So, you want to run a meetup?

James Milner

jmilner@esriuk.com

@JamesLMilner

loxodrome.io

First things first, it's cool we could all hang out

A Bit About Dev Rel at

Esri UK

  • Esri UK is a distributor

  • Strong state side dev rel team

  • It's pretty much just me

  • GeoDev Meetups (meetup.com/geodev)

  • Developer Floor at our Annual Conference

  • GeoHackDay

  • Student Hackathons

  • Startup Programme

Things We Do

Let's discuss meetups in the broadest sense

Types of Meetups

 

  • Platform specific -  e.g. Londroid
  • Language specific - e.g. ShoreditchJS
  • Interest specific - e.g. HTML5 Game Devs
  • Open source tech- e.g. d3js London
  • Proprietary tech - e.g. London Unity Usergroup
  • Show and Tells - e.g London Hack && Tell

 

 

Motivations for Involvement

Interest

Community Building

Recruitment

Evangelism

Brand Awareness

Collaboration

Feedback

What Makes for a Great Meetup

 

  • Organisation (x100)

  • Interesting content 

  • Community building

  • Critical mass

  • Timings

  • Great food and drinks

  • Inclusivity & Posi vibes

How are People Organising Meetups? 

For Sure, But Let's  Discuss Running One?

Approaches

  1. Run your own first party meetup
  2. Run a 'non partisian' meetup
  3. Sponsor someone else's meetup

Meetup Engagement Trade Offs

  • Amount of interest
  • Amount of effort
  • Efficacy
  • Commercial vibes 

The "Sponsor Someone Else's Meetup" Approach

  • Potentially derisked, interest is known
  • Limited effort (attendance, swag)
  • Impact can be variable 
  • Commercial vibes marginally negated 

The "Tech Agnostic Meetup" Approach

  • Attendees/interest likely to be higher 
  • Effort can still be high
  • Impact is variable
  • Commercial vibes marginally negated 

The "First Party Tech Meetup" Approach

  • Interest likely correlate to market share
  • Majority of attendees are likely current users
  • Effort is going to be high
  • Impact potentially unknown, but direct
  • Commercial vibes need to be managed 

I'm going to focus on this one

The first question you need to ask is

"is this a good idea? "

Running a first party meetup is a bold move

Things To Start Thinking About

 

  • Engaging your current community
  • Promoting the meetup
  • A venue
  • Food and drink
  • Speakers
  • Content

What Are Your Goals For Running a Meetup?

  • Potentially:
    • Community building
    • Technology uptake
    • Brand awareness
    • Knowledge transfer
    • Building up your social contacts

How Will You Measure These?

  • Number of attendees and speakers
  • Number of returning attendees
  • Social media buzz
  • Feedback surveys
  • Number of people requesting more info
  • Tech signups 

How Will You Promote the Event?

Case Study: GeoDev

  • Esri technology meetup
  • It was in hiatus
  • Rebranded Meetup page
  • Setup Twitter account

Case Study: GeoDev

  • Used to Support Other Events

    • Annual Conference Dev Floor
    • GeoHackDay
    • JavaScript Intro @ Maptime

Case Study: GeoDev

Growth and Drop Out Rates

  • Meetup group: 54 People - 178 People (1 year)
  • First meetup 15 attendees
  • Average around 20 attendees
  • Average dropout ~43% 
  • Experimenting with Survey Monkey

James's Top 10

Meetup Tips

Have a Cheat Sheet

Don't be Scared to Haggle

Arrive Early

Your Attendees could be Future Speakers

Do a Write Up

Reuse the Same Venue 

When appropriate! This can save time and effort

Link Events Together

... But be Wary of Scale

Have Someone Greeting

This makes a massive difference! Have them provide name badges.

Setup a Feedback Survey

Thanks

@JamesLMilner

Tech Evangelist Meetup

http://www.meetup.com/Technical-Evangelism/

Made with Slides.com