What interaction formats reach our new and/or target community members best?

[yochannah]

This might tie in a little with @NPDebs's persona work, too.

The main Q: When OLS started, we were always planning to be primarily online, with possible explorations on the in-person delivery formats too.

Some thoughts, from the OLS governance meeting most recently.

• Online is essential for us to continue to maintain our existing diverse group.
• A lot of people don't want to do online anymore.

I think that means we need to think of solutions that use more than one approach, which might include options not mentioned here yet.

This also feels like a VERY relevant thing to understand as part of OSPARK.

So:

1. Posting a discussion here - we'd love to hear more broadly from the community.
2. @bethaniley - is this a thread you can own for the OSPARK work? I won't post this in the OLS Slack unless/until I get your go-ahead.

[bethaniley]

I'm happy to own this! 🙂

[Arielle-Bennett]

For me, I'd love more in-person meetings but I'm a bit stuck geographically on the East Coast of the US :( so having a vibrant online space is a great way to engage with the community, and I find it a really useful and positive space.

Some thoughts on ways to improve/add in in-person elements...

• Running OLS meet ups alongside conferences, these already happen organically but having a process or way to improve their visibility might be good
• Supporting the community to set up "local chapters" who could meet up in person

[bethaniley]

A summary of the Slack thread in June 2025:

• Multiple people stated they would love more in-person meetups, but physical distance makes this difficult.
• There are barriers to travel even when funds are provided (e.g. caring responsibilities, visas), so events would need to move between locations, or be hybrid (i.e. joint online + offline).
• There was a desire for both satellite events to large events (e.g. conferences) and dedicated OLS events (e.g. cohort alumni events).

Tagging @SaraVilla for awareness 😄

[SaraVilla]

is there any more info on slack I might have missed?
Planning to share CM thoughts and ideas sooner rather than later, so I'd love to have your input- see where we can work together on this :)