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There are a lot of reasons for this, but I want to talk about one in particular, And that is “why get involved?”

Why?

As much as community involvement has become second nature to me at this point, I remember asking this question myself. Going to conferences and learning from people (who I felt must be clearly making a fortune doing this!) is cool. Most companies will support a few days to a few weeks of training.and it is good to go learn stuff.

But to get actually involved is effort. Unpaid effort at that. I don’t necessarily disagree with that feeling that improving yourself for your job is part of the job in some ways but, what people really need to know is this: being a part of the community is part of a very important long game.

One thing I found interesting was once I got involved myself, these people I thought were making tremendous amounts of money on their community involvement were…not making hardly anything. Even if you get into a conference for free, there still was travel.

And as the conference system has grown, many of the conferences in the data community don’t cost anything to attend. So they really don’t pay anything. Which gets us to that question. Why?

Why get involved?

Community involvement builds relationships, character, and gives you a lot of time to learn things you never would have otherwise.

Getting a bit involved – Attending

Just going out and spending time with/mentioning the sponsors of a conference is more important than you might think. This is why companies spend 5000 – 50000 sponsoring conferences and the more love they are shown, but better.

There is definitely value for the conference managers and yourself just to have you show up and learn something. But with only a bit more effort you can make a larger difference!

Getting really involved – Speaking

As you progress the idea of speaking at a conference may come up. One mistake I think we all make is over encouraging everyone to be a speaker. There is this old adage that most people would raher die than speak in public. I was initially that way, and sometimes I feel that way all over again. Seeing people staring at you, expecting you to know something they don’t is intimidating.

Do I think that everyone could get up and deliver a session on some topic? Yes. But there is a right amount of exhortation that doesn’t start to feel like you are trying to make them feel bad for not wanting to do it. Not saying you should give up, but be nice.

What is wild about speaking is that you will learn more preparing for a session than any other thing you can do. Making sure that you know the subject well enough is a lot of motivation!

Getting pretty involved, but still a vital ingredient – Organizing

If you want to get involved, but not really be part of the show, you can volunteer to help run a conference (or even start your own!) I have spoken a lot of times, but I am a big fan of working at a conference in the committee that chooses speakers.

This all seems really selfish

It is, at least to start. You go, you force yourself to say “hi” to a person or two, and soon you have made an acquaintance. .All those relationships are extremely useful when you need your next job, especially when it is an abrupt job change.

And, unless you have had your head buried in the sand recently, you have seen reports of tons of layoffs. I was part of one myself, as were some of my friends. Thousands and thousands of people have recently been laid off from a company we all know and use at least one or two of their products. As much as I believe in being loyal to the company you are working for, companies are only as loyal as they can be (much like when you decide to change jobs for your reasons!). Hence getting out there in the community and connect with people.

Yeah, I know, this still seems selfish. And it is, except for one thing. While you are out future proofing your career with the community, you are future proofing other people’s careers. Sharing your knowledge and time is a two way street. You get a lot out of it for yourself, but as you do this you share and help many other people through conferences, teaching, and more. The more you are known for doing good things, the more you can help the next person.

In conclusion, the short version

If you are the one considering getting involved, I hope I made the case to at least give things a go and show up at a conference or user group meeting and check it out.

If you are trying to get someone involved, get them to do two things:

1. Come out to a conference
2. Go to the afterparty

Get them to talk to a few of the people who do this all the time. Finally, if you can get them at least slightly interested in becoming a speaker, consider telling them about the New Stars of Data ran by Ben Weissman and William Durkin. They have done some great work over the years!