Guest Laura Santamaria, a developer and longtime community builder, discusses the importance of in-person interactions in tech communities. Topics include organizing meetups and conferences, understanding different forms of community, explaining memes, starting and running a successful meetup, and discovering tech events using tools like Luma.
Building local tech communities is valuable for learning, networking, and career development.
In-person meetups provide unique advantages such as personal connections and real-time conversations.
Deep dives
Building Local Tech Communities
Laura Santa Maria, the lead developer advocate at Dell Technologies, shares her insights and knowledge on building successful local community groups. She discusses the importance of meetups, how to run an effective meetup, and shares mistakes to avoid while evangelizing and marketing your meetup. She emphasizes the value of consistency, reaching out to local companies, and using channels like email lists and local events to promote and grow the community.
Types of Tech Communities
Laura Santa Maria highlights her involvement in various tech communities, including Cloud Austin, Austin DevOps, PyTexas, and Kubernetes Austin. She explains that these communities can be local or global and vary in their goals and structures. Some focus on shared knowledge and education, while others serve as social networks that bring people together with common interests. Laura encourages organizers to define their community's goals and consider the specific needs of their target audience.
The Value of In-Person Meetups
Laura Santa Maria discusses the unique advantages of in-person meetups as opposed to virtual gatherings. She emphasizes the importance of personal connections and the ability to engage in casual, real-time conversations that are often lacking in online settings. While acknowledging the challenges of hybrid or virtual meetups, she shares strategies for creating engaging experiences and fostering networking opportunities, such as having a skilled MC to facilitate interactions between online and in-person participants.
Starting and Running a Meetup
Laura Santa Maria provides valuable advice for individuals considering starting their own meetups. She suggests reaching out to potential participants, whether through adjacent meetups or local companies, to gauge interest and gather input. Consistency is crucial, whether hosting monthly, quarterly, or annual meetups, as it helps build trust and maintain engagement. She also discusses sponsorship considerations, suggesting that the focus should be on providing value to attendees rather than relying solely on financial support.
While it’s easy to find technical content and make professional connections online, in-person interactions are still valuable for learning, forging business and personal connections, and career development. On today’s Day Two Cloud we discuss how and why to build local tech communities. Guest Laura Santamaria is a developer, developer advocate, and longtime community builder. We... Read more »
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