Date post: | 15-Apr-2017 |
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Technology |
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So you want to run a developer event, are you crazy ?by John Stevenson@jr0cket
My Experiencesthe last 5 years in the community
Open source workshops- Using Ubuntu Linux- Poster design- Video Editing- Desktop Publishing
University outreach
Organised my first coding
dojoOrganiser for the
ClojureX conference, ClojureBridge London,
London Clojurians,& logo designer
Atlassian
Salesforce / Heroku
Inspiring others
Diversity in Tech
Why do you want to run an event ?
What are the motivations ?
Motivations
● For a company● For the community● Your own interest
What does success look like
Think about why you want to run an event.
- what will be considered successful?
- what do you want to avoid?- who are the stakeholders?
Company success
- awareness, api / product use, hiring new staff, engaging existing staff
Community success
- growing the community in numbers & capability
Individual interest
- you want to learn, meet people
What is the Event about
If you build it, they will come...
If you don’t build it, they won't come
Things to do...to help the event be successful
Describe why people should attend
● say who its for or who will be attending● say what people will gain from it● include feedback from past events
Promote the event effectively
1. use social media networks & contacts2. create a meaningful hashtag & put it
everywhere3. go to other events and talk about your
event4. look for media partners who can spread
the word in their networks
Provide detailed location information
Visualise the schedule
Make all the things visually appealing
beware of your own bias though...
beware of expensive print costs too…
not everyone loves purple...
Code of Conduct
&
Under 18’s Policy
Work out your budget early
What are your costs for
- venue, food, advertising, swag, extra wifi, video screens / tv, etc.- speaker hotels / travel, speakers dinner- diversity fund for those otherwise unable to attend
Plan for contingency
- last minute sponsor drop-out- unknown expense- event more popular than you planned
Give your sponsors clarity & options
What are you willing to allow sponsors to do ?
What are you definately not going to allow them to do - ie. product pitches
Provide several tiers of sponsorship packages in a very clear document / pdf
- include reasons why sponsors should sponsor you!
Include a menu of options and encourage sponsors to get in touch and share what they would like to do
- Atlassian sponsored one event and paid for all the event staff to wear an Atlassian t-shirt. This helped the organisers & attendees as well as the sponsor
Healthy food
options, please
I love RaspberriesHave more Raspberries at your event and I will come :)
Finding something simple that your audience will love will improve attendance and return visits.
Things to avoidunless you like stress
Personal Life upheavals
● don't change jobs● don't move house● don't take a holiday whilst organising
Organisational challenges
1. don't try and do this alone2. don't leave everything until the last
minute3. don't do it alone, seriously!!!
Even if this is your job, find someone else to help you and delegate like crazy
Doing the event again? Have a Retrospective
What worked
What didnt work so well
What should you do more of
What should you do less of
Document as much as you can, so it's easier next time!
Thank you
@jr0cketjr0cket.co.uk