A few days ago, a friend of mine asked me via Twitter DM for advice on how to get more women participating in one of the meetups that he runs, specifically the San Diego Rust Meetup.
He’s already got a solid Code of Conduct, and he cares deeply about diversity and inclusion in his company and in the meetups he organizes, but San Diego presents a few unique challenges.
First, while San Diego does have a strong tech community, San Diego is also a big county, and the tech community is spread out, with meager public transportation. So much so that many meetups have to run two versions: one for north county and one for more southern areas. Between physical distance and unholy traffic, it’s just really difficult to get people to drive over an hour each way after a full day at work.
To make it even more fun, Rust is a reasonably niche language, so the Rust meetup is smaller than many other tech meetups in San Diego. By all accounts, Rust is a great language with a welcoming community, so odds are good that our local Rust community will grow as the rest of the Rust community grows, but a quick glance at their Meetup page puts their average confirmed attendance at between 6-15 people.
To date, the San Diego Rust meetup has not had a single female attendee. Not one.
So, my first suggestion to him was to invite women to present at the meetup. Easy, right? Problem is, he doesn’t know a single female Rust user who is local and could therefore present at a meetup without a lot of additional cost.
Well, shit.
That obviously doesn’t mean there are literally no female Rust users in San Diego, it just means no one involved with the meetup knows about them.
I haven’t been actively involved in the organization of any meetups in at least a decade, but I know a lot of super-smart people on Twitter (including badass usergroup organizers and tech community builders), so I figured I’d ask around. San Diego challenges aside, there were some great suggestions that came through, so I thought I’d share them with you.
On Building the Pipeline
Wait wait…it really *is* a pipeline problem in this case? Whoa.
Time to build the pipeline. Presentations to/at local uni/ComColleges?
— VM (Vicky) Brasseur (@vmbrasseur) July 20, 2017
That’s… actually a great idea, and should have been obvious. Derp. I mean, of course. San Diego has plenty of community and state colleges.
Collaborating with Other Groups
Like @DAkacki said, reach out to girl tech groups. Search Meetup for the area and offer to present on Rust or another topic to their group.
— Shot Above Par (@shotabovepar) July 20, 2017
Are there groups like girl develop it or railsbridge etc. that you could reach out to? Maybe start a chapter?
— Richard Schneeman (@schneems) July 21, 2017
Have a workshop on an intro to this language at one of the other tech meetups?
— Kat Sweet (@TheSweetKat) July 20, 2017
No quick fix. Attend/support other meetups (with women) and expand your network. Organize Rust beginner meetup and advertise to women.
— Franziska Hinkelmann (@fhinkel) July 20, 2017
10 could mentor ~20 juniors, similar to @Nodeschool. Some juniors might stick around, attend regularly, become speakers or organizers.
— Franziska Hinkelmann (@fhinkel) July 20, 2017
Learn from Other Communities Who Are Doing it Right
Reaching out to leaders in the developer community space can also spark great discussions and ideas on how to broaden your reach. Talk to the folks who have already figured this stuff out.
@nellshamrell programs in “that language that rhymes with Must” and I’m sure would love to help build that community in SD
— Michael Ducy (@mfdii) July 20, 2017
Check out this video “How the Boston Python User Group grew to 1700 people and over 15% women” https://t.co/N3Z37EFYPl
— Marce Elizeche Landó (@melizeche) July 20, 2017
Consider Your Venue (Where Possible)
Remote meetups certainly have their place, although I’m not sure they are a complete substitute for the in-person stuff (which I find builds local networks, friendships, etc), but certainly augmenting some meetings as virtual could be helpful for folks with family or schedule obligations.
Do they have to be in person? Try video meet ups? That would be helpful with anyone who has familial obligations (not necessarily for women)
— Danielle Leong (@tsunamino) July 20, 2017
This suggestion also falls into the “so brilliant and obvious, I’m embarrassed I didn’t think of it”. Your meetup presenters don’t always have to be in the room. You could easily stream them into the meeting room, allow Q&A after, etc.
I saw in another comment you said few local female speakers – how about remote? There are some v great female rustaceans
— Sam Julien (@samjulien) July 20, 2017
Try Reaching Out Directly
Someone had suggested finding local women Rust developers via LinkedIn, and contacting them directly. While I could see that working, I could also see it being really creepy. Be careful and respectful. If you’re not sure if your direct message could be read as creepy, run it past a few of your female colleagues for sanity-checking.
It’s a bit stalkery but you can search GitHub for people by what language they’ve done projects in and location. Or similar on LinkedIn
— Scott Hirleman,CFA (@shirleman) July 20, 2017
Encourage Your Members to Mentor Women
I am more likely to attend events for the first time with my mentors, co-workers, or other people I know. My network is key to where I go.
— B. Postnikoff (@Straithe) July 20, 2017
Have members invite their mentees. If none of them mentor women, that is another failing that should be fixed.
— B. Postnikoff (@Straithe) July 20, 2017
A few folks suggested offering healthy food/snacks (no pizza? I’m out), not holding the event at a bar, providing child care, and making sure the venue itself is in a well-lit, non-creepy location.
In Closing…
Building a community takes time and work, especially when the language is young. (I remember being one of four people at the San Diego PHP User’s Group, back in 2002 or so). I don’t think there’s a one-size-fits-all approach that will work for everyone, hopefully these suggestions give you a great place to start.
You can read the entire Twitter thread here, if you’re so inclined.
