How do I connect online with other programming conference attendees with similar interests?

Question

I would think that in this age of social software that it would be easier to network socially around a software conference. Here's the particular problem I'm trying to solve: In past PDCs I've run into a large number of my fellow Orthodox Jews and it turns out everyone is praying in his own hotel room because nobody ever organized anything together. So now I've arranged for the closest rabbi to help me organize something and I can't figure out how I'll get the word out to others who would be interested. How can I get the word out and, ideally, get it to go viral?

Answer 1

I've heard of http://eventmingle.com but it looks like that's something the event organiser would need to set up beforehand. Not sure how it all works.

Answer 2

Go old school and post signs at the convention center, or hand out flyers.

Answer 3

I've found twitter to be a good way to start the ball rolling. Pretty good wisdom of crowds compared to most social networking tools. Then encourage people to retweet about your meetup.org or whatever.

Answer 4

Here are a few ideas:

• Embroider your twitter ID on your shirt above the pocket: @dpritchett is mine.
• Create a Facebook group and related events prior to the conference. Cross-promote them at your blog and twitter and stuff
• Be sure your blog is on your business card. Be sure the newest post on your blog refers to your party plans. Pass the card around and tell people about your parties and how they can get more info on twitter or your blog or facebook.

Nothing's going to be perfect, but the more you get the word out ahead of time the better off you'll be. Try to cover as many social networks as possible.

As an example, I was recently in Dallas for a week on a training course. I searched FriendFeed for the word "Dallas" and found an open-invitation geek dinner complete with listings on Facebook, Upcoming, and some other sites. I signed up and attended and had a great time.

Answer 5

Kinda glomming on to Daniel's comment: I would have to wonder since this is a developers conference you're asking about if there wouldn't be an already existing back channel (i.e. a conference blog with enabled comments or an agreed upon hash-tag for Twitter, etc.). If so, you should definitely leverage that as well.