The Gap

There are numerous designers who live, work, and play in the Brooklyn, but most meetups were hosted within the confines of Manhattan, NY.

There was not a consistent platform to allow for our design community to connect with each other regularly in the local pockets of Brooklyn, NY where ample design studios existed and thrived. There was an opportunity to open that door.

Finding Our Voice and Purpose

There was a personal desire to do something purposeful with my free time that can make a difference to my local circles.

To get set up:
  • Establish a meetup group and clearly state our mission/purposes and goals
  • Create a strong personality and branding to get our name out to the design universe, promote via other partner groups
  • Set cadences & logistics to create space for ways of working - set up channels for internal coordination and external ways of comms (ie email/gdrive templates, slack/discord for sharing advice, jobs, events and posts)
  • Launch website and allow for visibility on social media channels for members to find us, share content, and tag us @bkproductdesign
  • Recruit and collect a roster of diverse speakers, sponsors, and allies in the industry to spearhead sharing their stories and hosting us in their spaces (Small Planet, WeWork, Adobe, Brainstation)
  • Set up youtube video archives for members to relive the experience, and for speakers to showcase their talent and stories
  • Recruit passionate volunteers and train up visionary organizers who share the same mission as us; Set up onboarding, overview decks, and templates to enable them to contribute their strengths within their roles
  • Allow for ways to ask our members for feedback to continuously iterate on our experiences and encourage involvement in person and virtually
Each of us has a voice. Our meetup is the platform and stage to feel empowered to teach others what you love to do, learn with curiosity, and make connections that our members otherwise wouldn’t have discovered themselves. And with that circle for trust, and play, and learning… our community was born.
Picture

Event formats

We started small and leaned on our inner circles to get local speakers to sign up for a variety of topics. As we grew out our speaker base, we started to notice themes across the board – inclusive design, user research & data, mixed reality platforms, interaction design and principles. We have also expanded virtually during the pandemic to continue supporting our community in need of connection safely from the comfort of their own home.

​Speaker talks (6/year)
● Lightning talks
● Stories & Experiences
● Portfolio Reviews
● Workshops/Panels

Social events (6/year)
● Happy hour socials
● Artwalks/exhibitions
● Mindfulness/Local spotlight
● Joint meetup events
​
Design Hackathons

UXPA PrattUXathon

One of the biggest events we hosted was a full day design hackathon in conjunction and partnership with the UXPA PrattUXathon in Feb 2019, with over 50+ participants, 10 teams, and 10 mentors, judges, and volunteer/organizers and behind the scenes sponsors and social media to generate buzz around the event. That was a project in itself!
Picture
Picture

Outcomes

Since establishing ourselves in 2017:
  • We went from awkward strangers to now having repeat faces who have also expanded their roles to run the group with us
  • Orchestrated volunteer roles and involvement, and enabled our speaker's personal growth; Pushed on their comfort zones to provide opportunities for members to practice public speaking
  • ​I have been recognized and featured in a meetup.com live event panel and held a panel convo with 500+ meetup organizers to offer advise on how to homegrow, market, create, and grow their own community groups
  • Kept our members safe and strong when they need it the most virtually during the shifts in pandemic
  • Celebrated our anniversaries with an opener lightning talk on how we rooted with a small idea through to expansion
  • Supported national and global expansion to our Los Angeles and Singapore sister chapters.
​Rock on! Check us out at bkproductdesign.com ✌️
Next Case Study: