If you build it they will come.

Growing an idea into a community.

Three years ago I was working from home as a freelancer, I was busy as could be working away. One night after a rather long coding session I sat back and was checking out twitter. It was about 2am and as I was catching up with my feed I had a realization.

I know all of these people, but do I actually know them?

It hit me. I am part of a community of designers and developers, who I follow around the web, places like Stackoverflow, Github, Twitter and elsewhere, but I didn’t actually know many of them. What if there was an event that brought that community together and we learned from each other and got to actually meet IRL?

So I posted a tweet —

there should be more development workshops in #Denver. #experimentsInInteraction

After posting that and going to bed I woke up the next day and the idea kept burning, so I did what I do really well. I stopped what I was currently working on and geeked out for the next few days and planned an event.

Two days later I tweeted again —

I’d like you all to meet @dvlpdnvr http://bit.ly/Avf20u #experimentsInInteraction #denver

The idea was simple enough. Get designers and developers together for two days of hands on coding and networking. Get nerdy. I reached out to people I knew to see if they were interested in speaking. To say this thing was bootstrapped was an understatement. I had no idea what I was getting myself into, I just knew it had to happen. After reaching out to a number of people each involved in totally different spaces of development and design, I had a total of 4 panels for this event I called Develop Denver. I set the date for 1 month later.

What have I gotten myself into…

That thought was a constant, the only thing I had ever organized before were shows when I was in bands.

Venue — Check
Speakers — Check
Beer — Double Check

Okay, let’s do this. The response off the bat was incredible, so many people were actually interested in the idea, I thought to myself “this might actually happen!”

The original idea was to have this be a creative development workshop, but what happened next blew my mind in the most amazing way.

Fast forward to March 1st — Checkin. That first year sold out, and by sold out I mean I messed up and oversold. We were packed in this space that held only about 50 people max, and we had around 65. Going into this whole thing I figured I knew most of the people who would be attending, but as people started showing up I was completely in awe at the fact that I knew almost no one. WOW.

The next two days went amazingly, we had amazing speakers and from there the community was started.

Let the dust settle.

Those two days were incredible and the reaction from the community was stunning. I thought to myself, “this needs to happen again, but bigger and better”

As the year went on from that March I started planning and talking to people who I had met that day. New friends were everywhere and getting to put faces to names and twitter handles was awesome.

Coming out of all of this I walked away with a core mission and concept for Develop Denver.

Create a conference that was unlike any other conference.

Most conferences you go to cost an arm and a leg and there are so many panels and topics it can be overwhelming and for the return on investment in terms of money and time, really never felt like they were worth it. I wanted to make something different. I wanted to make an affordable conference that had a limited number of panels and topics that were lead by people within the community and on top of that I wanted those topics to be interesting and incredibly valuable to attendees.

When I say affordable, I mean affordable. Money is always something that will be involved in these types of things, but that shouldn’t ever be the focus of creating something that can bring so many people together for good and learning. I wanted to make a platform for sharing ideas, and knowledge.

Let’s melt some brains.

The second year of Develop Denver was to say the least, one of the most incredible humbling experiences of my entire life. When registration began and tickets went on sale, we again sold out. This time over 150+ people showed up. Speakers came from out of town! We had two full days of two track panels and a massive space.

The dream I had for this whole thing was actually happening. That year I saw many from the first year again, as well as a TON of new faces. Watching people meet and connect and learn from each other was the dream being realized.

This doesn’t belong to me. This whole thing, Develop Denver belongs to the community. Many people had no clue who I was or who was actually running this conference, and that was the idea. Make something where the community is in charge, give them a platform to come together.

Develop Denver is more than a conference. It’s a gathering. Bringing together the movers, shakers, makers and doers of the design and development community. It’s a place where brains are melted and friendships are formed. Where someone can come knowing little to nothing about code and leave inspired, and return the next year with a wealth of knowledge because they met people to help mentor and teach them. Where people can get nerdy and dive head first into some code just for fun. Most of all. It’s about community. It’s about those relationships and friendships formed. It’s about meeting someone from a company and a year later being a perfect fit for their team. It’s about making a connection that leads to a freelance job. It’s about sharing ideas and inspiring one another.

That, is what Develop Denver is all about.

Gearing up for year 3

I am so excited to see what this August 1st and 2nd have in store. From the speakers to the people I cannot wait!

For those who have taken part and those who are new, thank you for making this all happen.

See you in August.