In this presentation we will know the history of the Barcelona Java Users Group ( BarcelonaJUG ) community, how we started and how we arrived until nowadays, with the organization of the first Java Barcelona Conference ( JBCNConf ) with a live & vibrant community with more than 500 developers. You will know how many difficulties we have found along the way running the community and how we have tried to solve them.

1. The Barcelona Java Users Group
An unexpected journey

2. { First thing first }

3. { Who I am }
 Novice father, entrepreneur & passionate
software engineer from Barcelona who
started to work with Java in the last
century.
 Founder & leader of the Barcelona JUG,
ex-Google Technology User Group (GTUG)
organizer and organizer of the Java
Barcelona Conference.
 Now working at Wallapop (“¡waaalla!”)
@icougil

4. { What is the BarcelonaJUG ? }
An open community & a nonprofit
association legally based in Barcelona
curious about the technology
Focused (but not only) in Java & JVM
We started in 2012… now we are more than
540 members in Meetup
Managed only by volunteers

5. { How did everything started }

6. { What we did }
+50 events in last two years
2 live events (avg) each month in different
places. Agreements with many organizations:
FIB-UPC, Mobile World Centre, COETIC, La
fontana, etc
We also started 1 monthly online event in our
Youtube channel

7. { What we did }
We also organize a course to learn to code
for teenagers
Different type of events:
o keynote talk coding dojos
o roundtables hands-on
workshops
o workgroups talk + workshop ...
… and we had time to organize a big
conference! ;-)

8. { Talking about technologies }
and more ….

9. { Few images ... }

10. { About the JBCNConf }
> 220 people, 46 speakers from all over Europe
(UK, GE, PT, RO, PL, FR, BE, DE, NL)
… and even from Spain ;-)

11. { Few images ... }

12. { Running a community }
It is a great effort
and sometimes…
you will end up
chasing a great
reward…
(or not)
so, think twice
about why are
you doing it
and after all,
go straight!

13. { Organizing a conference is like ... }
You must learn about legal issues,
financials (providers, lawyers,
translators,...) & think about the possibility
of non-payments
CFP were a huge success (>130 papers)
Look around & ask to choose proper dates
Compare it to managing a big project
{ ... it is a huge effort }

14. { What we have learned }

15. { Ask for help (if you need it) }
Do not be afraid about asking for help.
People tend to help you (if you request it)be thankful

16. { Know your people }
Meet (& talk with) your members
Ask them about what they’re working with
and what they think it can be interesting to
talk about (get feedback)
Understand which is your (main) target
(=persona)

17. { Move it ! }
Change the place where you are usally
organizing your meetings
It will help you to find new members, people
who previously didn’t knew that your
community exists.
It will force you to reach agreements with
some companies/organizations

18. { Make some noise! }
Use social networks to go further
& reach more developers!

19. { Meet other communities }
There are few interested in sharing their
knowledge. Try to be as transparent
as possible
Do not fight against another coomunities&
topics. Try to add value and share (win-win)

20. Few of them could become
your friends
{ Find nice fellow travelers }
Some of them dislike to rule a community, they like to codeSome will be looking for they own benefit

21. { Understand our spanish culture }
Friday is the devil
Football is the devil
English speaking events
(only) are the devil
Companies that try to sell products
in your community are the devil

22. { Finally, … we’re a family }

23. { And now on? }
We’d like to organize more local events
vs keynote talks (lighting talks,roundtables)
Invite more people to the organization & to
participate in the non-profit association in
order to renew forces!
Hackaton with a mobile community? ;-)
conquer the world !

24. Any questions?
Thank you !