You can download all the online resources you want; but none can substitute the value of traditional meetup-and-greet events. If tech meetups do one thing best above everything, it is helping dev and design communities establish professional close-knit networks with like-minded individuals and groups to further their goals.
Despite these facts, it can still be common for developers and designers to underestimate the importance of meetups in Australia and overlook its numerous benefits. If you happen to be among them, there’s a lot you’ve been missing out on.
But don’t worry. There are many local Australian tech meetups that provide engaging talks, conferences, and meetings on all topics. A good number of them target specific audiences, including startups, ecommerce store owners, web developers, and digital marketers.
So if you fall into any of these categories and want to expand your network reach, now is the time for you to act.
How Participating in Local Tech Australian Meetups Benefits You
As Australia is well known for its booming ecommerce scene, so the benefits of attending Australian meetups goes way beyond meeting new people and sharing ideas. It helps you connect with groups of well-connected professionals, mentors, and potential partners that can add value to you or your business in unexpected ways.
The following are some benefits of attending meetup events.
Learn About Latest Industry Insights
Participating in tech meetups gives you access to on-the-ground news in your niche or industry that is not available on the internet. This gives you a leg-up over those who simply depend on online resources as their go-to knowledge source.
Meetup events usually comprise of speakers who are leaders in their fields of practice and professionalism and offer breakthrough insights that do not surface the net until after a few days and weeks. Staying one step ahead of the curve this way means a lot for you to capitalize on in terms of new ideas and advice.
Seek Professional Feedback On Your Pain Points
If you are struggling with a problem, participating in meetups can give you the chance to ask questions and seek professional feedback from trained mentors, coaches, and others who have been in the same boat as you.
This is especially important if you are a startup or ecommerce store owner. You can seek advice on financing, marketing, and exploring new business ideas. On the other hand, if you’re a web developer, you can seek career advice and find out about what certifications are crucial for landing better jobs in the future.
Put Your Ideas To Test
Many business and startup ideas are doomed to fail. Others, on the other hand, can be the spark of the next multi-billion dollar industry. So how do you decide? Entrepreneur meetups can be the best platform; it can help you litmus-test your business idea and have it greenlit to start your very own company.
You can seek feedback from all important stakeholders – from business coaches to your target audience – and test the waters before investing a single cent. You can conduct surveys to see if there is enough demand for what you wish to sell and decide pursue accordingly.
Secure Good Opportunities
Participating in tech meetup events also connects you to potential investors, partners, customers, and clients. It gives you a whole host of opportunities to grow yourself professionally by cultivating a network of acquaintances and interested people who can benefit you.
You can attend tech meetups to find potential clients for your business, land high-paying web development jobs or projects, or find partners for your new startup company. The opportunities are almost endless.
Meetups in Australia That You Should Follow
Ecommerce
Online Business Owners
This meetup is geared towards helping online business owners network with like-minded people to share ideas and knowledge about making money online.
Organizer: Lisa P.
Website: Solopreneur Success
Retail Tech Sydney
A niche community of sorts, yet a highly interactive and engaging meetup that focuses on all related to tech retail industry in Australia. Based in Sydney, this meetup invites tech thought leaders and innovators that provide unique insights to the rapidly growing Australian ecommerce industry.
Organizer: Emma Sharley
Website: http://www.emmasharley.com/
Melbourne Ecommerce Meetup
This comprises of the finest Melbourne-based ecommerce owners, marketers, investors, and developers who can offer you all the latest insights and breakthrough trends that are sweeping across the country’s online retail landscape. Melbourne Ecommerce Meetup is an excellent platform to soak in the innovation from the industry’s most promising influencers and mentors.
Organizer: Gavin Ballard
Website: http://gavinballard.com/
Startups
Sydney Startup Community
If you envision becoming a startup owner, but not sure how to begin, the Sydney Startup Community is your go-to business meetup. It offers ample networking opportunities with some of the most successful Sydney-based entrepreneurs and startup owners, who can offer you advice and tips on how to get your business idea off the ground.
Organizer: Riley Batchelor
Website: Masterly
Melbourne Silicon Beach
As the name ‘Silicon’ suggests, it is related to innovation and tech. However, this particular meetup extends to freelancing and investing too. It conducts Pitch Nights to encourage new and innovative startup pitch ideas and help find and bring interested people together.
Organizer: Athula Bogoda
Sydney Startups
This is another meetup in Sydney that helps brings people interested in startups together. It helps spread meaningful ideas and knowledge to help people take leadership of their entrepreneurial vision and goals and crystallize them into tangible positive results.
Organizer: Pete Cooper
Website: The Start Society
Web Development
Melbourne Web Developers
As an excellent meetup for Melbourne-based web developer community, Melbourne Web Developers organizes monthly events to share the latest insights and updates across Australia. The meetup events cater to a range of popular web development topics. Some of these include web languages and frameworks, cloud tools, social media, and much more.
Organizer: Lessi Riccio
Website: Lessi in London
WordPress Brisbane
The WordPress Brisbane meetup offers free membership to all WordPress enthusiasts – from beginners to experts – to cover a wide range of topics. If you’re a web developer, this is a fantastic meetup to stay abreast of recent trends and tips on how you can become a professional developer.
Organizer: Cameron Jones
Website: Cameron Jones Web
Sydney Developer Drinkups
This is a Sydney meetup that provides networking opportunities for web developers in a casual setting. Its purpose is to help connect with others in a friendly and casual manner, whilst offering talks and advice for developers regardless of their expertise level.
Organizer: Jess Telford
Website: http://jes.st/
Digital Marketing
The Digital Marketing Connection
This Sydney-based meetup provides knowledges and ideas related to the growing digital marketing industry in Australia for all skill levels. As a member of this meetup, you have access to the best tips and advice related to content marketing, PPC, SEO, social media marketing, and marketing automation software programs that can add value to you as a digital marketer.
Organizer: Jill Riddiford
Website: Roller Blue
Online Marketing Sydney
Online Marketing Sydney is your go-to startup for learning cutting-edge industry practices from prominent speakers and mentors of world leading corporations and marketing companies. As a member, you will have access to speakers from HubSpot, Google, and News Corp. The Sydney meetup holds monthly events to around key online marketing topics, such as SEO, PPC, remarketing, and more.
Organizer: James Norquay
Website: Prosperity Media
Digital Marketing For Small To Medium Businesses
Based in Brisbane, this meetup is for small and medium-sized business owners who want professional digital marketing to scale their business. The meetup discusses all the latest tips and tricks that are proven to work for businesses of this capacity, and owners have opportunities to learn from trained mentors and professionals.
Organizer: SponsoredLinX
Website: Sponsored Linx
Final Words
To conclude, the value that tech meetups provide offer innumerable benefits to you as a business owner or web developer. Taking advantage of these networks can go a long way in helping you achieve your professional and personal goals.
So how do you intend to benefit from tech meetups in Australia? Let us know in the comments below.
Subhan Alam
Subhan Alam is a Digital Marketing Enthusiast at Cloudways, a Managed Cloud Hosting Platform. He works on different regions and is passionate about implementing new approaches in Digital Marketing. He likes to stay fit and meditates daily.
