In the last 3 years I've being taking an active part in building communities both on my free time & work. These communities (mostly about tech) made real impact on the industry & people lives: From mapping wild fires to save lives with the Air Force to raising mobile chargers prices in Israel (oops), making it into the MAIN news headline and (almost), and so much more... This is no magic, and there are many efforts behind the scenes. In this lecture I will unveil some of them and explain how we, at Wix, initiated a brand-scale global dev communities effort. I will finish with steps that anyone can do in order to take part in the communities world and enjoy its professional benefits.

1. Developers’ Communities: Building your Personal
Brand and Creating Real Impact
Morad Stern, Wix

3. Why?

4. Part 1 – my personal experience with
communities
@Morad
Blog | WhatsApp | Newsletter

5. My very first online community
@Morad

6. 6 Things I Learned from Blogging
1. Be your own editor
2. Content creation and communication skills
3. Thought leadership (Ynet, The Marker and first “real” job)
4. Google search
5. Networking on steroids
6. The power of the written word
@Morad

7. And then came WhatsApp
Photo by Ben White on Unsplash

8. Why this group is so special?
• Mentioned on the news (headline)
• Hosting VIP
• Seniors from the industry are part of it
• Made an impact (raising prices in the industry)
• Waiting list, as it cannot be found
• Empowering its members (jobs, networking and conquering conferences)
@Morad

9. 4 things I learned from leading this community
1. VIP, VIP, VIP
2. Respect people’s time – focus on quality of both participants &
content
3. People look for empowerment
4. It’s not about numbers, it’s about quality (gate keeper) and impact
@Morad

10. MFA - Tech & Innovation Forum
@Morad

11. MFA - Tech & Innovation Forum
• More than 1,000 subscribers
• More than 450 Telegram subscribers
• Real impact in closing deals and partnerships overseas (Greece)
• Being an “updates collector”, and almost having the Israeli Prime
Minister meet with Samsung’s president
@Morad

12. 4 Lessons From Tech & Innovation Forum
1. It’s all about doing
2. Focus on the content (value) not design
3. Email is (still) the Killer App
4. Again, it’s about networking (no bottleneck)
@Morad

13. Part 2 – what we do at Wix
Engineering regarding communities
And insights you can use
@Morad

14. 1. We share our insights, focusing on lessons learned & value
2. We encourage our developers to take an engaging part in the
community, focusing on WIIFT & empowerment
3. We got your back
4. Constant activities mapping - writing, thought leaders, public
speaking - and closing the gap
What we do regarding communities
@Morad

15. We share our insights
@Morad

16. And we don’t just stay online
@Morad

17. Oh, and it’s not about Wix Engineering…
@Morad

18. Oh, and it’s not about Wix Engineering…
@Morad

19. Oh, and it’s not about Wix Engineering…
@Morad

20. And we get prepared!
1. Writing
2. Public speaking
3. Open Source
4. Social networking
5. Taking pictures (profile and skill)
6. … and more
@Morad

21. • Because it is a great way to give back to the community
• Because it is a great way to learn
• Because it empowers our engineers
We’ve seen WHAT we do.
But WHY we do it?
@Morad
Because there is no ”Wix Engineering” without our engineers

23. Your Branding - Summary
• Your personal branding is an asset
• Always keep in mind commercial brands or ‘regular’ influencers
when you think “why bother?”
• It’s like going to the gym
• It’s about hearing, learning and sharing your knowledge - but with
who? What is your unique point of view?
@Morad

24. Your Branding - Suggested (first) Steps
@Morad
• Know your strengths and passion and find the value you can provide
(“everybody knows that…”, well – NO!)
• Choose your path - blogging, podcasting, newsletter, meetups, etc.
• Yes, you need marketing tools such as Twitter, LinkedIn, etc.
• Tip: schedule a time in your calendar
• Get started!

25. Thank You
morads@wix.com | @morad