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25 things I wish I knew before becoming a community organizer

Jason Hibbets

Community Architect at Opensource.com, Red Hat

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Shared purpose and passion

Image credits: https://opensource.com/article/17/4/community-leaders-gather-advance-art-community

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What are the different roles of a community organizer?

Image credits: https://opensource.com/article/17/4/introduction-functional-programming

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Understand the talent and motivations of participants

Image credits: https://opensource.com/open-organization/17/4/how-branding-decisions-open

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Understand the talent and motivations of participants

Image credits: https://opensource.com/life/16/11/2016-holiday-gift-guide-sweepstakes

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Find your superstars and let them shine

Image credits: https://opensource.com/article/17/4/top-5-april-21

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Find your superstars and let them shine

Image credits: https://opensource.com/article/17/4/top-5-april-21

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Be prepared and communicate effectively

Image credits: https://opensource.com/article/17/4/podcast-kubernetes-sarah-novotny

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Be prepared and communicate effectively

Image credits: Ribkahn via Pixabay, CCO | https://opensource.com/article/19/1/productivity-tool-isotope

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Community means something different to almost everyone

Image credits: https://opensource.com/article/17/4/introduction-functional-programming

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What non-metrics to document:

  • High touch interactions
  • Value of events
  • Contacts
  • Big wins
  • Monthly report

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Surviving burnout

Image credits: https://opensource.com/article/17/4/testing-certificate-chains-34-line-go-program

“Community doesn’t stop at 5:00 pm on Friday”

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Signs of burnout

  • Chronic fatigue
  • Insomnia
  • Forgetfulness
  • Increased illness
  • Loss of appetite
  • Anxiety
  • Anger
  • Loss of interest
  • Separation from people

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Have a plan

Image credits: Jason Hibbets, location: Nags Head, NC

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Pro tips

  • Highlight after hours work and need for a flexible schedule
  • Don’t suffer in silence, shared your struggles

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Pro tips

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  • Don’t suffer in silence, shared your struggles

“You can’t be effective an community organizer if your batteries are drained.”

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Grow your career and sharpen the stone

Image credits: https://opensource.com/article/17/4/itch-to-scratch-model-user-problems

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Bonus: Love the work you do

Image credits: https://opensource.com/open-organization/17/4/how-branding-decisions-open

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Pro tips

  • Align work with passion
  • Find passions outside of work

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Deep dive into community building

Image credits: https://opensource.com/article/17/8/ansible-environment-management

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Points and badges

Badges

  • New Member / 0-9 points
  • Community Member / 10-29
  • Open Enthusiast / 30-99
  • Open Minded / 100-499
  • Open Source Evangelist / 500-999
  • Open Source Champion / 1,000-2,499
  • Open Source Sensei / 2,500-4,999
  • Open Sourcerer / 5,000-9,999
  • Star / 10,000-24,999
  • Super Star / 25,000+

Points

  • Voting (in a poll) - 1 point
  • Giving comment thumbs up - 1 point
  • Getting a thumbs up (on a comment you made) - 1 point
  • Posting a comment - 5 points
  • Submit an event (that gets approved) - 10 points
  • Contributed to a published article - 15 points
  • Authoring a published poll - 20 points
  • Authoring a published article - 30 points
  • Top Contributor - 50 points
  • Community Awards - 50 points
  • Moderator's Choice Award - 100 points
  • People's Choice Award - 100 points
  • 100+ Contributions Club - 1,000 points

Source: https://opensource.com/points-and-badges

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Points and badges

Source: https://opensource.com/users/robinmuilwijk

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Community moderator program

Image credits: https://opensource.com/article/17/9/linux-kids

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Community moderator program

Details: https://opensource.com/community-moderator-program

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Awards program

More details: https://opensource.com/article/17/2/community-awards-2017

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Cat herding, email, and much more!

Image credits: https://opensource.com/article/18/6/copying-files-go

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Who wants to talk about tools?

Image source: https://opensource.com/article/18/10/nice-things

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A variety of tasks...

  • Cat herding
  • Communications/Email
  • Meetings and conference calls
  • Social media
  • Project management
  • Editorial planning
  • Editing
  • Documentation
  • Reports
  • Shipping
  • Order SWAG
  • Handwritten thank you notes
  • Hosting meet-ups
  • Travel and travel planning
  • Expense reports
  • Public speaking
  • Presentation preparation
  • Drupal administration
  • Sprint management
  • Website testing

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Get stuff done!

Image credits: https://opensource.com/article/18/8/tools-container-security

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A variety of tasks...and the tools to get the job done

  • Cat herding
  • Communications/Email
  • Meetings and conference calls
  • Social media
  • Project management
  • Editorial planning
  • Editing
  • Documentation
  • Reports
  • Shipping

Email, reminders, SMS, chat, calendar invites

Thunderbird, Gmail, IRC, Slack

BlueJeans video, Zoom, Hangouts, mobile phone

Hootsuite, Buffer, Sprout, social media platforms

Spreadsheets, calendar, Waffle.io, Trello

Trello, Google Docs

Google Docs, Libre Office, GitHub

Mojo, Google Docs, email

Spreadsheets, Drupal, Adobe analytics

Red Hat’s shipping tools: Xcarrier

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How I get stuff done with Waffle.io

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So many tools!

Image credits: https://opensource.com/article/18/8/must-read-tech-newsletters

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A variety of tasks...and the tools to get the job done

  • Order SWAG
  • Handwritten thank you notes
  • Hosting meet-ups
  • Travel and travel planning
  • Expense reports
  • Public speaking
  • Presentation preparation
  • Drupal administration
  • Sprint management
  • Website testing & QA

Planet Logo

Pen and thank-you cards

Meetup.com, EventBright, email, Google Docs

Mobile phone, travel websites, Google, Yelp, Lyft

Concur expenses, Expensify

Voice, presentation software

Research, presentation software (Libre Office, Google slides), people for feedback

Drupal

JIRA, Trello, email

Drupal, JIRA, website test environments

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Pro tips

  • Use the right tools
  • Use tools that make you productive to GSD

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Your most valuable asset

Image credits: https://opensource.com/article/17/2/mysql-8-coming

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Questions & contact details

Email: jhibbets@redhat.com

Twitter: @jhibbets

IRC: shibby

Slides: https://github.com/jhibbets/presentations

Book: http://theopensourcecity.com

Image credits: https://opensource.com/education/13/9/how-get-more-kids-code

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