The Recipe to Getting Attendees to Your Open Source Events

1. Therecipetogetting attendeestoyouropen sourceevents Karen Vuong Principal Open Source Program Manager - Open Source Solutions @kar3nv karenvuong02@gmail.com
2. About me • Open Source Program Manager • Citrix Open Source Business Office • Apache CloudStack Project Committee Member and Committer • Founder/Organizer of CloudStack Silicon Valley User Group • Helps organize CloudStack Collaboration Conferences and CloudStack Days • Fun facts: Bungee jumping, riding my motorcycle and backpacking in California
3. Howmanyofyoucontribute toanopensourceproject?
4. ContributingtoanOpenSource ProjectforNon-Developers • Code is the heart of any open source project, but don’t think that writing code is the only way to contribute. • Projects need contributions from everyone of all skills and levels of expertise. • Open-source projects suffer from a lack of marketing awareness. You can help open-source projects get more exposure.
5. WaystoContributetoanOpenSource ProjectwithoutBeingaCodingGenius • Find an open source project that is interesting to you • Start listening – mailing lists, blogs, IRC channel • Work with Tickets – commenting on a bug • Work with Documentation – how-to examples • Work with Community – answer a question, write blog posts, improve a website, or help organize meetups and conferences
6. Open Source Meetupsand Conferences–why? • Brings people with a common interest together to share that passion • Brings developers, users, contributors and people who are interested in the project together • Face-to-face interaction! • Share and learn from eachother
7. agenda • Two common types of in-person open source events • 3-step process: • Setup • Promote (emphasis on this) • What to do after the events Setup Promote After the event
8. Two Common Types of OpenSource Events Open Source Meetups Open Source Conferences
9. 1,2,3,4,5,6…7(?)
10. Whathappened? • There were two other open source cloud meetups going on at the same exact time • We capped the attendee list at the maximum room capacity • We did not do anything to promote the meetup • We did not send reminders to attendees
11. Let’snothavethishappenagain
12. Setup Promote After the event SettingUpyourMeetupGroup
13. MeetupGroups • Heard of meetup.com? Been? Organize? Want to? • Tips and best practices for setting it up, promoting, and what to do after • Yes, there are steps that you can follow - It’s SIMPLE • I’ve made it even more SIMPLE with checklists!
14. SetupChecklistforYourMeetups
15. SettingUpyourMeetupGroupIf you haven’t done so already, create a meetup group! Even meetup.com says “you don’t need to be an expert to organize an awesome meetup.” *Add 15 topics. If you add “open source” People who search for topics, such as “open source” will come across your meetup group.
16. SettingUpyourMeetupGroup: Firstmeetup • First meetup: Start with a beginner’s talk “Intro to …” • Send out a call for speakers note: • Reach out to the developers and users mailing lists • Reach out to meetup group members • Reach out to your own contacts
17. SettingUpyourMeetup: date&time • Select a date/time for your meetup • Check meetup.com’s calendar of meetups in your area first for conflicting dates • Avoid Mondays/Fridays
18. SettingUpyourMeetup: venue • Find a Venue • Reach out to your contacts and ask if they can offer a space for your meetup • They said YES? Go and check out the space (no surprises) • Test out the speakers, mic, projector (especially if you are going to live stream) • Remember to hit “record” • Ask local libraries or colleges
19. SettingUpyourMeetup: announce • Now you’re all set! • Announce the meetup to your members • Provide a map and parking information
20. SettingUpyourMeetup: freeevent=noshows It’s a free event – expect a 30% - 50% no show rate
21. Don’ttakeitpersonally
22. manythingsgetintheway…
23. SettingUpyour Meetup:Thebigday • The day of your meetup: • Arrive about 45 minutes to 1 hour early • Registration table • Name badges • Directional signage • Beer & Food • Speakers prepare • Get slides from speakers
24. Attendance • How am I going to get people together? • Put yourself in their shoes!
25. Promotingyourmeetup Setup Promote After the event
26. PromoChecklist CHECKLIST Social media channels (the project’s LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook) ✓ Announce to your meetup group members ✓ Post your meetup on event websites and event calendars ✓ Share a Blurb with meetup group organizers ✓ Email Blasts ✓ Tweet pictures during the meetup ✓
27. PromoteyourMeetup: socialmedia • Social media channels: • The project’s LinkedIn page, Twitter, Facebook • Twitter – schedule tweets (use Hootsuite), create click-to-tweets and ask the community to tweet • Facebook – post statuses (use Hootsuite), join other groups and post • LinkedIn – post discussions in the Open Source Groups and the project’s LinkedIn page
28. PromoteyourMeetup: Announce&Remind • Announce to your meetup group members: • Email members in your meetup group • Don’t be afraid to send reminders! • Send reminders 7, 2, 1, and the day of the meetup reminding RSVPs that the event is still happening. • Automatic reminders
29. PromoteyourMeetup: Eventwebsites • Post your meetup on event websites and event calendars: • opensource.com • eventbrite.com • lanyrd.com • eventful.com
30. PromoteyourMeetup:blurbs • Write up a blurb that other meetup group organizers in the area can share with their members This meetup will be AWESOME! #MyAwesomeMeetUp
31. This is a partner announcement from the CloudStack Silicon Valley User Meetup group. It might be very interesting for many of you: ____ Dear Community, It's my pleasure to announce that our next meetup will be around Docker, Kubernetes, CoreOS and Big Data in Apache CloudStack! Our main speaker of the evening will be Sebastien Goasguen. He is currently a Senior Open Source Solutions Architect at Citrix, where he works primarily on the Apache CloudStack project, helping to develop the CloudStack ecosystem. Sebastien is a project management committee member (PMC) of CloudStack and Apache libcloud and a member of the Apache Software Foundation. RSVP NOW: http://www.meetup.com/CloudStack-Silicon-Valley-User-Group/ example
32. PromoteyourMeetup: EmailBlasts
33. Tweetpicturesduringthe meetup!
34. You’redonewiththemeetup! Celebrate!
35. Nowwhat?
36. Afterthemeetup Setup Promote After the event
37. AftertheMeetupChecklist
38. Goodtoseeyou!
39. ShareLinkstoSlidesandVideos
40. UploadPictures
41. WriteaRecapBlogPost
42. BeConsistentandPoll! • Keep a consistent schedule – every 1.5 months is good. • Create a poll and ask members which topics they are interested in (make a list of 4 or so) • Poll only takes 30 seconds!
43. Opensourceconferences
44. Itisalargerevent,butyoucan applythesamepractices!
45. Setup Promote After the event SettingUpyourconference
46. SetupChecklistforyour Conference Set your goals ✓ Select a date for your conference ✓ Look at Open Source Event Calendars ✓ Consider the option to co-locate with other conferences ✓ Logistics and Volunteers ✓
47. SetyourGoalsforthe Conference • List out your wants! • I want three tracks – one for developers, one for users, and one for building community. • I want to have 300 attendees. • I want to raise $30,000 in sponsorship money • Remember: commit to the basics first, then build out the conference as you get more sponsors
48. SettingupanOpenSource Conference:Dates • Select a date for your conference • Look at open source event calendars: • Opensource.com • O’Reilly Media’s Big Conference List: http://oreilly- events.herokuapp.com/ • Lanyrd.com
49. Location,Location,Location! Consider the option to co-locate with other conferences
50. SettingupanOpenSource Conference:Logistics Website Call for Proposals Registration Budget Sponsors Giveaways Evening Events Conference Twitter Page Meeting rooms Breakouts A/V
51. SettingupanOpenSource Conference:Volunteers • Make it known to the community that the conference planning is open to everyone • Send out a call for volunteers note to the mailing lists • Put a “call for volunteers” banner on your conference website • Use Trello or Asana and Slack to organize tasks, todo lists and communicate with eachother
52. Promotingyourconference Setup Promote After the event
53. PromotingyourConferenceChecklist ✓ Post conference on event websites and event calendars ✓ Social media (Twitter, Facebook, Linkedin) ✓ Encourage blog posts by partners/sponsors ✓ Email Blasts ✓ Project’s mailing lists ✓ Outreach to Meetup Groups ✓ Ask speakers to share a slide at presentations ✓ Student discounts ✓ Advertising ✓ Press ✓
54. PromotingyourConference: EventCalendars&websites • Post conference on event websites and event calendars • opensource.com • eventbrite.com • lanyrd.com (make sure to add topics) • eventful.com
55. PromotingyourConference: SocialMedia “Save the date! CloudStack Collaboration Conf will be on August 20 clds.co/1FvPyo9” “Call for Sponsors! Support the CloudStack community and help make CloudStack Days happen clds.co/1FvPyo9” “The agenda is NOW live for CloudStack Days Dublin! Check out the talks clds.co/1FvPyo9 ” “Submit your proposal for CloudStack Days Tokyo today! The deadline is May 10 clds.co/1FvPy09
56. PromotingyourConference: SocialMedia
57. PromotingyourConference: Blogposts • Encourage blog posts by community members, partners and sponsors
58. PromotingyourConference: Emailblasts • Send out email blasts: • Contacts that you have collected from open source expos • Invite people to submit talks or to register for the conference • Invite previous conference attendees/speakers (if this applies)
59. PromotingyourConference: MailingLists • If this applies, send out the CFP information and deadline reminders to the project’s mailing lists
60. PromotingyourConference: OutreachtoMeetupGroups • Outreach to Meetup Groups • Create a blurb for local meetup organizers with a discount code to the conference • Ask them to share the blurb with their members • If you have extra space at the conference, offer it to meetup groups
61. PromotingyourConference: askspeakerstoshare • Community members within the project who speak at various conferences, meetups or webinars • Create a slide about the conference for speakers to share during their presentations • Add a special discount code
62. PromotingyourConference: Studentdiscounts • Create a discount code for students
63. PromotingYourConference: AdvertisingSpace • Purchase advertising space on relevant websites and on social media sites to reach new people
64. PromotingyourConference: Press • Create a press release announcing the event and send to media • Line up media outlets as media partners for the event: • Provide the media outlets with their logo on: • Conference website • Conference emails • Conference signage • Exchange for ad space on their sites and social media posts
65. Aftertheconference Setup Promote After the event
66. AftertheConference Checklist ✓ Announce the next conference dates ✓ Send a follow-up email and quick survey ✓ Publish Videos and Slides ✓ Schedule tweets of videos ✓
67. AftertheConference: Announcenextdates • Announce the next conference dates • Include a link/information about the next conference in post- conference follow-up email
68. AftertheConference: follow-upemail&Survey • Send a follow-up email with a quick survey • Surveymonkey – mention that it takes 2 minutes, offer a raffle prize if you can giveaway prizes! • Feedback from attendees on content, schedule, format, etc.
69. AftertheConference: PublishVideosandSlides • Publish videos and slides to the conference website/YouTube
70. AftertheConference: Scheduletweets • Schedule tweets of videos from the project’s social media channels
71. Checklistsareforyou! clds.co/oseventschecklists
72. QUESTIONS?
73. Thankyou @kar3nv karenvuong02@gmail.com Slides: http://www.slideshare.net/karenvuong399/the- recipe-to-getting-attendees-to-your-open-source-events- 47427729

Notas del editor

So a little bit about me, My name is Karen and I am the Open Source Program Manager at Citrix and an Apache CloudStack committer.
I do not code but I was given the rights to change the code if I wanted to screw everything up in Apache CloudStack. I have had a lot of Fun working in tradeshows and events the past 6 years.
But I started participating in an open source project 3 years ago called Apache CloudStack by helping the community organize CloudStack meetups and CloudStack Conferences.
In 2013 – I founded and became the organizer of the CloudStack SV user group and helped the community plan meetups in the bay area since.
Some fun facts about me, you can find me bungee jumping off of bridges, riding my motorcycle and backpacking in California on the weekends.

How many of you have helped organized an open source meetup or conference? How many of you want to?

So there are many ways to contribute to an open source project without knowing how to code. The Code is the heart of any open source project but don’t think that writing code is the only way to contribute.
Open Source projects need contributions from everyone of all skills and levels of expertise.
A lot of times, open source projects suffer from a lack of marketing awareness.
You can help open source projects get more exposure in many ways.

So many of you are probably participating in open source projects already, but for those of you who are looking to contribute, here’s how to start.
If you have an open source project that is interesting to you, start by listening in on the mailing lists, blogs and IRC channel.
You could work with tickets by commenting on a bug or working with documentation such as creating how-to examples.
Another way to contribute is to work with the community by answering a question, writing blog posts, improving a website or helping to organize meetups and conferences.

Why are open source meetups and conferences important for communities?
It’s all about bringing people with a common interest together to share that passion for the project in person
These events bring developers, users and people who are interested in the project together. A lot of times, most interaction is done on the mailing lists and IRC channels but these events give them the chance to get that face-to-face interaction.
The reason why I like to help organize events in the CloudStack community is to see everyone from the community come together in one place. I remember my first time at a CloudStack conference . It was my first time meeting everyone from the mailing lists. And it was pretty cool to see everyone come from all over the world to be in one place to talk about how cool the project is.

So everyone who’s helped organized an open source event whether it be a meetup or conference has that same goal in mind – to get all of the people with the same interests TOGETHER!
So I’ll go over the two common types of in-person open source events
And I’ll go over a 3 step process that I’ve created which is setting up your event, promoting it, and what to do after the events.

So the two common types of open source events are open source meetups and open source conferences.
An open source Meetup is usually a local user group around specific open source projects which invites community members, contributors or people who just want to learn more about a certain project.
Open Source Conferences –are larger scale events, with breakout sessions throughout the day, on various topics around open source cloud, or topics around a specific open source project.

So back In 2013, we organized our first CLoudStack meetup
It was a success, bringing in 50 attendees, we had beer and food for everyone, and great feedback after the meetup

The next 5 meetups were successful until we hit #7. What happened?
Ordered more than plenty of pizza and beer and when the meetup started – there were only 5 people sitting in the room.
So that means Each person gets their own pizza and case of beer right? Right, but we wanted to get to the bottom of this – WHY did only 5 people show up instead of the usual 50?

So what happened?

How many of you have heard of meetup.com? Been to a meetup? Want to start your own meetup group?
Over the past few years, I’ve learned quite a bit, made mistakes, learned what the best practices were when it comes to setting up your meetup group, promoting it, and what to do after. So today, I want to make it as simple as possible for you and share my tips and experiences.

6 Things on the Setup checklist for meetups

So if you haven’t done so already, create a meetup group! Even meetup.com says “you don’t need to be an expert to organize an awesome meetup”
When you do setup your meetup group, don’t forget to add 15 topics.
If you add “open source” People who search for topics, such as “open source” will come across your meetup group.

So now that you have that going, you want to start your first meetup.
I’d suggest starting with a Beginner’s talk like an Introduction to your Open Source Project
And you can’t have a meetup without a speaker, of course, So send out a call for speakers note.

So next you’re going to want to select a date/time for your meetup.
So this brings us back to when only 5 people showed up at the meetup vs. the usual 50
I made the mistake of forgetting to check meetup.com’s calendar of meetups. On the day of our meetup – there were 2 other open source cloud meetups going on at the same exact time!
So learn from my mistake when picking your date/time and check meetup.com’s calendar for meetups in your area
I’d also suggest avoiding Mondays/Fridays because Mondays are when people are catching emails and work and Friday are happy hour days.

So now that you’ve got your speaker and date and time, you’ll want to find a venue.
Reach out to your contacts and ask if they can offer a space for your meetup.
If they said YES, go and check out the space – just so there are no surprises on the big day.
Test out the speakers, microphone and projector, especially if you are going to live stream.
And on the day of, remember to hit record.

Okay and now you’re all set for your first meetup.
Announce the meetup to your members and don’t forget to provide parking information and a map.
A lot of times companies have huge campuses and people tend to get lost.

Don’t forget, it is a free event so expect a 30 – 50% no show rate.
Don’t take it personally, many things get in the way.

A 30 – 50% no show rate has always been a trend for our meetup group. I also spoke with other meetup group organizers in the bay area, and they’ve also experienced that same trend. So, instead of capping your attendee list at the maximum, go ahead and add 50% more to the maximum number.

So on The day of your meetup: Arrive about 45 minutes to 1 hour early just so that you could setup the Registration table, lay out the Name badges and
Put up signs directing attendees to where the entrance is – a lot of time companies are huge and people tend to get lost.
Make sure the food and beer arrives on time and let your speakers prepare for their presentations.

so now that you got that going – you’re probably wondering how am I going to get people together and where are they going to find my meetup?
“Promoting” may not be as complicated as you may think it is. What I like to do is think of it this way. Put yourself in their shoes. “How am I going to find a meetup that I like? Where am I going to look?

So here comes the promo checklist. There are 5 things on this checklist that I’ll talk about.

So promote your meetup on social media channels through the project’s linkedin page, twitter page and facebook page.
Use Hootsuite – it’s a social media management dashboard where you can schedule tweets to be sent out from the project’s twitter page.
You can Write a message that you want others to share Using clicktotweet.com. And Whoever clicks on the link will have the message automatically added to their Twitter status box and they simply click to tweet!
On linkedin you can post discussions about your meetup in open source groups

A lot of times, people forget to add events to their personal calendars – so don’t be afraid to send reminders!
You could send reminders 7 days, 2 days, 1 day and the day of your meetup reminding everyone that it’s still happening.

It’s always good to give your meetup the maximum exposure, so add your meetup to event websites and event calendars:

Opensource.com – you can add your meetup to the conferences and events calendar. The next day you’ll get a notification that it’s been accepted and added.
Eventbrite – people search for events on Eventbrite so add your meetup there but make sure to include a link to your meetup
Eventful is another site where people can search for events in their area. You can list your meetup in up to 3 categories.
Lanyrd is a great website to add your meetup to. You can add topics – so include “open source” and other topics that your meetup is about so that people can easily find it when they search for topics.

It’s always helpful to share your meetup with other meetup group organizers in your area.
Most of the time, other organizers will be more than happy to share your meetup with their members.
So write a blurb to make it easier to share!

Send out an email blast to contacts that you have in the area.
Puppet Labs does a great job of doing this. For example, the Puppet Silicon Valley User Group will send out an invitation to people that are based in the Silicon Valley.

And most importantly, Have fun and take a bunch of pictures during the meetup and tweet them to show how awesome your meetup went!

So now that you’re done with the meetup it’s time to celebrate with your co-organizers!

But now that the celebration is over, you’re probably going to wonder what do I do now?

So Here’s the after the meetup checklist.

Collect all of the nametags that were leftover at the meetup
These leftovers are the people that didn’t show up to the meetup and
You can send them a nasty email, just kidding don’t do that.
Check off the people that didn’t show up on your attendee spreadsheet
Then, you can click on “good to see you” for the ones that did show up to your meetup
And what this does is it sends a note from your email address saying “it was good to see you!
This shows that you noticed they were there

I guarantee you that there will be at least 3 people asking for the slides and videos the day after your meetup
Make sure to get the slides from the speakers the day of the meetup
Share the links to the slides and videos in the discussion forum.

And remember when I said to take a bunch of pictures during your meetup?
Upload those pictures on meetup.com and
Share how awesome the meetup went

Write a recap blog post and make sure to include links to the slides and videos.
Do a recap of what happened during the meetup, what the speakers talked about
Share pictures in your blog

Create tweets with a link to the video or slides and tweet them out from the project’s Twitter page.
Create click-to-tweets and ask others in the community to tweet.

So after you’re done with your first meetup, you should try and keep a consistent schedule about every month and a half is good but it’s totally up to you.
Create a poll and ask members which topics they’re interested in (make a list of 4 or so).
And don’t forget to Mention that the poll only takes two seconds, it will encourage more people to take it knowing that it doesn’t take up too much of their time.

Moving on to Open Source Conferences
You might have been to one or a few of these conferences.
Open Source confereces are a Larger scale event with breakout sessions, keynotes, and topics around open source cloud or an open source project.

I’ll go over the 3 step process for setting up your conference, promoting it and what to do after.

Here’s the checklist for setting up your conference.

Start with setting goals for your conference

When planning for your conference the first thing that you’re going to want to consider are the dates for your conference.
Take a look at open source event calendars….

After you select a date, you’ll want to find a location for the conference. You can also
Consider the option to co-locate with other conferences to bring more attendees to your conference
Here’s an example, LinuxCon/CloudOpen North America is in August and CloudStack Days Seattle has co-located their event with LinuxCon/CloudOpen. You can have the other conference include an add-on option for your conference on their registration page.
This will help drive more attendees to your conference.

SCATTER THE WORDS ON THE SLIDE AROUND THE VOLUNTEERS GUY.

So I won’t go into detail with the logistics because we don’t have too much time here but:

There are so many things to do when setting up a conference such as the……………………………..
You’re going to need help with planning so send out a call for volunteers to the mailing lists, post it on the conference website, make it known that the conference planning is open to the community.
Trello.com is a good site to use with a group of volunteers. It helps you organize tasks and keep track of the todo list with your volunteers.

Here’s a checklist for promoting your conference.

Remember when I said, you can apply the same practices? Post your conference on event websites and event calendars

SCATTER THE TWEETS ALL OVER THE SLIDE IN DIFFERENT FONT SIZES
Once you announce the dates of your conference - create save the date tweets, call for proposals tweets, call for sponsors tweets and schedule them from your conference’s Twitter page.
Because Once the agenda is published, you’ll want to get the word out there about the keynotes or sessions. You can also tweet about specific talks or keynotes.

Create a special hashtag for your conference – For example, Docker uses “hashtag” dockercon for their annual conference Dockercon.
On the days of your conference, Have a social media “lead” retweet tweets from attendees about the conference from your conference twitter page
Post up highlights (keynotes, talks, pictures, etc.) throughout the day
And by doing all of this, it shows the amount of activity that’s happening at the conference and when people are thinking about going to your conference next year, they’ll get a recap of what happened at last year’s conference.

So The more blog posts about your conference, the better!
Encourage contributors of the project, partners/sponsors to blog about the conference. It helps spread the word!

You can also send out email blast invitations to invite people to submit talks, or an invitation to register for the conference and provide the schedule. If you have worked a booth, then you can send email blasts to those contacts that you have collected.

If this applies to your conference - Send out the CFP information to the project’s mailing lists and friendly reminders about the CFP deadlines.

You could Email other meetup group organizers in the conference area to see if they want to share a blurb about your conference and a discount code with their meetup group.
Also, if you happen to have extra space at your conference, offer space to the meetup groups.

SO there are probably members from the open source project that you’re contributing to, who give presentations at various conferences or meetups.
This is a good chance to ask them to share a slide about your upcoming conference.
SO Create a slide about your conference for speakers from your project to share at their presentations.

I remember when I was a poor college student, I worked part-time at a shoestore in the mall and went to school full time. So Students might want to attend your conference but they can’t always afford to.

Here’s a little tip that Dan Brown with the Linux Foundation suggested – you could Purchase advertising space on relevant websites and on social media sites to reach new people
This is another good way to get more exposure to your event

Create a press release announcing the event and send it to a list of media
You could also line up media outlets as media partners for the event.
Provide them with a logo on website, logo in emails and on signage in exchange for ad space on their site and social media posts.
It’s like an exchange

So here’s the after the conference checklist.

If you have the next conference dates, announce it at the conference so that people can save it on their calendars.
Also, Put a link to your next conference in your post conference follow up email.

Send a follow up email with a quick survey. You could use a site like surveymonkey and mention that it only takes 2 minutes. Offer a prize if you can giveaway prizes.

A lot of your attendees are going to ask about the videos and slides so publish them as soon as they’re available.

And here’s another way to apply the same practices as I’ve mentioned before. Schedule tweets of the conference videos. If you have 40 videos you can schedule them for every other business day.

So make it easier on yourself and follow the 3 step process when planning your next open source meetup or event
Use the checklists!

I’ve made the checklists available for you to download. They have detailed notes on them. You can find them at this link.

I hope you found this talk useful and thanks for coming today.

The Recipe to Getting Attendees to Your Open Source Events

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