Community Bootstrap
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Community Bootstrap was a lightning talk presented at PyCon 2011. It summarizes key point learned from building a country wide community in Brazil.
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Community Bootstrap
- 1. Community Bootstrap @henriquebastos
- 2. Hi! My name is Henrique Bastos. I'm a Python developer and I'm deeply involved in community building in Brazil, where I live.
- 3. Things are kind of crazy down there. The community is growing too fast!
- 4. We even have our own Guido!
- 5. For the past few years, we went from a local happy hour meeting to a huge social movement integrating different parts of the country. Much unlike some technologies...
- 6. Community Can Scale Community Can Scale! We've been learning a lot replicating the model. And I wish to share it with you all.
- 7. So you want to build a big community? Ok. This is WHAT you want. But WHY?
- 8. You need to find out WHY you really want to do it. Sure you won't know it a priori. But it's important to keep this in mind. Otherwise you can be TRAPED, looking for the wrong thing. A TRAP like, for example, when people chase one million dollars because of the number, when what they really wanted was to enjoy the EXPERIENCES they think that kind of money could buy.
- 9. Experience EXPERIENCE! It's all about EXPERIENCE! The MEANING of great things, like PyCon for instance, relies on the EXPERIENCE. So, in order to build something MEANINGFUL you need to live it. Live the EXPERIENCE.
- 10. It will take time! So you should start today! Just DO IT as simple as you can! But don’t rush it. You will need to be CONSISTENT. You need to INSIST until you can realize you were actually PERSISTING.
- 11. On the beginning, simply get people together and create an environment so they can bond, make real friends and share. Avoid the Big Design Upfront of starting a lot of different things in different places.
- 12. Stereotypes don't help at all People have many interests! So don't make an issue of technology, gender or any other attribute. Just get people together. If you need a label, label yourself as a human!
- 13. Events vs Groups Start EVENTS instead of GROUPS. When you create a GROUP, like Python group, Java group, Ruby group, people measure if they fit within it or not. Instead, create EVENTS, like happy hours, install parties, hacking sessions, etc. Events are temporal and they have purposes in itself. All people needs to join an event, is curiosity! And hackers do have it a lot. Back home, we have a lot of EVENTS
- 14. OpenSpaceRio.org #horaextra ForkinRio dojorio PythonCampus SprintSlab StepInside.org We have a couple of events in Brazil... ;-)
- 15. Organically, you'll find out that your GROUP is just the sum of people that goes to the EVENTS.
- 16. Actively Reduce Entrance Barriers Actively reduce entrance barriers. The biggest entrance barrier is related to how people perceive things. As soon as your community grows, outsiders will perceive it as a closed group. This is normal. And the community needs to actively declare itself as open to newcomers. We do it by stating that newcomers are the most important part of the community. They rule! The community needs their ideas to keep defying its status quo.
- 17. Unix Effect A community is not a business association. Take it to the students. Students are this special type of people eager to learn and create. They have time and a clean mind. This takes us to a very important point...
- 18. Empower People Often, people have false assumptions that stops them from doing something. Encourage them! Give them support to try and discover themselves and their path.
- 19. Watch out for the Umbrella Pattern, where everything falls under a centralized organism.
- 20. Act as a FOUNTAIN. Your initiative should behave like a subset of the community.
- 21. Rules have side effects RULES have side effects They state WHAT to do and HOW to do. If you’re not careful you can end up your own law system. Keep it LEAN. If you need some directions…
- 22. Discover your Principles Discover your PRINCIPLES This is a little bit abstract, but describes your vision. It will give you a community ethos.
- 23. After a long run, in Brazil, we came up with this set of 10 principles that drives us. This acts like a checklist to help our evolution.
- 24. Trust Dialog Personal Contact Transparency Diversity Self-organization Example Consistency Give, give, give! Do it! Here they are! If you like it, we have free t-shirts and pins. Thank you!
Editor's Notes
- \n
- Hi!\n\nMy name is Henrique Bastos.\n\nI'm a Python developer and I'm deeply involved in community building in Brazil, where I live.\n
- Things are kind of crazy down there.\n\nThe community is growing too fast!\n
- We even have our own Guido!\n
- For the past few years, we went from a local happy hour meeting to a huge social movement integrating different parts of the country.\n\nMuch unlike some technologies...\n
- Community Can Scale!\n\nWe've been learning a lot replicating the model. And I wish to share it with you all.\n
- So you want to build a big community?\n\nOk. This is WHAT you want. But WHY?\n\n
- You need to find out WHY you really want to do it.\n\nSure you won't know it a priori. But it's important to keep this in mind.\n\nOtherwise you can be TRAPED, looking for the wrong thing.\n\nA TRAP like, for example, when people chase one million dollars because of the number, when what they really wanted was to enjoy the EXPERIENCES they think that kind of money could buy.\n\n
- EXPERIENCE!\n\nIt's all about EXPERIENCE!\n\nThe MEANING of great things, like PyCon for instance, relies on the EXPERIENCE.\n\nSo, in order to build something MEANINGFUL you need to live it. Live the EXPERIENCE.\n\n
- It will take time! So you should start today! Just DO IT as simple as you can!\n\nBut don’t rush it. You will need to be CONSISTENT.\n\nYou need to INSIST until you can realize you were actually PERSISTING.\n\n
- On the beginning, simply get people together and create an environment so they can bond, make real friends and share.\n\nAvoid the Big Design Upfront of starting a lot of different things in different places.\n\n
- People have many interests! So don't make an issue of technology, gender or any other attribute.\n\nJust get people together.\n\nIf you need a label, label yourself as a human!\n\n
- Start EVENTS instead of GROUPS.\n\nWhen you create a GROUP, like Python group, Java group, Ruby group, people measure if they fit within it or not. Instead, create EVENTS, like happy hours, install parties, hacking sessions, etc.\n\nEvents are temporal and they have purposes in itself.\n\nAll people needs to join an event, is curiosity! And hackers do have it a lot.\n\nBack home, we have a lot of EVENTS\n\n
- We have a couple of events in Brazil... ;-)\n
- We have a couple of events in Brazil... ;-)\n
- We have a couple of events in Brazil... ;-)\n
- We have a couple of events in Brazil... ;-)\n
- We have a couple of events in Brazil... ;-)\n
- We have a couple of events in Brazil... ;-)\n
- We have a couple of events in Brazil... ;-)\n
- We have a couple of events in Brazil... ;-)\n
- We have a couple of events in Brazil... ;-)\n
- We have a couple of events in Brazil... ;-)\n
- Organically, you'll find out that your GROUP is just the sum of people that goes to the EVENTS.\n
- Actively reduce entrance barriers.\n\nThe biggest entrance barrier is related to how people perceive things.\n\nAs soon as your community grows, outsiders will perceive it as a closed group. This is normal. And the community needs to actively declare itself as open to newcomers.\n\nWe do it by stating that newcomers are the most important part of the community. They rule! The community needs their ideas to keep defying its status quo.\n\n
- A community is not a business association.\n\nTake it to the students. Students are this special type of people eager to learn and create. They have time and a clean mind.\n\nThis takes us to a very important point...\n\n
- Often, people have false assumptions that stops them from doing something.\n\nEncourage them! Give them support to try and discover themselves and their path.\n
- Watch out for the Umbrella Pattern, where everything falls under a centralized organism.\n
- Act as a FOUNTAIN. Your initiative should behave like a subset of the community.\n
- RULES have side effects\n\nThey state WHAT to do and HOW to do. If you’re not careful you can end up your own law system.\n\nKeep it LEAN. If you need some directions…\n\n
- Discover your PRINCIPLES\n\nThis is a little bit abstract, but describes your vision. It will give you a community ethos. \n\n
- After a long run, in Brazil, we came up with this set of 10 principles that drives us.\n\nThis acts like a checklist to help our evolution.\n\n
- Here they are!\n\nIf you like it, we have free t-shirts and pins.\n\nThank you!\n