three guidelines and you will be able to solve 99% of your issues: 1. Ensure a timeslot to mention sponsors. 2. Don’t let sponsors dominate the conversation 3. Use open accounting to maintain the books. It’s stupid-easy with Meetup.com. Example: -- https://www.meetup.com/SLCPython/money (https://www.meetup.com/SLCPython/money)
39. Be Human Be Human A good tech meetup is 20% tech and 80% networking.
40. This is just another continuation of scaling PyCon.
41. Continue going to other meetups to get a sense of your tech community's needs. Never ever forget: Everyone starts with some ability to use tech. The tech community surpasses race, gender, creed, and welcomes all who take the time to make it to your meetup to better themselves as a human being. If your members are taking the time to go to your meetup, make sure you're taking the time to make them feel welcome. Sometimes I feel like I'm not full- lling that as well as I could, but hey -- let's all improve then, eh?
42. What could a basic Agenda look like?
43. This: https://t2m.io/a8aZqeuF (https://t2m.io/a8aZqeuF)
45. SLCPython's Meetup Agenda SLCPython's Meetup Agenda
46. Now, let's turn to a high-level overview of this agenda
47. Networking / Pizza Introduce yourself to new members and introduce them to others
48. Intros / Sponsors Intros / Sponsors Talk about other local meetups Introduce new members, or let them introduce themselves. Let the sponsors give their speil, or give it for them ☺
49. Who's Hiring? Who's Hiring? This is another opportunity to funnel the many meetup.com messages towards something more practical.
50. Who's Looking? Who's Looking? Community News: Community News: Local (Guido is coming to Utah!) Global (Guido is announcing Python 4!)
51. Talks Talks
52. This is just PyCon, but smaller You will likely have to give the rst talk to “seed” the meetup group.
53. I believe in you though!
54. Ensure you always have a beginner Python talk Admittedly, this is something we struggled with initially, but when there's no one to give a more formal talk, we still try to take 15 minutes to review some beginner python.
55. Coach your members' rst talks
56. They may be great, but more than likely, they're going to need mentorship! Record & Stream your meetups as soon as possible! OBS is a great program and runs on everything: https://obsproject.com/ (https://obsproject.com/)
57. Ra e Prizes! Ra e Prizes!
59. Soiree! Soiree!
60. Once a year you should celebrate your members and their community.
67. Meetup Open Space at PyCon, right after this talk Meetup Open Space at PyCon, right after this talk
68. Room 16 at 16:00
69. More Resources & Inspiration More Resources & Inspiration https://wiki.python.org/moin/StartingYourUsersGroup (https://wiki.python.org/moin/StartingYourUsersGroup)
70. Special Thanks Special Thanks
72. AMA! (Perhaps in the hallway? ☺) AMA! (Perhaps in the hallway? ☺)
73. Oh, and if you're ever in Salt Lake City... Oh, and if you're ever in Salt Lake City... Come to a meetup! Come to a meetup! meetup.com/SLCPython
74. Thank You! Thank You!