The Barcelona Java Users Group

An unexpected journey

{ First thing first }

{ Who I am } Novice father, entrepreneur &

passionate software engineer from Barcelona who started to work with Java in the last century.

Founder & leader of the Barcelona JUG, ex-Google Technology User Group (GTUG) organizer and organizer of the Java Barcelona Conference.

Now working at Wallapop (“¡waaalla!”)

@icougil

{ What is the BarcelonaJUG ? }An open community & a nonprofit association legally based in Barcelona curious about the technology

Focused (but not only) in Java & JVM

We started in 2012… now we are more than 540 members in Meetup

Managed only by volunteers

{ How did everything started }

{ What we did }+50 events in last two years2 live events (avg) each month in different places. Agreements with many organizations: FIB-UPC, Mobile World Centre, COETIC, La fontana, etc

We also started 1 monthly online event in our Youtube channel

{ What we did }We also organize a course to learn to code for teenagers

Different type of events:okeynote talk coding

dojosoroundtables hands-on

workshopsoworkgroups talk +

workshop ...

… and we had time to organize a big conference! ;-)

{ Talking about technologies }

and more ….

{ Few images ... }

{ About the JBCNConf }

> 220 people, 46 speakers from all over Europe

(UK, GE, PT, RO, PL, FR, BE, DE, NL) … and even from Spain ;-)

{ Few images ... }

{ Running a community }

It is a great effortand sometimes…

you will end upchasing a great reward…(or not)

so, think twiceabout why areyou doing it

and after all, go straight!

{ Organizing a conference is like ... }

You must learn about legal issues, financials (providers, lawyers, translators,...) & think about the possibility of non-payments

CFP were a huge success (>130 papers)

Look around & ask to choose proper dates

Compare it to managing a big project

{ ... it is a huge effort }

{ What we have learned }

{ Ask for help (if you need it) }

Do not be afraid about asking for help. People tend to help you (if you request

it)be thankful

{ Know your people }Meet (& talk with) your members

Ask them about what they’re working with and what they think it can be interesting to talk about (get feedback)

Understand which is your (main) target (=persona)

{ Move it ! }Change the place where you are usally organizing your meetings

It will help you to find new members, people who previously didn’t knew that your community exists.

It will force you to reach agreements with some companies/organizations

{ Make some noise! }

Use social networks to go further & reach more developers!

{ Meet other communities }

There are few interested in sharing their knowledge. Try to be as transparent

as possibleDo not fight against another

coomunities & topics. Try to add value and share (win-win)

Few of them could become your friends

{ Find nice fellow travelers }

Some of them dislike to rule a community, they like to code

Some will be looking for they own benefit

{ Understand our spanish culture }

Friday is the devil

Football is the devil

English speaking events (only) are the devil

Companies that try to sell products in your community are the devil

{ Finally, … we’re a family }

{ And now on? }We’d like to organize more local events vs keynote talks (lighting talks,roundtables)

Invite more people to the organization & to participate in the non-profit association in order to renew forces!

Hackaton with a mobile community? ;-)conquer the world !

Any questions?Thank you !