On July 20, 2009, Chad Beer started the NYC DAM Meetup with Michael Hollitscher.

When they started this Digital Asset Management specific meetup, I still remember how exciting the idea of having regular events about DAM was. And still is.

We would not have to wait an entire year for the few annual conferences to roll in for a couple days to network with the best in the field. It has become very clear that New York City is the DAM Capital of the world. No other area in the world has more DAM professionals and no other city has more people showing up to DAM specific events than New York City.

In January 2013, the author joined as a Co-Organizer to setup monthly Meetups for the Digital Asset Management community.

We doubled our membership from 300 members back in February 2013 to 600 members in January 2014.

To this day, we are still the world’s largest DAM meetup as seen here: http://digital-asset-management.meetup.com/

How did we do it?

• Steady topics of interest to the DAM community
• Great content consisting of panel discussions and speakers
• Connecting with many like minded professionals willing to speak and share their experiences.
• Scheduling events after work on weekdays
• Using a model inclusion, not exclusion. We have rivals sitting next to each other and we are all okay with that. Interested students and job seekers are welcomed just like seasoned professionals.
• Looking at multiple perspectives across many sectors, not just one.
• Looking at the real world successes and challenges from the field of DAM. No unicorns and rainbows here.
• Having a lots of networking opportunities in person.
• Purposefully maintaining zero budget.
• Having great organizations to host our events.
• Maintaining free membership and free attendance to any NYC DAM Meetup. Just RSVP and show up.
• In May 2013, we got sponsorships to video recording all of our speaking sessions going forward so these could be posted on a YouTube channel for the global DAM community to watch afterward.
• Oh, I almost forgot… commitment, dedication and hard work. All of the NYC DAM Meetup Organizers do this on their limited spare time as volunteers to benefit their professional community.

You are not alone in the DAM world. It is just a matter of connecting with other professionals.

We will have a NYC DAM meetup scheduled to celebrate our first 5 years this month.

If you are interested in Digital Asset Management, you are always welcome to RSVP and join us in person.