At Shipyard, we’ve found engaging with our developer communities in-person has been one of the best ways to stay in the loop. We’ve learned about cool technologies, found out what people are building, and met dozens (hundreds?) of interesting people in our space. If you’re on the fence about hosting a meetup, just do it. Chances are, your community is out there and looking for others with similar interests.
Here’s our general strategy for designing/hosting a tech event, and the lessons we’ve learned along the way.
Tip #1: Find the gap in your community
Browse Meetup.com. Does your developer community exist? Has it been dormant since pre-pandemic?
Find a broad focus to center your community around, something that at least a couple thousand locals can relate to, e.g. DevOps, devtools, product management, tech sales, Golang, webapps, Docker, Terraform, etc. From here, you can start collecting names and emails of your friends, colleagues, and acquaintances who are part of this community and want to help build it out. Create a centralized meetup page that allows people to sign up. This might be a standalone landing page, a Luma calendar, or a Meetup.com group.
Tip #2: Pick a theme
While your meetup’s focus might be broad (e.g. DevOps), your individual meetup events might want to dive into more specific subtopics (e.g. Jenkins, IaC). This can give attendees a good idea of what they’re getting when they sign up, and help them decide whether they want to opt in (or skip this one).
Your inaugural meetup might benefit from a loose theme, especially one that can apply to most/all attendees. Talk to attendees and see what they’re excited about (a new tool that just hit the market? how to get better at code reviews?), and use those conversations to pick your next themes.
Tip #3: Find an easily-accessible venue
When you’re planning an event, you’ll want to host it somewhere that your attendees can easily get to. We’ve had good luck with venues that are near major public transit lines. Remember, your attendees are tired after work, and an hour-long trip to get to your meetup can lead to drop-off.
Clear signage can help guests find your spot. Do a walkthrough through the eyes of your guests: without knowing the building/location, can you find it without needing to stop and ask for directions?
Send out info on nearby parking, and whether they should expect to pay. If there are any obvious landmarks, include that too. List which transit stops it’ll be accessible from.
Tip #4: Find a co-host
Planning with another person can help you cover more ground: they’ll think of things that might not be top-of-mind to you. It’s helpful having someone who also understands your community, so they can help you know what to expect with your crowd. This covers everything from successful meetup formats (talks, hack nights, happy hours) to your community’s meals of choice.
At the very least, they can help you carry food and drinks into the venue. Don’t underestimate the lift that can be for one person!
Tip #5: Look for speakers in your community
The best speakers for your event will be those who would otherwise attend it. Many active community members might be on the speaking circuit anyway, and if they have a relevant talk, presenting it at your meetup could be the perfect chance for them to share it with the local audience. Ask around your network, and see if anyone you know has a speaker in mind. Choose a few and give them ample lead time.
Once your meetup grows, it might make sense to create a speaker CFP (call for proposals). This can be done via Google Forms or Sessionize.
If your community is a decent size, it’s fun to host open spaces and let the attendees do the talking. Everyone has a unique and interesting perspective to contribute anyway, and this helps the meetup content best fit the audience group.
Tip #6: Promote it far and wide
Especially if this is your first meetup, you’ll want to “over-promote”. It’ll take time to get the message out to all relevant community members. Start promoting at least four weeks out. Share it within your local developer communities via Slack or Discord. Submit it to local tech newsletters, submit it to your city’s Luma calendar. Create listings on Eventbrite and/or Meetup.com (just make sure you’ve got a central spreadsheet where you’re keeping track of all signups, which will be required by security for most venues).
Send out personal invites to friends and acquaintances, as well as other community members who might find it interesting.
Promotion is probably the hardest part of organizing an event. But don’t worry, as you keep hosting consistently, your group will grow organically (people will bring their friends and colleagues).
Tip #7: Feed your guests!
Your meetup is probably happening right after work. Guests haven’t had time for dinner, so they’ll probably be hungry. If you don’t feed them, they’re less likely to stay to the end.
You don’t have to provide a full dinner for each person, but appetizers and light refreshments can go a long way. If you’re doing something more casual, pizza is usually the way to go (but don’t overlook vegetarian and gluten-free options). Cheese, veggies, fruits, sandwiches, and breads are an easy way to take it a notch up in style.
We found out quickly that post-pandemic, tech meetup attendees don’t drink much alcohol. A 4:1 ratio of non-alcoholic seltzers to beer has served us well. We try to pick fun and healthy non-alcoholic options, and those tend to go quickly.
Tip #8: Don’t overlook event ambiance
Basic venue logistics and your speaker lineup will take the majority of your planning time. However, you’ll want to make sure the rest of the event is professional, smooth, and fun. Curate a playlist and stream it (quietly) in the background. Create an event slideshow and play it on the venue’s screens during downtime.
Make sure your guests have ample sitting room, as well as places to stand as they talk amongst themselves. Test out different vantage points, and make sure guests can see the presenters clearly.
Tip #9: Keep your attendee list engaged
Expect that 40-50% of your final guest list will show up. You can get this number a little higher by keeping people engaged and sending email reminders. Plans change, and things come up, so don’t take it personally if you don’t get a majority of those who RSVP’d at your event. But you can help keep it top-of-mind by sharing details, location, and just general excitement at least.
Invite attendees to message you with any questions, and ask for input/feedback where fit (poll them on topics, food, etc.).
Tip #10: Keep it consistent
As soon as your meetup concludes, start planning the next one. Your community will be excited to hear about it — it’ll be fresh in their minds after they’ve had a great meetup experience, and they’ll be more likely to attend. Momentum is valuable here. A meetup every 4-8 weeks is a good cadence: hosting too often will cause your regulars to get bored and skip, and hosting too infrequently will cause people to forget and excitement to die down. And not every meetup has to be as big an event as the one prior — throw in some casual coffees or happy hours here and there, so that your community can get the chance to reconvene even if you don’t have the bandwidth to pull out all the stops.
There’s no better time than now!
Our advice? Start planning something now. You’ll learn how to improve it along the way, and your community will be patient even if it isn’t perfect right away. Good luck and happy planning!
