hlashbrooke/Scaling Community

## Scaling Community
*Talk title & abstract submitted for ScaleConf 2016: http://scaleconf.org/*

# Scaling Community
Working with any language or platform throws you into the community surrounding it whether you like it or not (even more so if it's an open-source platform), but how do you effectively engage with that community as your business grows? Do you even need to engage with it? What about user groups - are they worth it? Is joining one enough? Should you contribute anything back to the project itself - is that even worthwhile? And when have you done enough? What does it ultimately mean to belong to a technology community?

In this talk, we’ll look at how an empowered community enabled WordPress to grow to dominate 24.9% of the internet, along with a few case studies such as the exponential growth of the community surrounding WooCommerce and what that has done for the growth of the product itself.

## Bio
Hugh Lashbrooke is long-time member of both the PHP and WordPress communities. As the Woo Community Engagement Manager at Automattic, he is tasked with maintaining and solidifying the team’s presence in the global WordPress community of which it is an integral part. He also heads up the organising team for the local WordPress user group in Cape Town.
	Talk title & abstract submitted for ScaleConf 2016: http://scaleconf.org/

	# Scaling Community
	Working with any language or platform throws you into the community surrounding it whether you like it or not (even more so if it's an open-source platform), but how do you effectively engage with that community as your business grows? Do you even need to engage with it? What about user groups - are they worth it? Is joining one enough? Should you contribute anything back to the project itself - is that even worthwhile? And when have you done enough? What does it ultimately mean to belong to a technology community?

	In this talk, we’ll look at how an empowered community enabled WordPress to grow to dominate 24.9% of the internet, along with a few case studies such as the exponential growth of the community surrounding WooCommerce and what that has done for the growth of the product itself.

	## Bio
	Hugh Lashbrooke is long-time member of both the PHP and WordPress communities. As the Woo Community Engagement Manager at Automattic, he is tasked with maintaining and solidifying the team’s presence in the global WordPress community of which it is an integral part. He also heads up the organising team for the local WordPress user group in Cape Town.