Leverage the power of communities

[Music]

every year

i get emails from someone for new year

and diwali

no it’s not a bot it’s a show ashok was

a helper at triple iet bangalore

and a participant in one of my first

projects

with google student club i was helping

him learn

how to use emails and this was eight

years back

when smartphones were not too popular

so we got together one saturday

afternoon and created

an email id for him i must admit

he was a quick learner and years after

i left the institute i still get emails

wishing me happy new year or happy

diwali or just

hello ma’am how are you the joy of

receiving that email

is like a surprise dropping into your

mailbox

every once in a while my journey with

communities

started with this experience and i went

on to

learn and do multiple things as part of

communities

it helped me interact with a lot of

people

right from the housekeeping staff all

the way to the director

i guess that’s where my passion for

communities

got ingrained all of us at some point

have been part of groups with shared

interest

it could be a music or a sports or a

photography club

at college or a technical community

nearby

or an employee resource group at your

workplace

it could also be a spiritual or a hobby

group

in your society everyone associates a

different feeling

by being part of communities for some

it could mean a sense of shared identity

and purpose for some it could be

emotional connect

or friendship i even have a few friends

calling it family for me

it is a sense of belonging

a few weeks after i graduated a friend

of mine

reached out to me to lead the blr droid

community

which is the bangalore android user

group for those who don’t know

it’s a tech community with people

interested

in building mobile applications i

immediately said a yes to him and since

then

there has been no looking back

my purpose behind the yes was to meet

new people

and for those who know me i derive a lot

of energy

from people but what also came along

was a set of responsibilities weekends

spent

in hosting and speaking at events and

the responsibility

to figure out what does it take to run

and build great communities

you need the right audience you need to

identify their needs

and check what value you’re going to be

adding to them

each time most importantly you need to

be able to do this

consistently well i also remember many

of my friends

asking me what is it that you get by

being part of communities

do they pay you i said well no

but let’s see what unfolds it’s only

years

later that i understood the profound

impact that communities

have had on me through the community

i got a chance to apply to a public

speaking training

which was hosted by one of the leading

public speaking agencies in san

francisco

called speechless post the training

we were taught to record our own story

and my talk

along with two other friends got

featured on the google developers

youtube channel this was in

2014 i felt a deep

sense of accomplishment and i still

remember

my parents showing that video to friends

and relatives

for almost a year

through my community contribution i was

also given an opportunity

to travel to google i o on an all

expense

paid trip google i o is google’s

annual developer conference and this was

in 2016.

i remember sitting in one of the front

rows with my friend

arya watching the keynote live

listening to sundar pichai releasing

products like aloe

duo and even launching the new google

home

the exposure the listening to the

experts about latest technologies

and meeting people from different

countries and cultures

were all fascinating while i spent my

weekends for almost about two and a half

years

hosting and participating in various

communities

i built relationships with people i

would have

never met if not for communities i

started realizing and

understanding the value of strength of

weak time

i would make it a point to go and say

hello to everyone

hoping that they would remember me the

next time

we met i also spent some of my free time

in upskilling myself around the topics

of data science

based on my community experience i was

contacted

to lead the women techmakers program for

india

it was an extremely tough call for me

to let go of my dream job in the field

of data science

and choose to lead communities but i

decided to take the plunge

because i could foresee myself changing

the lives of individuals

with this role i must admit

i was confused and scared of the

unknowns

that lay ahead and just figuring

out how to lead communities at a

national scale

the program was at a very nascent stage

back then

and there was a lot of work to be done i

was fortunate to have some great mentors

and friends

who supported me in this transition

i built connections even beyond work and

meetings

in three years i managed to touch

about 17 000 members in india

and scaled the program from eight

ambassadors in india

to 58 today this experience has taught

me

a lot about courage empathy

and resilience fast forward 2020

kovit presented us with a lot of

challenges

but also a set of opportunities to me

it meant running the biggest virtual

summit across

india for international women’s day what

is usually

a physical one day summit with about 300

women attending

had to now go virtual seamlessly

so with about three weeks of preparation

35

communities decided to come together to

put together

this event right from putting together a

team

to designing the website to figuring out

the tech infrastructure

designing creatives to promoting that

event on social media

we have to do it all i took up the role

of program managing this event

and through that experience got to work

with some amazing people

across the depth and breadth of this

country

we all had our strengths and we decided

to play by it

there was a lot of work to be done a lot

of collaboration and communication

a solid plan in place and it was

important

to get the organizing team motivated

throughout this journey

we managed to take all those boxes and

ended up reaching

about 11 000 attendees across 76

countries

but what stuck the most with members of

the organizing team

was the bond that we build with each

other

in less than a month we understood each

other more

at a personal level we accepted

each other with our strengths and

weaknesses

and we became the strongest advocates of

each other’s success that’s the magic

that can be weaved in

with what’s even more gratifying

is to hear the stories that people share

with you

while you work so closely with them

there are many instances that remind me

time and again

the power of communities and the impacts

that it has

on our minds and hearts i want to share

with you stories

of a few people that i’ve had the

absolute privilege

to be working with through this

community experience

the first story i want to tell you is

about finding your voice

meet druva from ahmedabad purnima from

kolko

varsha from jalandhar and aditi from

indore while they belong to different

parts of this country

they had one thing in common they would

stay

small and hidden around a group of

people

and would hesitate to give out their

opinions

but by spending about a couple of years

with communities

each of them got transformed for good

today they do not have the fear of being

judged

when they put out their perspectives

sometimes they even convince me

on why their idea is better than mine

and i get absolute joy in looking at

these women

growing from strength to strength the

second story

i want to tell you is about empowerment

meet ananya who is a community organizer

at the bangalore chapter

she joined the communities a few years

back and got deeply involved with her

community

not expecting too much in return i was

speaking to her one day

very recently and she told me how much

she owed

her current role to her community

experience

because that’s where she built her soft

skills and got exposed

to real technology today she is doing a

role

that many of us in the tech industry

aspire for

she calls herself a developer experience

engineer when communities can play

such a key role in providing economic

opportunities

along with the exposure and experience

it’s certainly worth a try

isn’t it the third story

is about hope meet rich raj

from jalandhar one of the most

passionate

community organizers that i know of

i once asked him rich why do you do what

you do for communities

and he said laksha i really want to

support

help and mentor people because that is a

luxury

that i did not have and his answer

really touched me another community

champion

senbil hails from madurai

while madurai is extremely popular for

its temples

it also houses some great tech

professionals

however given its geography there’s a

dearth

of exposure to communities there

language is sometimes a barrier too so

center

based out of bangalore would take the

pain to travel to his hometown on

weekends

to lead local communities there what’s

even more heartening

is to see him translating a few of the

talks and

event summaries to his local language so

that more people

can understand and benefit from this

community experience

these instances make me feel that we are

progressing

towards building great leaders and

stronger

communities over the last few years i

have been

part of many communities student

communities

technical communities women in tech

communities

reflecting on my own community

experience

this has been an extremely fulfilling

experience for me

i have learned to lead with my head and

my heart

and along the way have got an

opportunity to work with some amazing

people

creating a motivated confident tribe of

women

supporting other women is what gets me

to work

every day and i can tell you in a

nutshell

that communities allow you to empower

others around you

and in the process you also empower

yourself

so find your interest group with that

self interest

you can learn grow and share together

with like-minded individuals with very

similar interests

but diverse perspectives it can pay a

way for you

to become a better leader a better

teammate

or even a better person for all you know

it might help you find a new job or a

new mentor

or a new co-founder for your next

venture or

a friend for life i want to take this

opportunity

to thank all the people who have stood

by me

through this journey my support system

my friends from the communities

your support and encouragement is what

inspires me every day

to pay it forward you get me going

at the beginning i spoke to you about

different feelings being associated for

different

people when we think of communities when

i asked a few community professionals on

what comes to their mind

here are a few answers that i got and

i’m sure many of you can relate

to some of these words and phrases

as i sign off i wish you more power

to build and participate in communities

that will enable you

to find your voice get empowered

or be instrumental in paying it forward

or all of the above thank you