BEER: Not Just for Your Devs

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Maureen McElaney

♡ Your Community Organizers

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Maureen McElaney

A little about me...

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A little about my communities...

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You can’t effectively support a tech community until you understand who they are and who they serve.

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Communities...

➔ User Group Meetups➔ Workshops➔ Tutorials➔ Classes➔ Hackathons

➔ Conferences➔ Project nights➔ Code and Coffees➔ Installfests➔ Etc!

Five themes that arose...

1. Listen, learn, and then be straight up.2. Make it easy to request support.3. Be prepared to offer more than just cash.4. Think long term.5. Encourage your employees to participate.

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1. Listen, learn, and then be straight up.

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Why get involved?

1. Recruiting pipeline.2. Marketing your company and culture.3. Continued learning.4. Building clout.

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“They are helpful to us and our community first, and sell themselves second. The recruiting/sales pitches are there, but respectful and appropriate.” - Sylvia Pellicore, Girl Develop It Raleigh

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Round 1:

1. Tell me about your community!2. What is your group’s goal? 3. What are three concrete things your group needs?4. Why are YOU doing this work?

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Now for round 2 of questioning...

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Round 2:

1. Do you have a code of conduct and diversity statement?2. Do you have a policy against using sexualized images, activities, or

other material at your events?3. How do you ensure that your community promotes inclusion?4. What percentage of your speakers represent a diverse group?5. Is there alcohol at your events?

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2. Make it easy to request support.

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“If your company sells tech services, you should be sponsoring tech community events.”- Tasha Scott, .Net DC and Code Camp NYC

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3. Be prepared to offer more than just cash.

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4. Think long term.

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“The best thing companies can do to help communities and events is to act selfless, and not look for a direct return of investment.”

- Jan Lehnardt of Hood.ie and CouchDB

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5. Let your employees participate.

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“You’ll be investing not only in the skill of your employees but in their work/life balance as well, while keeping impact to the training budget low.”- Tash Scott, .Net DC and Code Camp NYC

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“I tend to tell people that the community will help them to skill up and also make the connections for their next step.”- Lorna Mitchell, PHPNW conf, Speaker/Author

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“I’m WAAAY more interested in building a healthy, supportive community than meeting the needs of any one employer.”- Rob Hale of Vermont Code Camp and HackVT

In closing…

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Support your community organizers in a way that improves their impact and lessens their load.

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Image Sources:Slide 13: gif credit goes to https://dribbble.com/brentclouse Slide 19: gif credit goes to @foxadhdSlide 23: Credit: http://dilbert.com/strip/2009-11-16Slide 34: The Alchemist - Heady Topper - https://flic.kr/p/yy9qeB

Full Blog Post: https://medium.com/@Mo_Mack/your-community-organizers-bf698dd04c12#.1mp3ux8g4

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Thank you!

Slides: www.slideshare.net/MaureenMcElaney

Twitter: @Mo_Mack

Join me at Offline Camp CaliforniaSanta Margarita, California, November 4–7, 2016.

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