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Do you want to start a Digital Asset Management Meetup group near you?

If you are involved in Digital Asset Management (DAM) or you are planning to be involved in DAM, there are a number of DAM Meetup groups you could attend in-person. DAM Meetups are gatherings of people involved in DAM by profession or by interest. You can see if there is a DAM Meetup group near you: http://digital-asset-management.meetup.com/

The number of DAM Meetup groups are increasing in areas where there is a DAM community who wants DAM Meetup in their area, often near large metropolitan areas with a potentially engaged audience.

In case you do not have a DAM Meetup group near you, you have two choices:

  1. Watch what other DAM Meetup groups do, listen to what they talk about and share this knowledge enrichment with other members of the global DAM community. Some DAM Meetup groups record their panel discussions and presentations which makes it optimal for sharing, learning and enrichment.
  2. Start your own local DAM Meetup group and have your own DAM discussions. This post is mostly about how to do this successfully.

Organizers needed

A number of people have inquired recently about [how to start] a new DAM Meetup group to see if there would be enough interest in their area and how to launch a DAM Meetup successfully. In the interest of openness, I decided to share my recommendations as the former NYC DAM Meetup group co-organizer. As I write this, NYC DAM Meetup is still the world’s largest DAM Meetup group and it now has new organizers who are doing a great job.

My first recommendation is don’t try to organize a new DAM Meetup group alone. Find and meet in-person with some like-minded people who are willing to:

  • Invest some of their time in a DAM Meetup group
  • Spread the word about each DAM Meetup event
  • Come up with ideas for content, events, presenters and venues
  • Organize the events from prior planning to clean up afterwards
  • Learn more than they already know about DAM and new stuff
  • Follow up with organizers, members, venues and ideas

Ideally, if there are multiple Organizers and one person can not organize a DAM Meetup one month/quarter, another organizer should be able to pick up the tasks so you can each organize a few DAM Meetups per year. Very few people have the time to do this alone. Form a small team with similar values who compliment each other and collaborate regularly.

Locations for DAM Meetups

One of the most important things to consider within your geographic area is the location of the DAM Meetups. You should likely try out a few different locations before settling on a few favorites for members based on a variety of criteria listed below.

There are actually plenty of venues (locations) willing to host a small group of people assembled over a topic of discussion. I would not recommend using someone’s residence, hence pick a public venue or a business venue. Many venues are not large enough to host more than 50 to 100 people though unless you pay. This is where limiting the number of people who can RSVP comes in (this is a Meetup.com feature).

NYC DAM Meetup has never directly paid for the use of a location and do not plan to.

You need to consider:

  • Availability of the space for attendees and presenters (require RSVPs for a head count of attendees)
  • Available seating (limit RSVPs to a specific number, not to exceed fire code)
  • Traffic conditions
  • Parking availability
  • Public transportation when available
  • Weather and seasonal conditions to your venue
  • Noise inside the venue (just in case you want people to be heard). Consider a the need for a microphone/speaker system if need be.
  • Lighting (unless you like the cave look and you only invite bats)
  • Visit the venue and ask about it before scheduling it. Scout it out to be sure it is right for a DAM Meetup in mind.

Geography

Some geographic areas have great public transportation and some available parking.  On the other hand, some geographic areas have horrible traffic, terrible public transportation and parking is a myth.

Make the Time

Once you schedule a DAM Meetup a few weeks in advance, make the time to promote it. Get people interested by spreading the word in person, share it on social media and email interested DAM folks in the area. Some like-minded people will make the time to come by and check it out. If you organize a number of DAM Meetups and no one RSVPs, there is something wrong. Start with who knows about it aside from the organizers. Not all localities may not be ready for a DAM Meetup. If the DAM Meetup has great content, opportunities for networking and is more than what members expected, people will return when they are available. If they don’t RSVP, you can reschedule later on. Try different days of the week, different venues and different topics of discussion for the event. Also take the time to spread the word about the DAM Meetup in different ways

Scheduling

When to schedule a DAM Meetup is a common question. Most DAM Meetups have been successfully scheduled and announced a few weeks prior to the day of the Meetup.

Most DAM Meetups are held on Tuesdays, Wednesdays or Thursdays after 6:00 PM local time to give people some time to leave work and arrive at the venue.

Avoid scheduling DAM Meetups to occur on weekends and around major holidays because DAM is too closely related to work.

Social gatherings are the best for the first DAM Meetup to meet and greet people interested in DAM.

Announcing further in advance does not help increase attendance by much at all.

Pre-announcing Meetup ideas/topics without a date nor a location can help gauge the level of interest for such a DAM Meetup to see if it is worth having based on RSVPs. The largest number of RSVPs from members should be scheduled and provided a venue. It will be clear if Meetup members is not interested in other topics based on the lack of RSVPs.

Agenda

Posting an agenda for each DAM Meetup is recommended to let people know what they should expect and when to schedule a DAM Meetup within their busy schedules. Need a topic for a DAM meetup? Give it some thought. What do you or your audience want to learn? Still lacking ideas and can not come up with your own ideas? Borrow a topic from another DAM Meetup they have had in the past.

RSVP required

Meetup members need to RSVP to confirm if they are coming so you know how many are planning to come. The number of RSVPs (people) is often limited based on space, seating and/or fire code. The idea is to gather together, talk DAM and have some fun. It can be common to see a popular topic get so many RSVPs that a waitlist is started. No worries. Keep in mind that attendees’ schedules change last minute so RSVPs can drop off occasionally and wait listed people are automatically notified they could come. Meetup.com handles all of this seemlessly as long as members communicate whether they are coming or not. There is also a Meetup app to make it easier while on the go.

Spreading the word

Once we have a topic for a DAM Meetup, confirmed presenter(s) and confirmed a venue for the date/time of the DAM Meetup event, it is time to promote the event. Tell your audience about it. Through Meetup.com. Through your favorite social media channels. By calling and/or emailing DAM professionals and people interested in DAM in your area. When you meet with people who may be interested in DAM. You will recognize your audience based on their genuine level of interest. Organizers should know some people in your area who may be interested in a DAM Meetup before even starting a DAM Meetup. No one will judge you based on how many people will come to your first DAM Meetups. If you do not tell anyone in the DAM Community, do not expect them to come. Meetup.com is a great tool which automatically reminds people who RSVP’ed for any Meetup. Organizers just have to configure the Meetup site to announce and remind their membership about events. Word of mouth works very well, so do tell people and ask them to tell their DAM friends and colleagues.

DAM Meetup organizers are often DAM professionals (yes, we do exist). Organizers should know how to use keywords and key phrases on their Meetup.com webpage to attract more people within the general Meetup community, whether know something about DAM or not. I would question any DAM professional who can not tag an event like a DAM Meetup which they are organizing. In case you need a hint, look at the DAM Meetups that exist today. Keep in mind, we do filter out imposter groups that use DAM tags.

Ask DAM Professionals and people interested in DAM to join as member of a DAM Meetup and they will be notified as soon as a DAM Meetup is announced. When you have a waitlist the day of the DAM Meetup, ask everyone who RSVPed to be sure they can attend and change their RSVP status on Meetup.com if they can not.

Money

If you are starting a DAM Meetup group to make money, my advice is… don’t even start a DAM Meetup.

Many people think it takes money to hold a DAM Meetup. NYC DAM Meetup has never had a budget of its own in its 5+ years of existence. That is right… no budget, zero dollars, no profit made directly from any DAM Meetup. And we purposely do not charge any member dues nor any event dues. The main reason we don’t charge is to make sure it is accessible to all who are interested in DAM and can attend in person. Whether you are a DAM professional, a student, interested in DAM or looking for a DAM job, everyone can attend. No exclusivity. No club. There are no taxes to worry about this way either. Any expenses are completely and directly managed by the sponsors. Most Meetups found on Meetup.com are free of charge to attend.

NYC DAM Meetup never made any money and that was never the goal of the DAM Meetup. Knowledge sharing with like-minded people in the field of Digital Asset Management (DAM) is still the goal. No one is paid to attend, present, moderate nor organize. All work is simply a time commitment done voluntarily by the organizers and some of the members who want to help. The nominal annual Meetup dues (paid directly to Meetup.com to start a Meetup) is paid by Sponsors and/or Organizers, not the members.

Sponsors

Sponsors can be great provided they do not limit what you can do nor what you can talk about during your DAM Meetup. This is one of the reasons for vendor neutrality. All sponsors we have/had were like-minded in this respect. A DAM Meetup should be a place to have complete freedom to speak openly about successes and challenges with DAM in regards to the people, process, technology and information involved. If you want to share horror stories about DAM vendors, there are very few DAM vendors willing to sponsor this for obvious reasons. So DAM vendors are rarely, if ever, sponsors. Some sponsors see this as a place for existing as well as potential customers to come through the door and start a nice dialogue. What I have seen sponsors often do is:

  • Provide a location large enough for the DAM Meetup with seating for all attendees (sometimes within the sponsors’ open office space)
  • Introduce their company to attendees in the beginning (not with a hard sales pitch down) to note the awareness of where they are located and what they do.
  • Sometimes pay for video recording of the Meetup discussion so presentations/panel discussions can be shared openly afterwards (the video can be branded by the sponsor for a long tail)
  • Provide drinks for attendees (not necessary, but a nice extra)

Most of them are vendor neutral. Some are vendor specific, but the DAM Meetup group is not locked down to represent the same DAM vendor every time we had a DAM Meetup.

Vendors who pitch should recognize their audience (DAM Meetup members) has finite patience and often high expectations. Sales pitches often go over like a lead balloon. Most organizers and sponsors should recognize this upfront. Quick demos on relevant topics are often tolerated and welcomed.

The leader you are welcome to follow

The largest DAM Meetup group in the world is NYC DAM Meetup in New York City. There is an average of 10 DAM Meetup events organized per year. NYC DAM Meetup is vendor neutral (no preference to any DAM vendor) because knowledge enrichment around DAM topics is the goal. Not sales. Since there are 200 vendors in the DAM industry, there is very little reason to lock down a DAM Meetup group to just one.

Record a Meetup

Not everyone can attend every DAM meetup, so recording panel discussions or speaker presentations is one way for a specific Meetup to have a ‘long tail‘ beyond the allotted time of the DAM Meetup event.

NYC DAM Meetup records many of its Meetups, thanks to generous support from its sponsors.

Video recording takes a fair amount of time to do (prep, light, sound, record, edit, post, etc), so this is often done by people who do this for a living so it makes a good, lasting impression for a truly global DAM audience.

Post the video recording on YouTube for the global DAM audience to watch, learn and share.

When video is not an option, NYC DAM Meetup considers audio recording for the global DAM audience to listen, learn and share.

Take pictures during the Meetup. Show what is happening, where it is happening and who is there. You can upload the photos directly to Meetup.com as a visual record. After all, it is a public event.

If you have slide decks from presentations, you can share links to a slide deck using slideshare. Then, share these on social media.

Remember, this is a public event. Record it. Post the recordings free of charge for everyone. Learn from it. Share it with others.

Ask for Feedback

Before, during and after a DAM Meetup, Organizers should be open to feedback whether it is a phone call, in person or a comment posted online. Take all comments and feedback with a grain of salt. Some of it may be helpful. However, organizers often do not get any feedback. Remind DAM Meetup members you are open to comments, feedback and quesitons by literally asking for it either during or at end of the DAM Meetup. Ask them to rate the DAM Meetup. Meetup.com will automatically prompt members with some questions, however few people actually complete this. Feedback is good to receive so you can find out what people like/dislike, what was good/bad and can help point out what needs work for the future.

We have even seen hecklers before and we often hear them out. When we ask a heckler to pinpoint an issue to be addressed or even offer them the opportunity to present during a DAM Meetup, they often do not deliver. So be it.

The most consistent providers of feedback we have seen are often amongst co-organizers themselves, a few select members and the sponsors themselves. And it is important to listen and learn.

What success looks like

We are seeing a number of new DAM Meetups starting up all over the world.  While I was meetup co-organizer, our membership went from 200 people to over 800 just by consistently providing great content combined with networking venues. We want to see them succeed. The recipe for a successful DAM Meetup group has three key ingredients, 1) once the time is committed… 2) and great content is provided… 3) to an audience who is willing to gather together.

Those who participate in DAM Meetups are recognized as leaders in the field of Digital Asset Management and this is reinforced with each and every DAM Meetup because the bar is risen every time a new DAM Meetup is held. Any audience paying attention will recognize this.

The networking opportunities can be huge. Speakers get noticed. It is great for lead generation. Deals sometimes get made afterwards. And it can be a lot of fun.

What else?

Is there something else you would like to hear about Digital Asset Management Meetups?

Is there something you’d like to share that you have learned about DAM Meetups?

Do you have a DAM Meetup near you?

If not, do you want to start a DAM Meetup group near you?

Feel free to post your comments and questions on anotherdamblog.com

When you are ready for some vendor neutral advice or assistance on Digital Asset Management, let us know.


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How do I create use cases for DAM?

A blog reader asked about how to create use cases for DAM.  I gave a presentation about this topic during a DAM conference.

What use cases did you have before DAM was part of the equation? Before you had a DAM, were your workflows documented?

All too often, use cases are not documented. In fact, they may be locked in multiple silos where each person (even within the same group ) do things differently.  Therefore, migrating to a workflow with DAM becomes a mystery. Without use cases, the user adoption of the DAM is often lower if users do not know why nor how nor when to use the DAM.   Where does DAM fit in the users’ daily workflow? Use cases can also affect the choice of a DAM solution.

Use cases need to be documented and shared.

Another reason for having use cases is training for new people. How do newly hired people find out how to do their job? Are they born with this knowledge? Should an employer expect everyone to know how to use all the tools and policies of the organization to get their job done?  Not likely.

Enter a new person (new hire) to the organization. What are they supposed to do? What tools are involved? When do they use the DAM and for what purposes?  Should new people operate differently than people doing the same tasks for years within the same organization? Not likely, but they often do. Does each person who coaches a new person give their own version of how to do things (plus or minus a few steps)? Is this standardized? This is often not only due to a particular level of experience, but lack of documentation and poor training. And we expect consistency. Somehow. Maybe by mind reading? That is not likely going to happen.

When you start researching a DAM for your organization, instead of looking at shiny features, see if it would work well with your use cases by presenting them to the vendor during a demo. Have real assets you would likely be working with along with real use cases. Ask the vendor to demo their solution for your use cases with your assets with metadata from start to finish in front of you.

Start building use cases with what you have and how you do things today.

  • What do you do today?
  • How do you do it?
  • Who does what?
  • When does it happen?
  • Why is it done that way?
  • What is the process?
  • What tools are used?
  • How could this improve?
  • How can this be done more consistently?

Be sure to consider the people, process and technology (in that order) which are involved from start to finish. Not sure who/how/what is involved? Ask by using…

  • Surveys
    • Online or paper form, with long answer questions, not simply ratings
    • All roles (don’t expect 100% return, even with a prize)
    • Send to everyone including decision makers and potential DAM users doing the daily work
  • Group workshops
    • Be aware of who is talking and who is not
    • Include all group members
    • In case extroverts have all the say while introverts remain quiet in the corner getting frustrated, have people take turns talking so everyone contributes
  • Individual interviews of:
    • Not just senior staff, but junior staff for a varying perspective
    • Both computer literate and those who prefer analog
    • All roles

When reviewing who is working, consider their role in the organization, not just their name so you can build and scale these job functions as needed.

Who makes the initial request? Who/What takes the request? Who handles/processes the request? Where does the request go after that? and after that? and after that? (note a pattern to fill the gaps)

How many other people do the same task(s)? Is this redundancy to handle volume or act as a backup? Can this scale up or down today based on the amount of work to do?

What is the volume of requests? Where do the requests get filled/completed? Who does this? Who/What delivers the end product/service?

Consider the whole life cycle of typical project from idea to delivery. And walk through all the steps.

How much communication is involved in all this? Likely not enough.  It is not enough to lock decision makers in a room. As discussed earlier, there are different points of view to keep in mind.

Keep the communication channels open among all differing points of view.

Stay positive. When negative points need focusing, laugh about it, then find a resolution.

Create roles. Envision the end result. Have a goal. Make it clear. Try even mind mapping. Simplify when in doubt. Follow through. Measure the results.

Avoid jargon and acronyms (so anyone can understand it). Be open to feedback, but have a schedule with deadlines and accountability.

However you create use cases, write them down and share it within your organization.

Let us know when you are ready for vendor neutral consulting on Digital Asset Management. We can also help you create your use cases.

How do you create use cases for DAM?


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Why should I care about the DAM Community?

In the past few years, I have been asked a lot of questions by people…

  • “Who are you doing this for?”
  • “Who really reads this stuff?”
  • “What is in it for you?”
  • “Why do you do all this for free?”
  • “Why do you care so much?”

I wanted to take the opportunity to explore these questions and explain…

A few years ago, when I started working with Digital Asset Management (DAM), there were a few conferences, a few books, an expensive journal and experts who knew what they were talking about. All those still exist, but now DAM is growing.

Who are you doing this for?

It all started when I was frustrated and had very few people to discuss DAM with (how many of you can relate to this?). I learned about DAM myself, I volunteered to work on DAM, but in the past, found it difficult to communicate with people who knew little or nothing about DAM. I learned how to explain why DAM is important. I also wondered why  I could not find much on the first-hand experience with DAM explained, specifically in the user and administrator perspective of Digital Asset Management. I knew I was not the only person with this question. So, out of frustration, I started blogging about DAM.

After my second blog post, I was contacted by people who could relate to what I wrote about and they love/hate my blog to this day. I was even offered to be paid to blog for them. The day I drafted my first blog post, I decided early on that my blog was for everyone to share openly and learn about DAM in the user and administrator perspective. I do not talk about using DAM product X or DAM vendor Y, but rather I stay vendor agnostic. In order to stay vendor agnostic, I would not take money from DAM vendors (and I still don’t). If you have read my blog posts before, you will note I hold very little back and I am very open about what I talk about.

Who really reads this stuff?

Literally, thousands of people all over the world read my blog posts every month. My blog is aggregated on other sites which also get a lot of traffic. Some of my posts are more popular than others. Content is king. I deliver a fair amount of content in many of my blog posts. There are other DAM bloggers as well. I happily list them on blog roll when I find out about them. Sharing the experience is good. DAM is all about sharing. I know most people read about DAM during weekdays (I don’t blame them), so that is when I normally schedule new posts to appear. DAM users, potential DAM users, DAM vendors and even DAM analysts tell me they read my blog regularly.

What is in it for you?

When I have the energy, time and a DAM related idea to write about, I blog about it. I do this on my spare time. Blogging is a hobby. DAM is my career. Due to the popularity of my blog posts, I am invited to speak and moderate at conferences around the United States. When I go to events, I get to meet like-minded people…eager to share experiences and best practices about DAM. If I have a DAM idea to blog about, but don’t have the time to blog about it, I make a quick audio recording with a speech-to-text app which sends me an email with what I said, so I can revisit it later when I do have the time.

Why do you do all this for free?

To this day, I am not paid to present at conferences nor to blog.  Yes, that is correct. I did not charge the people I mentored on a monthly basis either. I get motivated by helping others understand the subject. If someone really wanted me to consult for their organization, they could ask me directly. For the most part, I write in general terms about DAM. My generosity of information pays a multitude of dividends. People have told me and written that I happen to be one of the top bloggers in the field of Digital Asset Management. I do not believe this is by accident. How do you communicate you are experienced and knowledgeable about a subject such as DAM? hint: you genuinely share that knowledge by blogging about it. People read and hear about it. People recognize what you write makes sense. People learn and benefit from what is shared. And you repeat this often.)

My goal was write and share 52 blog posts per year. Done.

Why do you care so much?

Yes, someone actually asked me all these questions. I love this question so much, it inspired me to write this specific blog post. Why should I care so much? Why should anyone care about the DAM community? Not only will you learn first hand you are not alone in thinking about and using DAM, you will become part of a group of people who want to learn, get/give feedback and share experiences. It can be a career. It is for me and many others. You will soon find out I am not the only one. These days, it does not matter where you are geographically located because you can be a member of the DAM Community in person and/or online. What matters is whether you are willing to learn and share your interest in Digital Asset Management to not only survive, but thrive with DAM.

Let us know when you are ready for consulting on Digital Asset Management for your business.