Running an ALC chapter is mostly about showing up, consistently, for your local open source community. This page collects practical help for chapter organizers.
Running events ¶
The heart of a chapter is its events. These don’t need to be large or elaborate — a regular, reliable, welcoming meetup does far more for a community than an occasional big conference.
- Start small and regular. A predictable monthly or quarterly cadence builds an audience.
- Mix formats: talks, workshops, hack sessions, and informal socials all have their place.
- Welcome newcomers explicitly. Many attendees will be students or people entirely new to open source.
Finding speakers ¶
You don’t have to find every speaker yourself.
- Browse the ASF speaker resources and the list of volunteer mentors and speakers.
- Reuse and adapt our sample presentations and slides about Apache, the Apache Way, and open source.
- Invite local committers and users of Apache projects to share their experience.
Topic ideas ¶
- Introductions to the ASF and the Apache Way.
- “Getting started in open source” sessions aimed at students and first-time contributors (see our newcomer guide).
- Deep dives on specific Apache projects used in your region.
- Non-code contribution: documentation, translation, design, events.
Reporting ¶
Chapters send a brief status report to ComDev every three months. Keep a running note of your events and their turnout as you go — it makes the quarterly report trivial to write, and it’s useful material for your own chapter’s story.
Resources ¶
The ALC Resources wiki collects presentations, media, and other material shared between chapters. It is linked from the ALC program page on the cwiki.