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Write the Docs Meetup Quorum

The Quorum program brings together various local Write the Docs meetup chapters in compatible time zones to provide quarterly super meetups over Zoom throughout the year. These quarterly virtual meetups can serve one or more time zones. Virtual events increase community participation and offer more opportunities for sharing knowledge. Virtual Meetup Quorums have high value in geographies where there isn’t a tech epicenter.

As always, ask questions on the Write the Docs Slack workspace any time.

Current coordinators

Alyssa Rock @barbaricyawps is the current coordinator the Quorum program. Feel free to contact Alyssa on the WTD Slack workspace if:

  • You are interested in giving a presentation at Quorum event. We’re always looking for new speakers and we’re open to a wide variety of presentations from anyone in the Write the Docs community.
  • You are an organizer of a local WTD chapter and would like to participate in the Quorum program.

Meetup schedules

Meetups are held quarterly. On a rotating basis, a different local meetup is responsible for organizing and emceeing the quarterly super meetup.

East Coast U.S. calendar

Q Month Event
1 Jan Off (no meetings)
1 Feb Off (no meetings)
1 Mar East Coast Quorum meetup
2 Apr Off (no meetings)
2 May WTD Portland conference
2 June East Coast Quorum meetup
3 July Off (no meetings)
3 Aug East Coast Quorum meetup
3 Sept WTD Atlantic conference
4 Oct Off (no meetings)
4 Nov East Coast Quorum meetup
4 Dec Off (no meetings)

West Coast U.S. calendar

Q Month Event
1 Jan West Coast Quorum meetup
1 Feb Off (no meetings)
1 Mar Off (no meetings)
2 Apr West Coast Quorum meetup
2 May WTD Portland conference
2 June Off (no meetings)
3 July West Coast Quorum meetup
3 Aug Off (no meetings)
3 Sept WTD Atlantic conference
4 Oct West Coast Quorum meetup
4 Nov Off (no meetings)
4 Dec Off (no meetings)

Meeting agenda and times

Meetings last an hour and follow this agenda and time structure. For example, for an event that starts at 7:00:

  • 7:00 to 7:10 - Icebreakers and announcements - For the first 10 minutes, remote attendees can join and participate in icebreaker activities. Then, the emcee makes announcements and introduces the speaker.
  • 7:15 to 8:00 - Presentation and Q&A - The speaker has about 30-45 minutes for their presentation that includes the Q&A portion. The Q&A can expand to fill the time if the presentation is short.
  • 8:00 to 8:30 - Breakout rooms by meetup - Attendance at this portion of the meetup is optional. We’ll use Zoom breakout rooms to have people meet with their individual meetup organizers to say hi to other people in their meetup. Organizers can use that time to talk about job openings, talk about future meetups, and socialize.

Quorum meetup event publicity

Quorum events are created on the parent Quorum meetup and then the local meetups publish an announcement that tells their members about that event. These announcements encourage their local members to register at the Quorum Meetup event. Local meetups do not publish their own version of the event.

We want to drive traffic from local meetups to Quorum and also drive traffic back to the local meetups. Traffic is hopefully driven back to local meetups by:

  • Hosting breakout rooms at the end of the Quorum meetups in which local meetup leaders can connect in smaller groups with people who came to the Quorum meetup that are from a common area.
  • Post links to each of the sponsoring local meetup groups in the Quorum meetup event details.

Advantages of participating

If you are a local WTD meetup organizer, participating in WTD Quorum has many potential advantages:

  • Sharing the workload - Volunteering as a WTD meetup organizer can involve a lot of work depending on how much support you have from the members and other organizers in your chapter. Quorum super meetups take some of the pressure off by reducing the number of meetups you have to coordinate on your own.
  • Attracting high quality speakers - Because remote attendance increases audience sizes, high quality speakers can be better guaranteed to have a sizable and engaged audience. Remote meetups can also attract high quality speakers by allowing them to present from their preferred location, reducing the burden on their time.
  • Expanding access to high quality content - Some meetups have a greater pool of potential high quality presenters to draw on simply because of geographic density. Remote meetups allow WTD members from less dense geographic regions to have access to good content without needing to attend in person.
  • Reducing the need for venues or sponsors - In-person meetings usually need a venue or sponsor to be successful. Coordinating sponsors and venues is frequently challenging for meetup organizers. Remote meetups don’t have these needs.

Responsibilities of participating meetups

Participating local meetup organizers agree to:

  • Find a speaker for one approximately one event on a rotating basis.
  • Either emcee or find an emcee for their event.
  • Help promote each regional event with their meetup members–not just the month that they arranged the speaker.
  • Attend as many regional super meetups for your region as possible.
  • (Optional): It helps to have 1-2 core team members who can assist in coordinating the Zoom calls and communicating with meetup organizers.

How to participate in Quorum

We can launch a new quorum in a region if we have at least 4 or more local meetups in a given geography that are interested in participating.

To join the discussion, join the Write the Docs Slack and add yourself to the #meetup-organizers-quorum.

We also use the wtd-quorum on groups.io mailing list. The goal is to cross-post from Slack to the mailing list for archiving purposes.

Participating U.S. East Coast and Central meetups:

Participating U.S. West Coast, Mountain, and Australian meetups:

Will Quorum meetups continue after in-person events resume?

Yes! The long-term plan is that time-zone compatible Quorum events become a permanent part of Write the Docs.