Welcome to another blog where I will share my perspective about meetups and how it helps communities grow. So without wasting any time let's get started :)
What are Meetups?
Meetups are small get together of students and working professional who mainly aims to share their learning and experiences with each other and discuss the latest trends and technology. Meetups are organized by people like us or groups of people where you will be having some talks, food, and swags.
Why you should attend them?
Meetups are the best places to make network with people and get inspired by what they have achieved.
Other than that there are valuable talks on current hot topics which help you to get aware of which might other people not.
You will get to know more people like you coming from different diversity and backgrounds which makes the meetups more inclusive.
Some fun learning activities are also organized by organizers.
Free food and Swags ( I would say these are just secondary things so focus more on the learning aspect ).
Why meetups are organized and how have they helped communities grow?
Meetups are organized to make awareness among the people like you and working professionals as well and share learnings and make the future of technology more secure. Because you are the one who is going to use the technology and maintain them. So it's necessary to know about the trends and basics of it.
People who attend meetups will share their learnings in their communities and surrounding to make them aware as well which ultimately helps the communities grow.
My Experiences with meetups
My meetup experience was good overall but has spotted some flaws also. I learned a lot from the meetups.
My first meetup was GitHub Field Day and indeed it was the best-experienced meetup I was ever been in. The way the organizers structures the whole event and includes a lot of fun and awesome talks in line really did a great job to make everyone put on the front and make out of their comfort zone and share their learnings.
After that, I went to many of the meetups and learned and network with a lot of folks doing amazing work. So yeah my meetup experience was amazing.
But some flaws I found I want to mention in the end and you should be familiar with them.
Tips to make the most out of your first meetup
- Be gentle to Everyone.
- Dont talk about Personal things.
- Follow the Code Of Conduct.
- Ask questions even if it's a silly ones too.
- No one wants you to be an expert in something you are there for learning and sharing.
- Approach first don't wait for someone to approach you.
- Research a little bit about the speakers and the panelists to make your conversation last long.
FOMO - THE LEFT OUT IN THE CORNER
This topic is necessary to put forward, After the pandemic, there is a lot of rush for the in-person meetups wherever you see a meetup going on or about to begin. People posts their pictures on social media about the meetups, which triggers other peoples to feel left out. This situation is not new but at the current time, it's increasing rapidly.
So is there any solution for reducing this?
Maybe yes but I don't know how. I don't think this will stop ever. Let's understand what I see around my surroundings and I guess you should feel this too...
- Today folks join the meetup just to click and post their pictures to gain following over Social media.
- Some folks just come for the swags.
Above are some points I wanna put here so I added them. Okay, so what to do to reduce this FOMO in yourself?
- Understand what benefit will you get from the meetup If you go there.
- If you think that meetup is not gonna add any value to my life or career then leave it.
- It's not necessary to be present at every meetup please give chance to others as well.
- Work on yourself first because if you don't do that all these meetups are of NO VALUE.
In this way you can reduce the FOMO you may feel after watching people's posts and all. See I am not against posting pictures on social just understand the scenario here.
Conclusion
In the end, I just wanna say you should know what your end goal is for attending any meetup, If it's beneficial for you then go, and If not don't go and give chance to others.
That's all from my side I will see you in my next blog with another interesting topic.
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