Building THRIVING Meetups

Now with less slides, more fun. Given at DevRelCon NY 2024.

Transcript

1. Building THRIVING Meetups Principles, Prescriptions, Power by Steve Chen Executive Director & Founder at Code & Coffee Head of Community & Developer Relations at Sift AI
2. My Journey 1 2016 College dropout, self-taught coding, became a dev 2 2017 3 meetups per week, started DC Code & Coffee meetup 3 2020 3 meetupshikes per week, became an Quality Engineer 4 2021 Founded NYC Code & Coffee, drove 10 hours every 2 weeks. 5 2022 Grew C&C from 1 to 6 cities, officially became a DevRel 🥑 had #100chats 6 2023 Expanded to 25 cities, created Code & Coffee 501c3
3. In 2023: • 368 events per year (One event per day!) • 55 talks • <$6,000 yearly spend
4. Code & Coffee Meetup ( Today ) Mission Facilitating space for developers to make friends and grow. Reach 35 US cities 50,000+ meetup members 200+ volunteers 40+ local leaders Format Monthly & bi-weekly In-Person Impact 368 events per year $200,000 in scholarships to career changers. $25,000 grant by Hinge to address loneliness epidemic.
5. Understanding Community Fan Communities Followers, Subreddits, Social Media audiences Neighborhood Communities HOA, Neighborhood pool clubs, apartments. Learning & Growth Communities Colleges, Schools, classes, study groups Social Communities Meetups, User groups, Networking groups, etc.
6. 3 Principles of Code & Coffee Belonging Trust Safety core ^
7. Belonging Defined Boundaries "Anyone that types into and IDE." Encourage Contribution Volunteering, talks, or code. Intro Circle Spark organic conversations.
8. Trust Set expectations Bi-weekly or Monthly events Feedback Loops Listen and implement suggestions Consistent Alignment Meetup event, group description, branding
9. Safety Code of Conduct Establish and enforce clear guidelines. Accessible Venues Near transit, open interactions, and quiet areas. Social default Create comfortable, low-pressure environments.
10. 3 Principles of Community Belonging Trust Feeling accepted and valued within the community ✅ Define community boundaries ✅ Encourage contribution ✅ Set up community rituals Safety Creating a secure environment for all members ✅ Enforce/Establish CoC ✅ Use accessible venues ✅ Default social > talks Building reliability and integrity in relationships through consistency ✅ Set Expectations ✅ Create Feedback Channels ✅ Align
11. Community-Led vs. Company-Led Meetups Community-Led • Group incentives • Less structure • Grassroots Volunteer-driven • Less resources • Longer-term focused Company-Led • Business objective incentives • More structure • Top-down company driven • More resources • Shorter-term focused
12. What can I do right now? As a company-led DevRel…
13. Power: Public-Private SponsorPartnerships Shared Goals Over 50 partners providing resources and support Venues Open venues for safe, accessible gatherings Resources Coffee, scholarships, swag. Sustainability 🤝 Resilience = Success
15. Social Isolation (2003-2020)
16. The Loneliness Epidemic
17. We NEED Meetups now Human Connection Natural need for belonging Less is more. Community Universally in demand. Screen time = Bad time
18. Key Takeaways ✅ Belonging, Trust, Safety as guiding principles ✅ Public-Private Partnerships to go further ✅ Focus on the true meaning of meeting up
19. Thank you Check out www.GetSift.ai AI-powered LLMs to truly Understand, Support, and Engage community.