Online Communities - Not another bloody "how to do remote work post"!

Me: A developer who has spent large swathes of his career working from home or remotely...

...The COVID-19 pandemic hits...

Me: Reading a million (well meaning) social media posts from companies, thought leaders and their dogs who are suddenly experts on the best way to work from home.

These are extraordinary and unprecedented times; I'm not here to tell you what to do, how to do it, or which tools you should use to enable you.

This is not one of those posts.

Community Engagement

A large component of my role at Microsoft (and certainly the part that I enjoy the most) is working with developer communities. I'm lucky enough that I get paid to do this, but the reality is that I was doing it off my own back anyway before I ever landed my current role.

The reason I love the Developer Community is it brings so much disparate goodness together in one place.

• Want to find the answer to a nagging technical question?
• Need advice on how to approach a particular problem?
• Thirsty to learn something new?
• Looking for your next role?
• Brand new to a city and want to meet some peers to talk shop or even just grab a beer?

The Developer Community represents a great place to solve all of these situations and more. I've rarely stumbled across a Developer Community in any city, focused on any technology, that wasn't welcoming.

THAT, is what makes the current situation so upsetting. As people all over bunker down in isolation or quarantine, these communities are faced with a challenge; How do we move our community online?

Key to the Developer Community, is the MeetUp/User Group¹. So obviously, the MeetUp is the first thing people think about moving online.

"That's easy, we'll just run a presentation on Zoom/Teams/Hangouts/Skype/FaceTime/WhateverOtherToolIsFloatingAround".

Not so fast...

I love that Communities have been quick to embrace tools to take their MeetUp presentations online. In all honesty, I don't even care which tool you pick for that, be it ours* or some other vendors. What I do care about is that broadcasting a video of someone talking AT a group of people is not a true analogue for all the value a MeetUp offers to your community.

The value of the MeetUp is nuanced and varied, and your online strategy should hopefully reflect that.

Talking points

Without being overly prescriptive, some things I reckon you might want to think about and consider when building this out, in no particular order are:

• If your MeetUp is simply a video of some presenting content to people, how is that different from a webinar? Even in this environment, people are short on time/attention; give them a reason to spend it on you.
• How do you encourage people to participate in the conversation? Many video stream tools are great at video streaming, but if you're using something dedicated to that, consider having a second tool that people can use for more nuanced communication in play as well.
• Can you allow a group/room chat, but also allow people to have private discussion between each other as well.
• Do you have moderators who can help out with Q&A?
• Do you have someone to welcome people as they join? This is really important for newbies who might be attending for the first time. You gotta make the same good impression you would in person.
• Codes of Conduct are a constant hang-up of mine. Make sure you have one, please! Make sure it covers online interactions as well as in-person ones.
• Do you have someone who can help drive the technology involved? The worst thing that can happen is you lump that all on your speaker and something falls apart that ruins the experience for attendees. We all know tech can be a fickle beast.
• If you're running workshop-style MeetUps online, consider how you can break people out into groups to work. Have moderators/mentors assigned to each group the same way you would in the physical world.
• The inverse of the point above, is not to put in barrier that discourage cross group collaboration/communication - the comms piece is hard!
• If you don't need to rely on people coming straight from work, should your timing change based on different work patterns your members might have?
• Does online ease the pressure for people new to speaking to get involved? This could be a great time to get fresh-blood involved.
• How does your community continue to engage/grow between online MeetUps? Do you already have a communication channel for that, or is this an opportunity to get one setup?
• What are other communities doing? Talk to other organisers. If you're Melbourne-based, I'm happy to chat about what I have seen others do, what works well, and what could be better.
• If you make use of sponsors, what new interesting ways can they help support you, but also gain value themselves?
• Prepare what you can in advance and test, test test.
• Keep being welcoming, that's what will keep people coming back whether it's online or when in-person resumes.
• Go easy on yourself, we're all in a new and tricky situation here. If you're in the driving seat of a community, know that everyone wants you to succeed and we're all grateful for the time you volunteer to keep things running, even in this weird "new normal" we're living in.

I hope these question have provoked some thoughts and ideas. Moreover, I hope they made you think a little harder than "We will broadcast presentations using Product X" Discussion/feedback in the comments is not only welcomed, but encouraged.

Additionally, if you think there is a way I can help or throw the resource of Microsoft behind you to help you succeed, please feel free to reach out. Likewise, if you just want to chat to someone during this strange time, I'm here too. Always happy to chat, take a call, have a virtual coffee.

Finally, be good to one another.

1. I'll just use the term "MeetUp" for simplicity.  ↩