Lessons learned seeding a webscale open source community

Transcript

1. Meghan Gill @meghanpgill

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4. @meghanpgill

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7. MongoDB is easy •  Easy to try without downloading anything

   •  try.mongodb.org •  Easy to install and runs on your OS •  Easy to access from your language •  Easy to use •  Easy to get help
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9. Support is a priority •  Culture emphasizes support •  Everyone

   participates (even the execs) •  Reduce barriers

10. Questions are everywhere

11. Support is a lot of work •  And it can

    feel thankless •  Culture is especially important

12. Can you be proactive? •  Better docs •  Tools • 

    Tutorials •  Ease of use

13. Community is our product manager •  Want something? Vote on

    jira
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16. Conferences •  25+ Mongo Cons •  One day •  Inexpensive

    •  Informative •  Organized by 10gen •  Fun 

17. How it started •  NoSQL Boston (March 2010) •  MongoSF

    (April 2010) •  Keep doing it until people stop coming

18. Where we’ve been •  San Fran (2x) •  NYC (2x)

    •  London (2x) •  Paris (2x) •  Seattle •  Boston •  Berlin •  Hamburg •  Munich •  Chicago •  DC (2x) •  Mt View •  Los Angeles •  Boulder •  Atlanta •  Austin •  Tokyo •  Beijing •  Philly •  Moscow •  Sao Paulo

19. We come to you •  Survey community for locations • 

    Strength of the user group community •  Users in the area willing to speak

20. Iteration •  Format •  Schedule •  Pricing •  Sponsorship • 

    Cities / Travel

21. Finding speakers •  Surprisingly users rarely turn down an opportunity

    to present •  Give back to the community •  Bragging rights •  Showcase their open source project •  Recruiting

22. Finding speakers •  Work with sales (gasp!)

23. Support and feedback for speakers •  We used to invite

    speakers, now it’s CFP •  We (try to) review slides •  Need to do a better job of giving feedback •  SpeakerRate? Surveys?

24. Getting people there: what works •  Make speakers your PR

    team •  Discount codes and group discounts •  Early bird pricing •  Work with local user groups •  Event hashtag •  Nominal fee

25. Getting people there: challenges •  Overstepping boundaries •  Research the

    local culture •  Set the right tone •  Lead time •  People procrastinate •  Early bird helps!

26. User Groups: what we provide •  Logistical support and guides

    •  Promotion •  Finding speakers •  Securing venues •  Financially (e.g. covering meetup.com fees)

27. User Groups: what we ask •  Meet consistently •  Share

    slides and resources

28. UG Challenges •  Finding a great organizer is hard! • 

    Finding speakers is hard! •  Finding venues is hard! •  Co-working spaces are great •  Research where the other groups are meeting •  Staying in close contact is a lot of work

29. Office Hours •  Anyone can drop by •  Timed /

    co-located / promoted through MUGs •  Sometimes no one shows up. That’s ok.
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31. Turn followers into leaders •  Empower •  Encourage

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33. Contribution is a broad term •  Code •  Docs • 

    Translation of docs •  Blog posts •  Speaking •  Organizing an UG

34. Contributing code •  Lots of contribution on drivers and tools;

    less on core server •  Can we make it more approachable?

35. Say thank you •  Comment on their blog post • 

    Send swag •  Recognition

36. A little swag goes a long way

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38. Public Failures •  Acknowledge •  Address transparently •  Detailed, public

    post mortem •  Demonstrated responsiveness

39. People lashing out •  Differentiate misunderstandings from disagreements

40. Trolls •  Ignore them

41. @meghanpgill [email protected] BTW we are hiring