From this January 2020 I am part of a small team that will start up a new kind of community meetup. Together with Geert van der Cluijsen and Esteban “Steve” Garcia (more on those lovely people below), Azure Community Live is a way to offer Microsoft Azure knowledge to even more people. Because a few people has asked questions about what it is and why, both on social media and in person, I thought I’d answer them here. But first:
Why am I doing this?
What is in it for me? Why am I genuinely excited about making this event and community the best it can be? First of all, I love community initiatives, events and ideas. I have been doing DDD Melbourne for 10 years, and have in that process tried a ton of different thinks to make it a more inclusive event, a more technical event, provide better value and so much more. The tech community is a large part of my world.
For those that don’t know, I live in rural Australia. We can’t see any of our neighbours, we don’t have town water, we are on satellite internet. Yes, really. It is my choice though. No one is forcing me to live in paradise 😉. Because of this, I have 2+ hours to any meetup in Melbourne, which means I rarely attend them. Not because I don’t want to, but it just becomes a logistical impossibility.
So, it is really for selfish reasons, and also to provide Azure knowledge sharing to more people that are remote. If there is a monthly meetup online, I can join from anywhere. I don’t even have to wear pants!
Who are we?
There are three hosts and facilitators of Azure Community Live. We are trying to cover and cater to a global audience, so the hosts are from all corners of the world.
Geert is based in the Netherlands and works for Xpirit as a cloud architect and consultant. He is a Microsoft MVP and will be hosting the events happening in his time zones. Geert runs a lot.
Esteban is based in Orlando in Florida, US. He has the very “American” title of Senior Vice President for DevOps at New Signature. Esteban also collects Star Wars memorabilia.
Oh, this is me. Hi, I am Lars and I work as a technical instructor in Azure for A Cloud guru. I love getting people excited about cloud computing, and I also collect Lego. Lots of Lego.
Who is it for?
Everyone! Yes, it really is. You can join from anywhere in the world, either live, if you are awake and available, or watch the recording. Because we are using YouTube, of course all the meetups will be available on our channel afterwards.
If you are:
- Someone how has never used Microsoft Azure
- A professional using Azure every day
- Curious about cloud computing
- Living remote and can’t get to regular meetups in cities
- Getting stressed being around too many people
- Opposed to wearing pants
- Human
You are welcome to join Azure Community Live. To be honest, we don’t really mind who you are, as long as you want to be part of, and/or contribute, the community.
Do we really need another meetup?
That was the first question we asked ourselves. There are a ton of meetups, and cloud technology and Azure is no different. However, with the premised of offering a meetup for remote people anywhere in the world wanting to know about Azure, we came up empty. Nothing. So, yes, I do think this is needed. Starting with myself, I need it. And that is an okay start, and reason, for me.
As always, it is a choice of whether you want to spend your time with this community, or another one. Up to you. But I hope you’ll join 😊.
When and where can I join and participate?
First meetup will happen in January 2020. Exact date and guest speakers will be announced on our Twitter channel, and also make sure you follow the YouTube channel too. If you want to speak, as well as much more information can be found on our website.
See you soon at Azure Community Live.