There are many interpretations of DevOps, but we see it as the combination of technology, people and organisations - easing the practice of getting code into production (and running it there). We are always looking for speakers to talk at the meetup on the aforementioned topics, this could be a tutorial on using a technology or a case study sharing experiences and lessons learned - we’re pretty flexible on the format, let us know if you want to do something different than a 40-minute talk.
We are happy for vendors to come and talk and showcase products but it has to demonstrate real-world practical application - any sales pitches won’t be received well by the community, so please don’t do them.
The crowd has a mixture of experiences, some are just starting their DevOps journey, others have been on it for years. Some of the attendees are technical, others are not. We recommend being clear in your talk description and make sure it’s DevOps related (you might want to check back through to 80+ talks we’ve had at the event in the archive for clarification).
We give away 100+ tickets for each meetup, typically we get 60 - 80 attend (it depends on many factors from weather to sporting fixtures - we really don’t understand why), we know some of the less popular tracks at big commercial conferences struggle to attract that level of attendance.
We aren’t expecting you to be a veteran conference speaker, infact we really like hearing new thoughts and ideas. If you feel confident enough to speak in front of the crowd we’ll gladly help in any way we can - including watching you rehearse and providing feedback.
Although we are happy to have out of town speakers, it’s really important to the group to have a representation of what is happening in Leeds, so if you are Leeds based and have a tale to share then please get in touch.
Just a quick note on the prickly subject of expenses, the meetup is organised by volunteers but we are supported by the generosity of our sponsors. Unfortunately, this means we don’t have any funds to cover speaker expenses.
If you are interested in speaking or want to just run an idea past us then please get in touch via email or twitter @leedsDevops (or talk to us at the next meetup).