MeetUp-ing like a Boss
A guide to ensure your MeetUp attendance yields results
Have you recently finished a coding bootcamp and are looking for a job? Are you overwhelmed by the 9823592342349 different things you MUST LEARN YESTERDAY to be a ‘real developer’? Where hell are you supposed to find the time? Easy, cut out ‘attend meetups/events’ from the Career Playbook…..after all I want to be a programmer and programmers don’t actually interact with other humans! Nice! Now you’ve saved 2–4 hours that would’ve been wasted on silly MeetUps. WRONG.
MeetUps can actually save you tons of time. You’ll open yourself up to learning all kinds of new concepts and processes, best of all you’ll meet real people working at real companies who’ll tell you exactly what’s really important. And they can help you meet other important people at those companies…..$$$$
Big secret…… “networking” makes everyone feel like this…..
#1 Show Up
Show up late, only for part of the meetup, etc
Practice makes perfect. When you first start going to events it’s very normal to have anxiety, fear, and apprehension about even showing up. One of the easiest excuses is to say, “well I won’t make it on time….I’ll just skip it and go to the next one”. DON’T.
Just showing up is about 75% of the battle. Even if you only make it for the last 30 minutes, GO! In many talks the best information comes at the end as the speaker is making their conclusion. You may very well hear some idea that triggers a totally new perspective.
People that organize meetups and events work really hard and put in a lot of hours of preparation. You know their biggest fear? That no one shows up. So leave early, come late, JUST SHOW UP!
Show up early
I know I just said that it’s totally fine to show up late. Well….I’m a bit of a liar.
If it’s a small meetup show up 20 minutes early. If it’s a big group try for 45 minutes.
Showing up early has soooooo many perks.
First of all you can help the organizer with any last minute preparations they might need help with, maybe setting up chairs or snacks. Guiding other attendees to the meeting space or bathrooms, begin to take some ownership of the group/event. Trust me, they will surely remember who you are by doing this tiny favor.
Second, the speaker is usually just waiting around- a bit anxiously. This is the perfect time to chat up the speaker about the upcoming topic, help them relieve their stress, show genuine interest in the event and mitigate their nerves.
**Disclaimer: sometimes speakers are still rehearsing and going over notes, if the vibes don’t feel like they’re comfortable to mingle at this point don’t push it. You will still get your shot during and after the event to make an impression. But this rarely happens.
Third, you’ll get to take full advantage of the event. This means like a good teacher’s pet you’ll have first choice of a great seat. If food/drinks/swag is provided you won’t be the one going home hungry and empty handed.
Lastly, coming early allows you to settle in and make your last minute research. Because after showing up the most important thing is to PREPARE!
#2 Prepare
Come with a mission
Maybe you saw an interesting event title, clicked attending, never thought about it again until your calendar reminded you an hour before and just show up. This is about 95% of meetup goers. They never ask why am I attending?
Are you attending to land a job or internship? Are you going to hear an industry leader for some specific problem you’re dealing with? Maybe you’re going to find a partner for a new project or to recruit talent. Having a concrete why will tell you exactly how you need to prepare.
Very often in my job giving free, public workshops at Le Wagon TLV we do a lot of coding to help total beginners. Every single session there are people who didn’t set up their computer before attending. We have so much information to cover that we can’t wait for these people to do their prep work. And of course they are unable to get the full value of the meetup, just able to follow along instead of actually try to code with the class.
For attendees of meetups looking for jobs/internships/partnerships when you ask your purpose it forces you to know what the next step will be. Getting someone’s attention is the hard part. At a meetup you have it. Now what will you do with it? Come with your resume. Come with business cards. Come with your calendar ready. Come knowing all the necessary lingo.
This bit of preparation will pay massive dividends.
P.S. If you’re in tech in a foreign land like Tel Aviv don’t forget to ask what language the meetup is in, more than once I’ve been fooled by 100% English event pages only to show up to a Hebrew meetup
Research your speaker
If you attend a meetup and don’t know anything more than the title and maybe the event description you’ve failed.
I studied philosophy back in university and you could always tell who did the reading before class and who didn’t. And those overachievers in the first row with the questions and contributions always had the best papers and exam scores!
Researching your speaker and meetup topic is the same. If you do a bit of research you’ll actually be able to contribute rather than just take notes, nod, and mutter “🤔 my how interesting”.
You want to really leave an amazing impression on a speaker? Look them up on twitter, linkedIn, medium, youtube, etc. Look at their past work, read an article or two. Find out the trending topics in their field. Even better is finding out who are the people that excite them? (Re-Tweets are a huuuuuge indicator!)
Nothing is worse for a speaker than asking, “any questions?”, and not a single hand is raised. Instead of forcing yourself to come up with some half-baked questions, come prepared with 3–5 detailed questions and really wow the socks off your lecturer.
Research your fellow attendees
The single most under-utilised resource at meetups are fellow attendees!
Quality events attract quality people. It’s that simple. Instead of being the 15th person in line to shake the hands of a now fatigued speaker, find the 3 or 5 other people in attendance who might more easily help you meet your Meetup Objective.
And do your homework before hand! After a talk is over most people hang out for 5 minutes, see that talking to the speaker will be awhile and then beeline for the doors. The same way you look up your speaker, check the attending list and cross reference their online profiles. Keep it professional but a little stalking can be very helpful to make the most of your precious time.
You’re gonna say, “Ya but Benjamin talking to new people is awkward and weird. I don’t want to be one of those overeager weirdos.”
Approaching people in public can be very uncomfortable. So let me give you my super secret fool-proof method of engaging people with a 100% track record!~!~!~
“Hey I’m (fill in your name here), what did you think of the event?”
Or if the person is a real curmudgeon and says something like “it was fine”, you can go with:
“Why did you come to this event?”
Being those people still hanging out and having a good time while “networking” long after everyone else has left other than the speakers and organizers is a great way to end up getting drinks with those important people and really get a chance to make an impression/connection!
#3 Follow Up
Follow Up immediately
Don’t wait to get in contact with someone! I’ve found that even the best meetups I’ve attended where I felt super energised and thought I’d change my workflow based on some insight……after 2 days I’d totally moved on and almost never, ever go back.
Reaching out to a speaker for slides or notes is nice but only if you’re really going to use them.
Instead reach out in some more constructive manner. Try to set a meeting, a phone call, an introduction, etc. Be true to that original goal you established.
One of the most annoying and frustrating messages to receive is “hey I loved your talk, would love to pick your brain sometime”. I’ll admit I’ve sent this message many times before. It’s a half-assed way to say I want something from you but I’m playing coy and want to pretend like I just to be friends.
CUT THIS BULLSHIT OUT.
Everyone is busy these days. Be upfront about what you are looking to gain from someone. If you’re looking for a job, say you’re looking for a job. If you’re looking for them to come speak at your company/organization, say that’s what you’re looking for. If you’re asking for an introduction to someone they know, ASK THEM.
Now there is still a level of civility to maintain. Just because you are direct doesn’t mean you shouldn’t try to connect with them in a human way.
Example of a message that led to a meeting and finally an event featuring the speaker:
“Hey Bob! I’m reaching out after hearing your talk on Slack! I’m working at Le Wagon TLV and we are always looking for speakers from the TLV Tech community. I was hoping you might be interested in coming to give a talk about your experiences. If you are interested, I’d love to meet up over coffee or a beer.”
Follow Up Methods
I hear often that people try to follow up from Meetups over email or some official manner and never get a response. I highly suggest more informal methods like twitter, facebook, instagram, etc.
Answering an email feels like work. Sending messages over LinkedIn feels like work. Nobody ever checks their Meetup or Eventbrite emails or article responses. So try a social media attack and you’ll be surprised how fast you get a response!
