If you haven't heard by now, April 6 is World-Wide Stack Overflow MeetUp Day! Wondering what the purpose of this MeetUp is? Our developer Ben put it best: "The way I see it is that it's an opportunity to meet some of those 32x32 avatars in real life. Have a snack, have a drink, talk geek stuff, that kind of thing. Of course if you create a real event with speakers & such, that's awesome -- but it's about having fun as well."
Some communities have already organized some pretty cool MeetUps!
- Petrioli Gabriele, a member of the Athens, Greece MeetUp created a query to target the top 100 Greek Stack Overflow users to attend.
- Chad La Guardia is organizing a MeetUp group for Austinites and University of Texas students at UT's Austin Campus to mingle and network. Hook 'em Horns!
- Not sure of what to do in your community? Check out our custom MeetUp chat room.
With only a few days left until World-Wide Stack Overflow MeetUp Day (April 6!), it is important to secure a venue and encourage others to attend. The MeetUp folks were impressed at your commitment, and now's the time to make it count. We've also got bragging rights at stake; MeetUp keeps track of the largest events to date, see any group you'd like to beat?
Here are some suggestions about how you can spread the word:
- Use the hashtag #SOMeetup on Twitter, Flickr, and YouTube when posting about Stack Overflow MeetUps
- Post a link to your local MeetUp page on Facebook and Twitter, email the page to your friends, promote in blog posts, etc.
- Use the custom Stack Overflow MeetUp widgets
- Invite a friend or two to come with you
Remember to bring business cards so you can network at the event and take lots of pictures! We want to see them posted on Twitter and Flickr (#SOMeetup) afterwards!
See you April 6!
P.S. We've gotten a lot of questions regarding companies sponsoring the MeetUps. Our stance is that a company donating space/food/drink for the event is fine, but that using the event as an avenue for marketing or as a captive audience opportunity to profit is not ok. At the end of the day, this is about the community gathering together and having fun!