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Erin LeDell edited this page Jan 29, 2021 · 25 revisions

Getting Started

If you're interested in (or curious about) starting a WiMLDS chapter in your city, these are the steps:

  • Read through the starter-kit
  • Send an email to info@wimlds.org
  • Use subject [WiMLDS new chapter] City, State, Country; Examples:
    • [WiMLDS new chapter] Houston, TX, USA
    • [WiMLDS new chapter] Paris, France
  • Include a link to your LinkedIn profile (and any other social media you would like to share such as Twitter, Instagram)
  • We will fill you in on all the details. An overview of the steps is below, though we will give you more detailed information when you get in touch.

Steps

  • Ask for a meetup.com page and we will create a WiMLDS meetup group for your city (we pay your meetup fees & Erin LeDell can set this up for you)
  • Join WiMLDS Slack groups (general group and organizers' group)
  • Get a chapter email (e.g. yourcity@wimlds.org)
  • Provide us with a headshot, bio and a photo of your city so we can make a new chapter page for our website (e.g. WiMLDS Nairobi page). Send this request on #new_chapters channel in the Organizer's Slack or in an email to info@wimlds.org

The following steps are optional, but encouraged

  • Create a local Twitter handle following the convention of @WiMLDS_CityName, e.g. @WiMLDS_BayArea and profile name of "WiMLDS CityName". When you're logged in to the account, the username (aka. handle) can be edited here and the profile name can be edited here. Please note that there is a 15-character limit on Twitter handles, so if your cityname is too long, we recommend using the airport code (or another abbreviation), e.g. @WiMLDS_HYD. Please register the account using your chapter wimlds.org email. Use the following image for the logo and use a background image of you choosing (feel free to use the same city image that you send us for your chapter webpage on wimlds.org, or something else related to your city).
  • Check out the list of WiMLDS chapters on Twitter for inspiration.
  • Follow @wimlds on Twitter.
  • Create a local LinkedIn "company page" for your chapter. As an example, you can look at the Bay Area. Our chapter LinkedIn pages should follow a similar naming convention to the twitter handles, however we use a dash instead of an underscore here. As a chapter organizer, you can add WiMLDS as "Volunteer Experience" on your personal LinkedIn (as "Co-founder" or "Co-organizers"), if you like. See Erin's LinkedIn page page if you need an example.
  • Join other WiMLDS meetup groups to keep up to date on events. SF Bay Area and NYC are the first two founded chapters, and are also the largest:
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