Add recommendations on how to start a meetup in your city

[AlexDenisov]

Summary

The list summarizes topics that were discussed at the EuroLLVM's round table on the meetup organization.

[siedentop]

Hi @AlexDenisov, I thought I could help in copy-editing this file. Very nice writing and useful advice. I am not a reviewer on LLVM though, so I cannot merge this.

llvm/docs/MeetupGuidelines.rst

22

This might potentially be offensive to those in the Americas but not the US.

28

Wouldn't this be a good time to mention that without a dedicated speaker microphone, the audio quality will hardly be good enough?

35

This is confusing to me: Which of those lists is preferred?

36

Typo: "this maling lists" --> "these mailing lists".

39

New suggestion to cleanup this long-winded sentence:

"But as these mailing lists have high traffic and some LLVM developers are not very active on them, you may reach more interested people using the mailing feature from meetup.com."

53

This sentence seems to be missing an ending.

62

--> "Ask nearby universities or university departments"

[AlexDenisov]

llvm/docs/MeetupGuidelines.rst

22

Very good point, I'll update this.

28

I think we did couple of recordings simply using iPad and it was OK. But I will definitely mention the microphone, it makes sense.

35

I think the intention was to post to all of them, I'll clarify.

53

Good catch :)

[AlexDenisov]

Included changes suggested by @siedentop

[mehdi_amini]

It is good idea, thanks for putting this together!

llvm/docs/MeetupGuidelines.rst

15

This is tricky, if you organize an LLVM Social and intend to advertise it on the LLVM mailing list, the LLVM CoC should always apply*, it'd be strange to have a CoC for the social which is less specific than the LLVM one for instance.

*: the CoC mentions that it applies to "LLVM events such as the developer meetings and socials".

22

Actually I am not sure it is better now: it can be seen as conflating "America" with "US" (as if there is a single culture in America).
What about "what works well in one country may not work in others"? Or if you want to be specific "what works well in the US may not work elsewhere in America or on another continent" (the latter acknowledges specially that US != America)

[siedentop]

Please take into account @mehdi_amini 's valid two points. Besides this LGTM.

llvm/docs/MeetupGuidelines.rst

22

Good point, @mehdi_amini. From the two, I would prefer the generic version without referring to any continents. The other option only mentions the US and America, without reference to Asia and Europe.

Any way, it is not the most important topic ;) Are there any LLVM socials in Antarctica yet? (No, I checked.)

[AlexDenisov]

llvm/docs/MeetupGuidelines.rst

15

Hm, I certainly missed that. In Berlin, we are not using LLVM's CoC. I think the reason was that it did not exist when we started (I just checked, and indeed the meetup group was created two weeks after the first draft has landed).
I can remove the line about "any other CoC" if there is a strict requirement for the socials to follow LLVM's CoC.

If that's the case, then we'll need to reconsider code of conduct we are following at Berlin socials, but honestly, I don't think it's worth the effort, especially given that Berlin CoC does not contradict LLVM's CoC.

22

After a break I've got to a similar conclusion, it's better to not mention any country or a region in general. I'll update that.

[mehdi_amini]

llvm/docs/MeetupGuidelines.rst

15

I would at least check with the LLVM Foundation what is the appropriate language to use.

It is possible that this would work for everyone: "The LLVM CoC <https://llvm.org/docs/CodeOfConduct.html>_ applies to such social events in general, if you'd like to pick another one (example <https://berlincodeofconduct.org>_) please check with the LLVM Foundation if it is compatible with the LLVM one."

[hintonda]

llvm/docs/MeetupGuidelines.rst

49

This seems to assume meetups should be semi formal affairs with speakers -- was that your intent?

I've only been to a dozen or so socials in Mountain View, and none of them had speakers -- they're just socials. People tend to congregate in small groups and have informal discussions. I like this format because it give me a chance to discuss ad-hoc topics, e.g, features I'd like to add or things I'm having difficulty with or don't fully understand.

[kristof.beyls]

llvm/docs/MeetupGuidelines.rst

49

I think that it might be better to structure this document roughly as "Please adapt your social/meetups to what will work best for your specific situation; here are a number of ideas you can take into account when designing your specific social."

Having a talk or a roadmap of talks may work well for some socials and less well for other socials. My guess is that the Mountain View social is unique in that it has a much higher chance of an expert being present for most areas of LLVM; something that is probably less likely at socials elsewhere. Which has an impact on what the "optimal" design for the social is.

I think one of the most important points is to encourage adapting and if necessary experimenting with the format to what works locally.

[AlexDenisov]

llvm/docs/MeetupGuidelines.rst

15

Agreed, I like how you put it!
I will use your wording unless we get other suggestions.

@tonic, @aadg what do you think?

49

This seems to assume meetups should be semi formal affairs with speakers -- was that your intent?

Not really, thank you for the good catch.
This document is just a summary of what has been discussed two times at EuroLLVM. I think I simply biased by the fact that almost all meetups in Europe are like you said: semi formal affairs with speakers.

@kristof.beyls made a good point, I will put his suggestion onto the very top of the document.

[aadg]

llvm/docs/MeetupGuidelines.rst

15

I think we should only mention the LLVM CoC. I would prefer to avoid fragmentation, and the LLVM CoC is what people should be expecting when they go to an LLVM event, so kind of like the least surprise rule. In case the LLVM CoC could not apply, the right approach is probably to fix it rather than working around it.
Also, do we want this to be just a recommendation ? As an organizer (leaving LLVM out of the picture), this is definitely a recommendation to other organizers. But from an LLVM community point of view, I believe our CoC should be mandatory.

[AlexDenisov]

Explicitly stated the requirement to use LLVM's CoC.

[mehdi_amini]

LGTM.

llvm/docs/MeetupGuidelines.rst

52

Since this is the section "Meetup content", I would make it more explicit that talks are only one possible format, either as a separate point along the line of * The meetup can be organized only as a social event, or more organized with (lightning talks) or just by prepending this sentence with If you plan to have talks during your events, it's a great idea to have several talks scheduled ....

[tonic]

llvm/docs/MeetupGuidelines.rst

19

Can we rephrase this? Something like

"We highly recommend that you join the official LLVM meetup organization. In addition to covering the cost of the meetup, all LLVM meetups are advertised together and easily found by potential attendees. Please contact ... "

[AlexDenisov]

Included @tonic's and @mehdi_amini's suggestions.
Also restructured the thing a little bit: there is a separate section covering talks now, the 'Meetup content' moved to the 'General suggestions' section.

llvm/docs/MeetupGuidelines.rst

+=====================================
+How to start LLVM Social in your town
+=====================================
+
+Here are several ideas you can take into account when designing your specific
+LLVM Social.
+
+Before you start, it is essential to make sure that the meetup is as welcoming
+as any other event related to LLVM. Therefore you shall follow LLVM's
+`Code of Conduct <https://llvm.org/docs/CodeOfConduct.html>`_.
+
+Other than that - your mileage may vary. Please adapt your social to what works
+best for your specific situation.
+
+General suggestions
+-------------------
+
+* We highly recommend that you join the official LLVM meetup organization. In
+  addition to covering the cost of the meetup, all LLVM meetups are advertised
+  together and easily found by potential attendees. Please contact
+  [e-mail] for more details.
+* Beware of cultural differences: what works well in one region may not work in
+  other part of the world.
+* Do not be alone to organize the meetup. Try to work with a couple other
+  organizers. This is more motivating as an organizer, and this makes the
+  meetup more resilient over time.
+* Each event can have a different form such as a social event, or
+  a hackathon/workshop, or a 'mini-conference' with one or more talks. You do
+  not have to stick to one format forever.
+* Whatever format you choose, `LLVM Weekly <http://llvmweekly.org/>`_ is an
+  excellent topic starter: go through the 3-4 recent LLVM Weekly posts and
+  prepare a list of the most interesting/notable news and discuss them with the
+  group.
+
+Advertisement
+-------------
+
+* Try to advertise via similar meetups/user groups
+* Advertise your meetup on the mailing lists (llvm-dev, cfe-dev, lldb-dev,
+  ...). Feel free to post to all of them, or at least to llvm-dev.
+  But as these mailing lists have high traffic and some LLVM developers are not
+  very active on them, you may reach more interested people using the mailing
+  feature from meetup.com.
+* Advertise the meetup on Twitter and mention
+  `@llvmweekly <http://twitter.com/llvmweekly>`_ and
+  `@llvmorg <http://twitter.com/llvmorg>`_.
+* Announce the next meetup in advance, and remind in one week or so.
+
+Tech talks
+----------
+
+* It’s a great idea to have several talks scheduled for several upcoming
+  meetups to get the ball rolling.
+* Keep looking for speakers far in advance, ideally you should have 2-3
+  speakers ready in the pipeline.
+* Try to record the talks if possible. It adds visibility to the meetup and
+  just a good idea in general. Any modern smartphone or tablet should work, but
+  you can also get a camera. Though, it is recommended to get an external
+  microphone for better sound.
+
+Where to host the meetup?
+-------------------------
+
+* Look around for bars/café with projectors.
+* Talk to tech companies in the area.
+* Some co-working spaces provide their facilities for non-profit (i.e., you do
+  not charge attendees any fees) meetups.
+* Ask nearby universities or university departments.
+
+How to pick the date?
+---------------------
+
+* Make sure you do not clash with the similar meetups in the city (e.g.,
+  C++ user groups).
+* Prefer not to have a meetup the same week when the other similar meetups
+  happen (e.g., it’s not a good idea to have LLVM meetup on Thursday after
+  C++ meetup on Wednesday).
+* Meetups on weekends may attract people who live far away from the city,
+  but the people who live in the city may not attend.
+* Make a poll, but beware that not every responder will join (we had ~20 votes
+  on the poll, while only ~8 people attended).
+

llvm/docs/index.rst

 * clang-bot - A `geordi <http://www.eelis.net/geordi/>`_ instance running
   near-trunk clang instead of gcc.
 
+Meetups and social events
+-------------------------
+
+.. toctree::
+   :hidden:
+
+   MeetupGuidelines
+
+Besides developer `meetings and conferences <https://llvm.org/devmtg/>`_,
+there are several user groups called
+`LLVM Socials <https://www.meetup.com/pro/llvm/>`_. We greatly encourage you to
+join one in your city. Or start a new one if there is none:
+
+:doc:`MeetupGuidelines`
+
 Community wide proposals
 ------------------------