Developers, designers and other builders bring energy to a meetup. They ask good questions, start side projects and often become your co-organisers. But builders are busy, and many have sat through too many events full of hype and sales pitches. If your meetup feels honest, hands-on and curious, they will come. This guide shows you how.
What builders look for#
Most builders want three things:
- Something real to work on or learn. A demo, a code walk-through, a problem to solve together.
- People who know things. Not experts on stage, just people happy to share what they've tried.
- No hype. Talk about technology and use cases, not tokens or speculation. Our code of conduct already rules out financial promotion, which helps a lot here.
You don't need to be a developer to host builders. You need a table, Wi-Fi, power sockets and a friendly welcome.
Make your regular meetup builder-friendly#
Small changes go a long way:
- Mention "builders welcome" in your event description, and say what kind of things they might do.
- Have power strips and a reliable Wi-Fi password on a card at each table.
- Leave a corner for laptops during social nights.
- Ask in your welcome: "Is anyone building something? Want to show it for two minutes?"
- Hand out the "For builders" leaflet from the resource library.
Host a builders' night#
A builders' night is a meetup focused on making things. It can be monthly or every few months.
A simple run-sheet#
- Arrive and set up (15 min). Laptops out, name badges on.
- Round of intros (10 min). Name, what you work on, what you'd like help with.
- Lightning demos (20 min). Three or four people, five minutes each. Anything goes: a script, a design, a half-finished app.
- Work time (60 min). People pair up or form small groups around a topic.
- Show and tell (15 min). What did each group get done or learn?
- Wrap up (5 min). Announce the next date.
Ideas for topics#
- Read a ZIP together. ZIPs are Zcash Improvement Proposals, the design documents for changes to the protocol. Pick one from zips.z.cash (öffnet in einem neuen Tab) and talk it through.
- Build something small, like a payment request QR code generator or a page that explains shielded addresses.
- Try a wallet or developer tool and write down where you got confused. Share notes with the project.
- Improve documentation. Fixing a confusing page on ZecHub (öffnet in einem neuen Tab) is a great first contribution.
Where to point builders#
Share these starting points. They are stable and well maintained:
- Zcash documentation (öffnet in einem neuen Tab) for how the protocol and tools work.
- ZIPs (öffnet in einem neuen Tab) for protocol design and proposals.
- Zcash on GitHub (öffnet in einem neuen Tab) for the main open-source code.
- ZecHub (öffnet in einem neuen Tab) for community-written explainers, including developer topics.
- The Zcash community forum (öffnet in einem neuen Tab) for development discussion and links to the current developer chat channels.
- Zcash Community Grants (öffnet in einem neuen Tab) for builders who want support for a bigger project.
Channels change over time, so point people to the forum for the current list rather than printing invite links.
Partner with local dev groups#
You don't have to build an audience from zero. Many cities already have groups for open-source software, privacy tech, cryptography, Rust, web development or hackerspaces. Reach out and offer something useful:
"Hi, I run a small Zcash meetup in our city. We'd love to co-host a privacy-tech evening with your group. We can bring a short talk on how shielded payments work and help with snacks. No sales pitch, just tech and good conversation. Would that interest your members?"
Good joint events include a privacy-tech panel, a hack night, or a "how private is your phone?" workshop.
Keep it welcoming#
- Value every skill level. A first-time coder's question is as welcome as an expert's.
- Make room for non-coders: designers, writers, translators and testers are builders too.
- Watch for people dominating the conversation, and gently open space for others.
- Follow the code of conduct, and remember the safety basics: nobody touches anyone else's wallet or keys, even "just to debug".
When a builders' night goes well, note it in your report. It helps show the wider community what's happening locally.