Being involved in your community, and surrounded by like-minded (or similarly-purposed) people is important. It not only adds value to your mental and physical health but also allows you to give back to the area in which you live. In the age of COVID — full of zoom meetings, slack messages, and too many emails to come up with snarky replies to — it’s essential to spend time with people and build friendships. Maybe you live in an area where that community hasn’t been built yet…or perhaps it has but you have bigger ideas! Here are some tips I’ve learned while creating the Nashville Codecademy chapter meetup in my local tech community.
Partner with a larger organization
It can be difficult to start anything from scratch — be it a meetup in your area or a successful sourdough starter (put that on the list of things we didn’t know we’d learn in 2020). Sometimes it makes sense to partner with a larger organization, or another group that already exists. When I wanted to start a beginner-friendly tech meetup in the Nashville area, I searched for groups that were already started in other areas. It can be helpful to search for large organizations that already have meetups in other cities. I had used the Codecademy platform in the past to start teaching myself Javascript and knew they were starting a local meetup initiative, so I checked to see if there was a Nashville group. Fortunately, in my case, there wasn’t yet!
Think about applications and websites you already love to use and how others might use them. Brainstorm how you might benefit from learning more about that topic in person or virtually with other people. Codecademy is always looking to add communities under their umbrella, as well as Duolingo, Girls in Tech, and more. Think about the kinds of people you want to connect with and learn from, and search for larger organizations that can help you do that!
Try to solve a problem in your local (or worldly) community
If you’re reading this, chances are you’re looking to fix something in your local community already. Creating a group of people to go out and volunteer together, or even just to learn from each other, is a great mission to have. Think about ways you can help foster the environment you wish you could already be a part of. It’s important to think not only about what you want but to think more broadly about how a group of people might come together over a shared goal.
In my experience through creating my local tech meetup, I wanted to solve the problem of a lack of beginner-friendly topics. There is no shortage of Nashville tech-related meetups, and tons of people who are more than willing to help, but it can be intimidating to show up when you know nothing about the topic. It was important to me to create a community of people who were ready to answer questions, be open and helpful to everyone, and be willing to give each member a chance to talk about something they find interesting. I thought back to when I was first learning to code and looking for meetups to go to in order to network. I remember feeling apprehensive about joining because I didn’t understand the content they’d be discussing. I didn’t want to show up (alone, which is already anxiety-inducing) to something and be the one person in the room who wouldn’t get it, so I created a group that talks about beginner-friendly tech! Think about the meetups you wish existed when you were learning something new, or teaching yourself a new skill, and go from there.
Figure out a format that works for you
Once you’ve nailed down a subject and an audience for your community, it’s time to decide how best to connect with everyone. Because I’m writing this in 2022 and we live in an unstable semi-post-COVID era, it's important to be flexible, too. I started by creating in-person events but found that those were sometimes hard to attend for others due to health concerns. I originally created more digital connections using the NashDev Slack workspace and eventually settled on using Discord for our virtual meetups each week. Our membership has more than doubled in the past month now that we’re meeting virtually every week, and I’ve found that our community as a whole is more active. We have access to other members to ask questions to regardless of the time and can reach a wider audience than that of the in-person meetups. Don’t get me wrong — providing your community with in-person connections is important! However, by also providing a designated online space for people to meet and discuss topics, you also add value to each member in a more day-to-day manner. It can also really help to build your community by having an online presence (I.E. using hashtags popular on Twitter and Instagram, and even LinkedIn)!
Be a leader by following your community
While you might be the one to start the community, it’s important to get constant feedback from the members on what’s working and what isn’t. After each weekly study session for the Nashville Codecademy chapter, members receive an email asking for feedback on what should change to make it more accessible and understandable. I ask everyone on a regular basis for feedback on topics they want to hear about, or speakers they want to meet. This allows you to keep creating content and meetups that people really care about, which in turn keeps your community active and growing. Remember to take feedback seriously and consider the opinions of others, and not take it as a personal attack on your original idea. The best part about starting a community is building something bigger than what you imagined! Having the privilege of starting a meetup means having the privilege of learning and growing from people like you!
In summary — be sure to think about the world you want to live in first, and create a community that you wish you could be a part of. Share your ideas with the world and find people who are like-minded and want to learn and grow in the same direction you do. I hope you got something out of this, and if you want to contact me directly, feel free to reach out on Twitter, or join the Nashville Codecademy Discord server!