Re: [UG-ADMINS] Introduction: PHPJutland in Denmark

Hey Boyan, All this reminds me I still have to come down to Varna and speak at your user group! Let's make it happen in 2018!!! Michelangelo Michelangelo van Dam Sr. Web Application Architect, Test Automator & Microsoft Azure MVP Mobile/WhatsApp: +32479922951 - Telegram/Twitter: @DragonBe - Skype: michelangelovandam GPG Fingerprint: 5732  D8FE  EDE8  D59F  E59F 1597  70DF  8F88  2024  203C > On 17 May 2018, at 10:17, Boyan Yordanov <boyan.yordanov.dev@gmail.com> wrote: > > Hey Jesper, > > Congrats for running the user group for more than a year already! > > I feel your pain. Our group in Varna, Bulgaria suffers from pretty much the same problems. > People were really hesitant to even show up at first and most of the “regular” speakers in the > country are located in the capitol (Sofia) which is a 5-6 hours drive. > > My observation is that people started offering talks more after I did a few. And after a year > and a half I continue to speak every third meetup. I’ve experimented with other formats like > lightning talks with mixed results. Also a personal encouragement and offer to help from the > organizers seems to go a long way with prospective speakers. > > As for reaching out my personal experience is that word of mouth and people bringing their > colleagues and friends with them works best. Also having a present on all popular platforms in the > country. Currently we still have more people showing up trough the Facebook events than trough > meetup.com <http://meetup.com/> because that’s more popular > in Bulgaria. > > On the bright side it’s awesome that you have inspired others to start similar events. > > As long as people show up you can even grab a drink and talk php without talks and still have a > really productive event and a good time for everyone. > > Keep up the good work and good luck! > > > On Thu, 17 May 2018 at 3:00, Jesper Østertoft Jacobsen <jesper@oestertoft.dk > <mailto:jesper@oestertoft.dk>> wrote: > Hello UG-Admins > > I am Jesper Jacobsen, I run the Danish PHPJutland group. > > > We've been up and running for a year and a half now, and are finally starting to gain some > real traction. > > However, developers in Denmark are still very shy, as there has been no precedence for meetups > or the likes beforehand. Luckily it's contagious, and companies that has hosted us has started > to do similar events. > > What's your best advice for reaching out to new users, and to potential speakers? > It's currently quite the challenge to find speakers as they are shy, and Denmark is quite > split. About 50% of the developers we can use as speakers are located in the capitol, Copenhagen, > about three hours away. We have had speakers from there before, but I don't think we can do > that every time. > Aarhus, where we're located has a lot of great companies, but they aren't very keen > on speaking, unfortunately. > I'd be glad to hear anything you can tell me about running a Meetup, as I still feel very > new to the whole process. > > > Thank you very much > - Jesper > > > > Boyan Yordanov > boyan.yordanov.dev@gmail.com > > Organizer of PHP Varna <http://phpvarna.com/> > Software Engineer @ ShtrakBG > Find me on Twitter <https://twitter.com/specter_bg>

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