Meetups

Nextcloud community members all around the globe organize Meetups to get together, learn, share ideas and work on Nextcloud. Meetups come in all shapes and sizes, but have one thing in common: they are organized and attended by Nextcloud enthusiasts just like you.

Find the next Meetup dates and more on nextcloud.meetup.com

Consider joining the events category on the forums to discuss events with other Nextclouders.

Want to organize a meetup? Below you will find some practical tips on how to organize a great meetup as well as information on how to tell us about your meetup and how to get some Nextcloud goodies!

Organize

All you really need for a meetup are a room with power and wifi, some content and interested visitors!

Where and when?

You can often get a room at work, university, community center, local hacker space, hacker café or a public library.

We do many Nextcloud Meetups around 19:00 on week days, but if that does not work for you, try a weekend! And of course: just ask the participants if another time would work better.

Tell everybody!

We use meetup.com to track and promote most of our events. We have an account where we can set up Meetups, so if you're up for organizing one, let us know and we can get you going. Here is an example page.

Next up is to share it over social media - set up an event page on Facebook and Google plus, ask people to share the news. Don't feel bad if your first meeting attracts just 5 visitors and don't freak out if 30 RSVP. A small group means you each have time to really work together; and a big group means everybody will talk to everybody so you don't have to worry about keeping everybody busy!

What to do at the event?

Now you have a place and some participants, but what to do? It is easiest to separate two kinds of Meetups: the one where (potential) Nextcloud contributors come together; and one where users meet up.

Development Meetups need very little: room, wifi, people with laptops. Keep it simple: Nextclouders will get along just fine. Open by doing a round of introductions, ask everybody to share what they would like to do. You can use one or more of our ready-made workshop presentations to get started but if everybody just wants to get hacking: that's great!

Of course, every now and then you could get an interesting speaker to discuss some Cloudy subject.

User Meetups require a little more work. It is usually best to, after introductions, have a presentation or demonstration. Discuss at the forums where to get some materials, we have talks and other things and would love to help you! After that, have room for questions and discussions. Be sure to announce the subject beforehand so people know what to expect, and solicit input: ideas, requests or offers for help. We are working to offer content for a number of meetings but it is also nice to encourage members of the meetup group to contribute their own knowledge and experience!

Tips

• It is nice to be welcome, so welcome newcomers! If your meetup gets big, you can ask somebody to help you welcoming new visitors...
• get people to sign up on meetup.com or ask for their mail addresses so you can tell them about the next meetup!
• Find people to help you. Try to organize the meetup with others so when you're on holiday, the event can still take place.
• Remind people of the Nextcloud code of conduct if they aren't nice to each other: you have every right to tell them to stay away if they can't behave... It is your meetup!
• Find a how to organize a meetup in 5 steps article here.

Contact/questions/support

For setting up the meetup page, sharing the news on the upcoming event or a report from the previous one or any other questions, just ask via the contact form.

Use the events category to discuss events with other Nextclouders.

Nextcloud swag?

If you organize a meetup, we'd be happy to send you an envelope with some informative Nextcloud flyers, Nextcloud stickers, posters and other things.

Note that we have limited supply and shipping and handling takes time, so don't be late! In general, count on two weeks at least and please understand that currently we only ship in (most countries in) Europe and the USA. Ask on the forums and we get you going!