Growing the Technical Community

on YouTube ↗28m

" summary

Chicago Java Users Group grows from 2,500 in 2017 to 3,046 in Oct 2020 by switching to virtual programming, running monthly (now twice-monthly) Meetups and workshops, and adding Discord plus Slack, LinkedIn, YouTube and Meetup.com channels. Events include office hours, mini‑hackathons, cross‑meetup collaborations (Scala, Kotlin, ML) and a job board with screened recruiters; volunteers remain the bottleneck. Conference hosting uses company conferencing (IBM) for production and experiments like virtual drinks to keep engagement and international membership up.

AI-written summary · about

" chapters (10)

1. 0:00Introduction and background
2. 3:38History of Chicago JUG
3. 7:49Challenges in tech communities
4. 10:18Growing community during pandemic
5. 13:53Engaging community members
6. 17:04Communication channels
7. 20:37Meetup events and collaborations
8. 23:45Other community activities
9. 25:28Resources and how to join
10. 26:54Closing and Q&A

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