Community Bootstrap

CommunityBootstrap

@henriquebastos

Hi!

My name is Henrique Bastos.

I'm a Python developer and I'm deeply involved in community building in Brazil, where I live.

Things are kind of crazy down there.

The community is growing too fast!

We even have our own Guido!

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...

CommunityCan Scale

Community Can Scale!

We've been learning a lot replicating the model. And I wish to share it with you all.

So you want to build a big community?

Ok. This is WHAT you want. But WHY?

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.

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.

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.

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.

Stereotypesdon'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!

Eventsvs

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

PythonCampus

#horaextradojorioForkinRio

OpenSpaceRio.org

SprintSlab

StepInside.org

We have a couple of events in Brazil... ;-)

Organically, you'll find out that your GROUP is just the sum of people that goes to the EVENTS.

Actively ReduceEntrance 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.

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...

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.

Watch out for the Umbrella Pattern, where everything falls under a centralized organism.

Act as a FOUNTAIN. Your initiative should behave like a subset of the community.

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…

Discover your Principles

Discover your PRINCIPLES

This is a little bit abstract, but describes your vision. It will give you a community ethos.

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.

Trust

Dialog

Personal Contact

Transparency

Diversity

Self-organization

Example

Consistency

Give, give, give!

Do it!

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!