Meetup is an online social networking service with a difference: It is designed to help people organise face-to-face meetings about topics that interest them. Although it is online, the offline meetings are a key element, unlike Facebook or Instagram, or even LinkedIn, where the online world is paramount.
Groups, meet-ups and topics
Groups can be set up around almost any topic. Take a look at your local groups and you are likely to find book clubs, socialising groups, and a variety of particular interest groups like R users, entrepreneurs or those with an interest in artificial intelligence. The groups are, however, fundamentally different from any other event, because they are self-organised by peers. Yes, there is an organising team, but if they do not reflect and respect the views of their group, then nobody will attend. The group has to accept the speakers at events, or the events will fall flat.
I attend meetups regularly as a marketing manager, and I have noticed a couple of important differences between Meetups and other groups. Meetup groups do not like sales pitches, and they will vote with their feet. Instead, meetups in my area of interest — analytics and data science — tend to focus on interesting tech-talks around particular topics. This generally means that you need to be prepared to speak about a topic on your own — and you need to make what you say interesting.
#Meetups on analytics and #DataScience focus on interesting tech-talks around particular topics. No sales pitches. #sasacademic Click To TweetThis does not, however, mean that you need to be an expert. You need to have an interest in the subject, and know something about it, but topics, especially in analytics, are so rich that nobody expects anyone to know everything. The main requirement is that you are interested in learning more, and are able to discuss the ideas.
Meetups for students
This ‘non-expert but interested’ ideal makes meetups a very useful option for students and recruiters alike. Meetups are places where everyone can meet on equal terms. You can listen to speakers, but a key part of every event is discussion and networking. They are, in other words, platforms to enable people to get to know each other.
That is great news for recruiters and potential employees alike. As a student, you can look at a corporate website, and get a reasonable picture of the corporate image, and read job descriptions. It is not, however, usually possible to make contact with people who work in the organisation in your preferred job role, or get a feel for that job in practice. This is bad news, because many students find it hard to assess how a potential job may work; what they will be doing on a day-to-day basis. Great-looking opportunities may turn out to be technically dull, and boring-sounding organisations could turn out to have particularly exciting new roles.
You can get a much better feel for this from presentations in meetups. For example, at one recent meetup I attended, in Frankfurt, a group of young data scientists gave a presentation about their work, and openly explained what they did on a daily basis. This makes it much easier for potential employees to decide if that job or organisation is for them. Potential recruiters can also get to know students, and we all know that networking works; most jobs are not advertised. Short-term opportunities in particular may be discussed in the margins of a meet-up.
Platforms and potential
But recruiting is not the only benefit of meetups for students or potential employers. Meetups are a platform. Amazon has demonstrated the power of platforms, morphing from being a bookseller to becoming a platform that linked sellers and buyers of a huge range of products, and becoming a global giant in the process. The real benefit of platforms is that they can become whatever their users want and need. Every participant can make what they want of the experience.
You might, for example, use meetups to find partners for an interesting project, or learn from others about particular tools and techniques. The community shapes the events and the group, so getting more involved means that you can have more influence.
However you wrap it up, getting to know lots of people from a wide range of organisations and backgrounds is only going to improve your employability, however you choose to shape the experience. And with such a lot of meetups to choose from, there is always another just around the corner, and another chance to meet new people, and further previous acquaintances.
