“If you look around, and you don’t see a local tech community, you are the local tech community.”
-#WHMeetup attendee from West Virginia (TODO: get his name)
“We are the ones we’re waiting for.”
-President Obama
Congratulations on starting a local tech community! And, on behalf of tech communities everywhere, thank you.
Organizing a local tech community is tricky. Many organizers start with plenty of technical skill, a good chunk of introversion, and a vague desire to talk shop; if they’re successful, and lucky, they find themselves on a journey that requires people and organizing skills, some extroversion, and clarity of purpose.
This guide is a collection of patterns that can help. Like traditional design patterns, each pattern addresses a problem, in a context; a pattern that’s universally-useful is rare. This is especially true, given that tech communities come in different sizes (<100 members, 100-1000 members, 1000-10000 members, >10000 members) and styles (niche, general), live in different communities (wealthy, poor, rural, urban, university towns, sparse, dense) with different kinds of resources (available space to meet, local sponsor companies in relevant industries, transit and parking options). Each pattern should note the problem it’s trying to solve, the kind of group(s) it’s applicable to.
At this time, some of these patterns might be more hypothetical than road-tested. Each pattern should have a few examples of where it’s been used, and how it turned out; if a pattern doesn’t have that, we’ll note it - if you experiment with it, please write up your experience and make a pull request! This pattern repository can act as a queue of experiments waiting to happen. (If everyone who tries a pattern has bad results, maybe we’ll start an Anti-patterns section.) (TODO tag patterns as “Needs Evidence,” or “Needs Case Study.” “Needs Experience Report.”)
Don’t feel like you need to use every pattern here. They won’t all apply to your group’s situation, or its needs. And trying too many things at once can burn you out. But it’s ok to get inspired you to build - in fact, it’s great.
The organization of this guide, and the patterns, is still in flux. As we collect patterns, we’ll try to organize them in a sensible way.
Current Status
Everything about this guide should be considered in-flux - even the repo name.
But the repo was made, and the gh-pages branch configured and styled (mostly) correctly. Post an issue, or better yet, a pull request, if you find something wrong.
All the content will be Creative Commons, or public domain, or something very open.
The patterns still need to be written up.
Feel like helping out?
How You Can Help
Can you write up one of the pattern-stubs? Write it up, following the basic template, and make a pull request.
Can you suggest a pattern? Write it up, following the basic template, and make a pull request.
Do you have experience with one of the patterns that needs an experience report? Write up your experience, and make a pull request.
The Patterns
- Channel the Energy
- Charge a Refundable Attendance Fee
- Colored Stickers on Name Badges
- Have Sponsors Pay Vendors
- Hold Socials on Slow Bar Nights
- bring your kids
- safe for kids = safe for all (geekharvest.org)
- charge for education
- Rotate organizers
- Ambassadors
- Do-ocracy
- don’t be afraid to lead
- don’t be afraid to choose
- you can change your mind/re-decide
- ask forgiveness, not permission
- From Rec center to Tech center
- Record your talks, put the videos on-line
- Stickers and T-Shirts
- spreading the word
- building funds: kickstarter, cafepress…
- Cap the number of attendees (use the waitlist)
- If you only have SO big a space
- If you can’t handle more than N people (food, etc)
- “More attendees, more problems.”
- Pre-answer logistical questions
- Explain ahead parking
- Explain ahead how to find the location
- Explicitly tell people to bring laptops if it’s required for the event
- Make sure the event description can answer who/what/where/when/why/how
Possible Patterns
- road trip to rural areas (geekharvest.org)
- Call your mayor
- Find successful big-city speakers who grew up in your town
- find successful meetup organizers in your area, and ask for tips
Possible Patterns to Test
- short curriculum arcs
- 3 classes in series
TODOS
- [ ] Listen to http://opensourcebridge.org/sessions/440
- [ ] find somewhere to put this gunk —–v
Some Common Organizer Goals
- Help members improve, learn new things
- Improve diversity
- Keep members involved, engaged
Some Common Organizer Challenges
- Local economics
- Tricky Transportation
- Lack of Sponsors
- Volunteer Burnout
- Find speakers
Typical constraints:
- time
- volunteers
- space
- money