Art of Community: Building Thriving Meetups

This talk is for anyone that enjoys attending developer events and have considered starting their own local Meetup group.

In this talk you'll walk away with:
1. Three Prescriptive principles to follow in building meetups that has made Code & Coffee meetups successful
2. The two types of tech meetups
3. An actionable checklist to work on to ensure your group's success on Meetup platform

Additional Context:
"Thriving" is defined as sustainable and resilient.

A talk was performed at AWS Community Day DMV 2023.

Talk Summarized -> https://bit.ly/awscodecoffee

Transcript

1. B U I L D I N G T H R I V I N G M E E T U P S Art of Community Steve Chen Executive Director of Code & Coffee
2. Hi! I’m Steve!
3. A coding meetup community to make friends and grow. O U R M I S S I O N C O L L E C T I V E E S T A B L I S H E D I N 2 0 2 2
4. B Y T H E N U M B E R S in operation members as a Collective 30 US cities 30,000 2 years united volunteers 80+ in-person events monthly or bi- weekly. on Meetup.com collectively. multiple meetups under one 501c3 umbrella. across gender, ability, age, identity. 7 , 0 0 0 I N N Y C C O L L E C T I V E
5. M Y P A T H I N T O S O F T W A R E D E V ( 2 0 1 6 - 2 0 2 2 ) Founded DC Design & Donuts Facilitating Meetups 2019 Attended 1-3 meetups a week Attended first NoVA Code & Coffee Dropout to Developer 2016 Attending communities 2017 Revival of in- person meetups 2021 A career-switch into Community Building 2022 - Organized DC Code & Coffee alongside friends Had 100 coffee chat phone calls with 100devs in 100 days. After a few months... they called back! We added 3 cities PER MONTH from Sept ‘22 to March ‘23 Created NYC Code & Coffee 2020 B A C K G R O U N D
6. Code & Coffee became a 501c3 collective. Hosted the local DC FrontRunners JS conference! Rebooted Product & Pastries as a community-led meetup W H A T I ’ V E B E E N U P T O ( 2 0 2 3 ) B A C K G R O U N D
7. P R E - E V E N T M A R K E T I N G - L I N E U P P O S T E R S B A C K G R O U N D B U I L D I N G N A T I O N A L B R A N D ( 2 0 2 3 )
8. P O S T - E V E N T M A R K E T I N G M O R E A T S T E V E C H E N . D E V & L I N K E D I N B A C K G R O U N D
9. T H R I V I N G M E E T U P C O M M U N I T I E S ...And now for Building W I T H E X A M P L E S F R O M
10. M E E T U P S 1 0 1 Three Principles of any sustainable and resilient community 1. 2. Community-led and Company-led Meetups 3. A few tips to get started Bonus: Code, Coffee, & Checklist 0 / 3
11. O F A L L T H R I V I N G C O M M U N I T I E S The Three Principles W I T H E X A M P L E S F R O M 1 / 3
12. T R U S T I S B U I L T T H R O U G H C O N S I S T E N T A C T I O N S T H A T D E M O N S T R A T E C A R E , C O M P E T E N C E , A N D I N T E G R I T Y . 1.Trust 1 / 3
13. H O W C O D E & C O F F E E M E E T U P S B U I L D T R U S T 1.Consistent bi-weekly or monthly events. 2.Listen to attendees and prioritize feedback through inner circles. 3. Allow folks to self-elect to join an inner-circle of volunteers 1 / 3
14. I S T H E F E E L I N G O F B E I N G A C C E P T E D A N D V A L U E D B Y A G R O U P O F P E O P L E . 2. Belonging T H E “ W H Y ” O F C R E A T I N G C O M M U N I T Y 1 / 3
15. B E L O N G I N G I N M A S L O W ’ S H I E R A C H Y O F N E E D S Belonging is essential for human well-being, as it provides a sense of meaning, purpose, and identity. 1 / 3
16. H O W W E B U I L D B E L O N G I N G Defined boundaries and Value Also on our Meetup pages! 1 / 3
17. H O W W E B U I L D B E L O N G I N G Community Rituals and Stories Attendees share a bit about themselves and feel seen/heard. Intro circle near the beginning of each event. 1 / 3
18. T H E C O N D I T I O N O F B E I N G P R O T E C T E D F R O M H A R M O R I N J U R Y W H I L E P A R T I C I P A T I N G W I T H I N A G R O U P 3.Safety 1 / 3
19. “Safety is essential for creating a culture of belonging because it allows members to be vulnerable, authentic, and trusting with each other” S A F E T Y - C O N T . T H E A R T O F C O M M U N I T Y : S E V E N P R I N C I P L E S F O R B E L O N G I N G B Y C H A R L E S H . V O G L 1 / 3
20. H O W C O D E & C O F F E E D O E S S A F E T Y 1.National Code of Conduct across meetups 2.Prioritizing venues that promote accessible spaces to make friends and grow 3.Default on social-style meetups over socially-forced content-focused events 1 / 3
21. T H E T H R E E P R I N C I P L E S O F E V E R Y C O M M U N I T Y ( S U M M A R I Z E D ) Trust is the feeling of being accepted and valued by a group of people. Belonging Trust is built through consistent actions that demonstrate care, competence, and integrity. Safety the condition of being protected from harm or injury while participating within a group Thriving 1 / 3
22. Community-led & Company-Led meetups 2 / 3
23. C O M M U N I T Y - L E D V S . C O M P A N Y - L E D M E E T U P S Priorities involve the group’s goals. Stable/reliable support for as long as the organizers don’t get burnt out (happens frequently) Partner with companies to get that support, but it’s an additional step for them. Not the most traditional organizational structure. Priorities on the company goals. Stable/reliable support for as long as the company values it. Company-led communities often have built- in monetary support, venues, etc by default. Easier to understand, typically one or a few logo’d t-shirts that lead the community C O M M U N I T Y - L E D C O M P A N Y - L E D 2 / 3
24. Both are okay! H E R E ’ S W H Y C & C I S C O M M U N I T Y - L E D 2 / 3
25. C O D E & C O F F E E A S A C O M M U N I T Y - L E D M E E T U P 3) People enjoy attending because we stand by our principles. 1) Core members, volunteers, and organizers believe in its impact. 2) Entirely organic growth. 2 / 3
26. Crash course: Meetups 101 3 / 3 S U S T A I N A B L E A N D R E S I L I E N T = T H R I V I N G
27. #1 Give Help 3 / 3 A T T E N D M E E T U P S , G E T I N V O L V E D T H E B E S T E X P E R I E N C E I S E X P E R I E N T I A L
28. #2 Define Principles 3 / 3 Y O U R O W N . . . T H E N T H E C O M M U N I T Y B R A N D I N G
29. 3 / 3 C O D E A N D C O F F E E . O R G / A B O U T E X A M P L E : C O D E & C O F F E E
30. #3 Take Action: Create the 3 / 3 I T ’ S O K A Y T O C O P Y W H A T W O R K S
31. 4 - S T E P G U I D E T O G E T T I N G S T A R T E D 4) Always be open to volunteers. 1) Set up on Meetup.com natively 2) Growth Hack: Use tags like New in Town and Make New Friends 3) Host an event; it doesn’t have to be big. 3 / 3
32. T U R N S O U T W E ’ R E O U T G O I N G ! F R O M S T A T E O F F R I E N D S H I P S : T H E 2 0 2 3 M E E T U P M E A S U R E M E N T R E P O R T 3 / 3
33. #4 Not a competition 3 / 3 C O L L A B O R A T I O N O V E R C O M P E T I T I O N M Y I N D I V I D U A L P R I N C I P A L
34. #5 Iterate and improve 3 / 3 B U I L D R E S I L I E N C E B E C O N S I S T E N T
35. Get / Give Help Set up on Meetup.com natively Host an event; it doesn’t have to be big Always be open to volunteers Iterate S U M M A R I Z E D 3 / 3
36. W E N E E D M O R E C O M M U N I T I E S N O W A C T I O N
37. Thank you. N E X T E V E N T : W E D N E S D A Y @ D C S T A R T U P W E E K W I T H P R O D U C T & P A S T R I E S V I S I T Y O U R L O C A L C H A P T E R C O D E A N D C O F F E E . O R G F O L L O W M E O N L I N E K D I N ! / I N / S T E V E C H E N D C / T A K E A P I C O F T H I S S L I D E 📸 S T E V E @ C O D E A N D C O F F E E . O R G Steve Chen Executive Director S I X C H A P T E R S I N T H E D M V ! W R A P - U P A R T I C L E : B I T . L Y / A W S C O D E C O F F E E
39. W R A P - U P A R T I C L E : B I T . L Y / A W S C O D E C O F F E E Thank you. N E X T E V E N T : W E D N E S D A Y @ D C S T A R T U P W E E K W I T H P R O D U C T & P A S T R I E S V I S I T Y O U R L O C A L C H A P T E R C O D E A N D C O F F E E . O R G F O L L O W M E O N L I N E K D I N ! / I N / S T E V E C H E N D C / T A K E A P I C O F T H I S S L I D E 📸 S T E V E @ C O D E A N D C O F F E E . O R G Steve Chen Executive Director S I X C H A P T E R S I N T H E D M V !