Crisis = Opportunity: Lessons in Jumpstarting a Developer Community

After 10+ years of working with developer communities, I’ve learned you can always turn a crisis into an opportunity. Whether it’s an unhappy community member, a failed plan, or an unexpected announcement from a competitor, with a bit of patience and hard work, you can not only survive, but thrive.

You never know what tomorrow may bring your way. As the Boy Scouts say… always be prepared! After 10+ years of working with developer communities, I’ve learned you can always turn a crisis into an opportunity. Whether it’s an unhappy community member, a failed plan, or an unexpected announcement from a competitor, with a bit of patience and hard work, you can not only survive, but thrive.

In this talk I’ll share how I’ve run into these “crises” at various companies and how you can turn these challenges into opportunities by being transparent, listening to your community, and cultivating flexibility in your teams.

I’ve been working with developer communities and building out community programs for over 10 years. With the essential role that communities hold in tech companies these days, community managers aren’t the only ones who need to know how to address their community of users. Everyone from developers to advocates to executive management can benefit from this talk.

I won’t need any technical equipment other than my laptop and a projector.