Ethereum Meetup Organizers Connect
Guiding the decentralized community to help realize its true potential.
“A protocol refers to a standard language that lets people work together on a specific problem. Community is, in fact, the very thing through which any language acquires significance.” Andy Tudhope
Why is Ethereum the world’s most widely adopted smart contract protocol? While opinions often differ, most agree on one fundamental observation: Ethereum is flourishing because of its incredibly dynamic community.
The network has attracted a diverse and inclusive group of weird and wonderful minds, unmatched by any other rival protocol out there. Ethereum itself is a community of communities driven by the collective innovation of individuals. And it’s growing. Fast.
DevCon1 (late 2015) had a mere 400 participants. The recent DevCon4 boasted 4,000 participants, and tickets were a hot commodity. Since those early days, many community initiatives have emerged to shape what Ethereum is today, with The Fellowship of ETH Magicians, The Community of Communities founded by Robbie Bent and ETHPrize, to name a few.
One community of communities that stands out in this ecosystem are ETH Meetups, simply because of their sheer size. In early 2016 there were just under 200 Ethereum Meetup groups with close to 30,000 members. Fast forward to today, there are close to 4,000 Meetup groups with over 1,100,000 members. This massive boom justifies the notion that ETH Meetup groups are an integral part of the ecosystem.
In this article, we’ll explore what this Meetup ecosystem looks like and cover some of the initiatives that are happening right now to further grow and connect everyone involved.
An Overview of the Meetup Ecosystem
Many ETH Meetups aim to build strong collaborative local communities of Ethereum enthusiasts. On the one hand, they serve as an in-person gateway into the Ethereum realm and on the other hand they provide a local platform for veterans to get together and discuss advanced topics in the space. Below is a breakdown of some of the most commonly run Meetups in the space.
General ETH Meetups
General ETH Meetups are often focused around creating awareness and sparking interest to newcomers in the blockchain space or to attract skills & investment to some level. Although this is the main focus at times, not every “General” Meetup will be as broad as this as some dive deeper into proof of concepts & technical development, which attracts another pool of skills altogether.
ETH Developer Meetups
“ETH Dev” Meetups have a more technical approach from the get-go. Workshops and discussions around coding in Solidity, presenting/testing new conceptual ideas or producing a fully functional dApp on the mainnet is quite the norm at these Meetups.
ETH Niche Meetups
Since the ETH ecosystem matured, more specialised groups emerged to cater for specific subsets of the technology. These allow for more seasoned Ethereans to push the boundaries of what’s possible.
Token Engineering Meetups
Token Engineering Global is at the forefront of these Meetups as they are driving token ecosystem design to become its own engineering discipline. Token Engineering Meetups are a collective initiative, that aims to drive forward advancements on the building blocks that create new token economies.
Curation Markets Meetups
Curation Market Meetups don’t stray too far from the Token Engineering community as they use the engineering discipline to build on the Crypto-Economic Primitive that splits into the likes of bonding curves & token curated registries.
While each and every Meetup is unique, there are some recurring formats that vary depending on the audience and goal of a Meetup. You’ll find some context to the most common formats below.
Workshops
This style involves a very hands-on practical of coding or testing to educate or build on a discussion. An example of this is LOOM Network’s Crypto Zombies — a series of practicals that teach you to write smart contracts in Solidity.
Presentations
This needs no introduction but common presentation topics are project demos, technology updates and lectures on prominent topics in the space.
Fireside Chats
A casual spin-off to presentations is referred to as a “Fireside Chat”. An informal conversation amongst a group that allows for a more engaging and intimate experience.
Virtual Meetups
A Meetup style that has gained in popularity more recently, as it allows the inherently global ETH community to connect on a personal level. Virtually run Meetups can be organized in different ways (just like offline Meetups). Curation Markets Meetups recently went virtual.
No Organizer Left Behind
At DevCon4, Protea hosted a casual get-together specifically for ETH Meetup organizers. It was one of the first events that connected organizers from around the world and had us discuss the many highs & lows of being an organizer, but also how we could take the Ethereum Meetup Community forward as a collective.
One key finding from the discussions was that although ETH organizers were thriving at connecting local communities, they felt isolated from one another. Ways in which we could effectively communicate, share knowledge, resources or build toward best practices hadn’t existed yet. Since then, a few initiatives were brought to life that aim to bridge this gap and connect Meetup communities across the globe.
ETH Meetup Organizer Telegram Group
Now with close to 50 members, this is a place where ETH organizers can share updates from their communities, ask questions and connect with one another.
ETH Meetup Organizer Discourse Page
A central hub for organizers to accumulate informative resources and insights as well as participate in discussions around particular topics.
ETH Meetup Organizer Monthly Call
The aim of this call is to bring all of our voices into one “room” to collectively connect with one another on a more personal level.
The very first ETH Organizer Call is coming up on the 28th of November. If you are an organizer and haven’t yet signed up, here’s the link.
Together We Grow. Together We Flourish
The ETH Meetup community has grown at an astonishing rate, and there’s no sign of this slowing down any time soon. The initiatives that were brought to life are a starting point towards laying a stronger foundation for the Meetup ecosystem. Fundamentally, these initiatives are not owned by any one person or organization. They are community owned and community driven. Come join us and together we will welcome the next 1.000.000 members.
