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Evangelist Program

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  2. Handbook
  3. Marketing
  4. Community Relations
  5. Evangelist Program

Overview

At GitLab our mission is to change all creative work from read-only to read-write so that everyone can contribute. In order to fulfill this mission, we need to create both the tools and platform to enable this change and a community of contributors who share our mission. We are just getting started in building the GitLab community and we encourage everyone to contribute to its growth.

There are many ways to participate in the GitLab community today: contributing to an open source project, contributing to our documentation, hosting your open source project on GitLab, or teaching your colleagues and collaborators about the value of Concurrent DevOps.

We are building an evangelist program to support people who share our mission and want to give tech talks, run local meetups, or create videos or blogs. We will be announcing more in Q1. For now, please email evangelists@gitlab.com if you have feedback on our vision, ideas for how we can build our community, or suggestions for a name for our evangelist program.

How to see what we're working on

We use the Evangelist Program, Heroes, and Meetups labels to track issues. The Evangelist Program issue board provides an overview of these issues and their status.

Evangelist Program issues typically exist in the Evangelist Program subgroup but they can also exist in Field Marketing, Corporate Marketing, or other marketing subgroups. Our upcoming Meetups are tagged with the Meetups label and listed on the Meetups board.

We utilize a process of having a epic for current OKRs and using labels and boards to track ongoing work related to our KPIs (for example: Meetups). As our OKRs and KPIs change, this page will be updated so you can see what we are working on and track our progress.

Evangelist Program OKRs and KPIs

We are actively looking at ways to improve the data collection for our Evangelist Programs. If you have ideas for how we can improve, please reach out to evangelists@gitlab.com.

OKRs

Quarterly OKRs for the Evangelist Program are tracked using epics in the Corporate Marketing project with the dev-evangelism label.

KPIs

Key Performance Indicators for the Evangelist Program can be found in the Marketing section of GitLab's KPI index.

How to report on program metrics and activity

When reporting on program activity, you may wish to include charts or graphs for different program KPIs. For example, you will likely want to update the program metrics when preparing for a Group Conversation. When you need to report on program metrics and activity, please follow these steps:

Meetups per month (KPI)

  1. Visit the Meetups per month chart in Sisense.
  2. Hover over the top right corner to reveal the hamburger menu, open the hamburger menu, and click Download Image.
  3. Update the approprite slide with the newly downloaded image.

Meetup metrics

  1. Visit GitLab's Meetup Pro page
  2. The number of countries, meetups, and members can be found next to the GitLab logo near the top of the page.
  3. Additional Meetup insights can be found in the Pro admin dashboard on Meetup (note: requires admin access)

Recent meetup activity

  1. Visit the issues page of the marketing project using the Meetups label as a filter.
  2. Review Open and Closed issues to recap recent and upcoming activity.
  3. Update the appropriate slide accordingly.

GitLab Heroes members

  1. Visit the GitLab Heroes members page.
  2. The number of current Heroes on the page will be listed within the hero section of the page. This is our single source of truth for the number of GitLab Heroes in the program.

GitLab Heroes contributions

  1. Heroes Contributions are documented in the heroes_contributions.yml file. This is the single source of truth for Heroes contributions.
  2. You can see recent commits to this file in the file history. These will provide you insight into the recent activities of the GitLab Heroes members which you can include in your reporting on the program.

Upcoming events

The GitLab Developer Evangelism calendar includes a list of our upcoming meetups, hackathons, office hours, and other community events. After opening the calendar, you can click on the + in the bottom right corner of the browser window to add GitLab Developer Evangelism to your list of calendars in Google Calendar.

Meetups

COVID-19 update

IMPORTANT: Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, GitLab is not currently supporting in-person meetups in order to encourage responsible physical distancing within our community. We encourage organizers who wish to continue to bring their communities together to use remote meeting platforms like Zoom and Google Hangouts.

GitLab supports team members and members of the wider GitLab community who want to organize or speak at meetups. Our goal in supporting these events to better engage with and increase connections among the GitLab community, increase awareness of GitLab, and better educate the technology community.

GitLab Meetup Campaigns

As we look to continue to engage the wider community via the GitLab Meetup program we will be creating quarterly meetup campaigns. The campaigns are in place to align meetup content with the company’s overall branding and goals and provide better support to our meetup organizers. An example of a meetup campaign was the “GitLab celebrates 10 years” campaign in October 2021 which resulted in 12 meetups.

There will be a detailed epic created for each quarterly campaign. If you are interested in organizing a meetup create an issue using this template.

We will announce the upcoming campaigns via Slack, Gitter, social calls via Twitter and LinkedIn, and issue tags.

Each meetup campaign will include the following elements (all details will be included in the meetup campaign epic):

  1. Organizer checklist
  2. Content/ Topics approved by DE team
  3. Event promotion on GitLab Events page
  4. Official event hashtag
  5. If there is a specific deck or asset design it will be included in the epic details

Active meetup campaign

Those who are intrested in participating in the active campaign will be directed to the epic link in this section. Use the link for the active meetup campaign section when sharing externally. This makes it easy for external shares i.e. social redirects.

Meetup Campaigns E-mail comms

Here is the copy to use when announcing a new meetup campaign to the wider community and asking for participation from organizers.

E-mail copy:

Subject: Introducing new GitLab meetup campaign: Name of Campaign

Calling all GitLab Meetup Organizers

Are you looking to organize a meetup, just not sure where to start? I have created a meetup campaign for the next couple of months to assist each organizer with the planning process.

From Month DD,202Y to Month DD, 202Y, we would like the GitLab meetups to focus on **{insert content topic/focus.} Add details here to support the details of the content you are asking the organizers to focus on (1- 3 sentences If there are resources or links add them here as well.) **

The [name of epic ← Link Epic ] has a full description and checklist for organizing the meetup. We look forward to your participation in the campaign.

Check out the organizer checklist (link checklist from the meetup campaign section) if you are interested in hosting a meetup for your local wider community.

The evangelism program manager, @JRachel1 looks forward to supporting each of you.

Organize a meetup

Create a new Meetup group

Meetup Promotion

GitLab provides support to meetup organizers to drive attendance at meetup events. In order to help support our organizers, the Evangelist Program Manager takes the following steps when an event is scheduled:

Organizers are encouraged to take the following steps to drive attendance to their events:

Note: GitLab asks that community organizers do not create social media accounts that make use the GitLab logo or trademark in their username and profile as this may create confusion as to whether or not you are affiliated with GitLab in any way. Instead, we encourage our community organizers to leverage the communications tools on Meetup and their own social media profiles for community building and outreach. If social media outreach is needed to promote events or attract new members to a group, GitLab's social media team will amplify the personal accounts of organizers, when appropriate.

Meetup Expenses

IMPORTANT: Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, GitLab is not currently supporting in-person meetups in order to encourage responsible physical distancing within our community. In order to reinforce this policy, we are suspending reimbursement for meetup expenses for in-person events at this time. We encourage organizers who wish to continue to bring their communities together to use remote meeting platforms like Zoom and Google Hangouts.

This initiative is temporarily suspended due to COVID-19 - ~~GitLab can help cover the cost of food & beverage (and other expenses required for a successful event) for the meetup event. A general guideline is $US 5/person for a maximum of $US 500 per each meetup.~~ - In order to ensure we can support meetup groups around the globe and to encourage our organizers to invest in producing high-quality events for our community, GitLab will only provide financial support and swag for two meetup events per month for each meetup group. - When making purchases for a meetup, please follow GitLab's company guideline to ["spend company money like it is your own money"](/handbook/spending-company-money/). Keeping the cost of individual meetups low is important as it will allow us to support a larger number of groups and events. - GitLab uses Tipalti to process invoices for meetups. To be reimbursed for your expenses, please send an email to [evangelists@gitlab.com](mailto:evangelists@gitlab.com) and [ap@gitlab.com](mailto:ap@gitlab.com) to request access to Tipalti. - Once you have access to the Tipalti portal, you will upload your invoice and receipts as a single document on the Tipalti portal or email the invoice and receipts as a single document to [gitlab@supplierinvoices.com](mailto:gitlab@supplierinvoices.com). We suggest organizers use our [Meetup Invoice template](https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1D3lpPrwfz1zQp8LsiWUq64aBNYHnlKbhjyPf6sQ8NsM/edit?usp=sharing). - To create a single document containing your invoice and expenses, please follow these steps: - Make a copy of the [Meetup Invoice template](https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1D3lpPrwfz1zQp8LsiWUq64aBNYHnlKbhjyPf6sQ8NsM/edit?usp=sharing). - Enter all your expenses into the template. - Download the sheet as a PDF. - Scan your receipts and add them to the PDF ([instructions for Mac](https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT202945)). - Upload the single document containing the receipts and invoice to Tipalti or send it to [gitlab@supplierinvoices.com](mailto:gitlab@supplierinvoices.com). - Submission of an invoice will trigger a workflow that generates an email to the Evangelist Program Manager. Upon receipt of that email, will review the bill and take appropriate action: - If the report is complete and the expense is approved, the Evanglist Program Manager should click the `Approve bill` button in the mail. - If the bill's `Class` does not include the appropriate finance tag (for example: `Q4_FY2020_Meetups`) or there are other issues with the bill, the Evangelist Program Manager should click `Send back to AP`. - If the bill is not legitimate, the Evangelist Program should click `Dispute bill`. For GitLab Team Members using Expensify for meetup-related expenses: - If an expense is submitted via Expensify, the campaign finance tag (for example: `Q4_FY2020_Meetups`) should be selected as a `Classification` when creating the expense.

Meetup Swag

GitLab Meetup Starter Kits containing t-shirts, stickers, and info cards are available in Printfection. Please note we need at least 4-6 weeks to ship any meetup swag and that all shipping is significantly delayed due to COVID restrictions.

For GitLab team members, please follow these steps to provide meetup organizers with a link to order a GitLab Meetup Starter Kit:

For Meetup organizers:

Virtual Meetup support

For some virtual meetups, a Zoom link may be required to execute the event. To create a Zoom link for a meetup, follow these steps:

  1. Log into Zoom.us with your GitLab Zoom account.
  2. Click "My Account" in the menu bar located in the upper right corner of the page.
  3. Click "Meetings" in the left side menu.
  4. Click the "Schedule a meeting" button on the right side of the page.
  5. Enter meeting info. Make sure to set "Meeting ID" to "Generate automatically", check the "Passcode" box, check "Mute participants on entry", and check "Automatically record meetings" and set to record "In the cloud".
  6. Click "Save" button.
  7. On the meeting page, the "Invite link" is the link that should be shared with the meetup group and used on the event page.

If you must edit a meeting, following steps 1-3 from above will show a list of your upcoming meetings. Then click the "Edit" button next to the meeting that you want to change.

Speak at a meetup

Meetups help us raise awareness of GitLab and build communities in new places. We love to track them to know where the community is growing. If you are speaking at a meetup as a representative of GitLab or you are giving a talk about GitLab, please let us know! Here's how and why we do this:

GitLab Virtual Meetup group

Inactive Meetups

To ensure proper metrics we must vet for:

  1. Check meetup activity for communities every quarter (3-4 months)
  2. If a chapter has zero meetups within the quarterly span:
    1. contact the listed organizer to check in on status of group.
    2. Email members, ask about interest in organizing chapter
    3. Update the program sheets with new contact information

GitLab Heroes

GitLab Heroes engages, supports, connects, and recognizes members of the wider GitLab community who make outstanding contributions to GitLab and our community around the globe. Examples of activities that may make a member of the wider GitLab community eligible for the Heroes program include:

Heroes are eligible for rewards to help enable and encourage contributions. These rewards include:

We have three levels of Heroes: Contributor, Hero, Superhero. A community member's contributions will determine at which level they enter the program and the benefits for Heroes increase as they progress through the levels. More detail can be found in the Hero's Journey section of the Hero's page.

Community members who are interested in applying for the Heroes program should apply through the application form on the Heroes page.

The Heroes program is managed by the Evangelist Program Manager with support from the GitLab's Developer Evangelism team. The Evangelist Program Manager leads the review of applications along with the Developer Evangelism team. The Evangelist Program Manager also serves as the main point of contact with the Heroes community, manages Heroes related marketing pages and events, and is responsible for the adminstration of the program including metrics and KPI tracking.

Select Heroes may be asked to join the GitLab Developer Evangelism Community. At that point, those community members will be supported by and engage with the Developer Evangelism team.

Please email us at evangelists@gitlab.com if you have questions about the GitLab Heroes program.

GitLab Heroes Application Process

We use GitLab to manage our Heroes application process. To apply for GitLab Heroes, community members must follow these steps:

  1. Click the "Become a Hero" button or the "Apply to become a GitLab Hero" button on the GitLab Heroes page
  2. Clicking the button will open an email message, in which, the applicant will be prompted to send an email which creates an issue in the GitLab Heroes Application project using GitLab's Service Desk feature. Note: only GitLab team members can view this project as the issues may contain applicants' email addresses.
  3. Using Service Desk, an auto-reply will send an application template to the applicant.
  4. Once the applicant replies with their completed the application, the Evangelist Program Manager should apply the heroes-application template to their Service Desk issue.
  5. Hero applications will expire 5 weeks after they are received if there is no communication from the applicant. If you are interested in the program and your original application has expired, you are encouraged to reapply.

After completing the above steps, the application is ready for review. The review committee consists of the Evangelist Program Manager as the lead with the Code Contributor Program Manager supporting. The composition of the review committtee is subject to change. Any changes will be reflected here.

Generally, applicants will receive a response from GitLab within two weeks of submitting an application. Following the review process, the Evangelist Program Manager will inform folks who are selected to be GitLab Heroes of your status including the level (Contributor, Hero, Superhero) at which time you will enter the program. If you have any questions about the status of your application, please reach out to evangelists@gitlab.com for support.

We conduct semi-annual reviews of the current GitLab Heroes members to ensure they are remaining active in the community in order to maintain their GitLab Heroes status. When a current GitLab Hero is inactive, the Evangelist Program Manager will contact them to identify the reasons and work with them to resolve any blockers or issues. When a GitLab Hero no longer plans to remain active in the GitLab community, the Evangelist Program Manager will remove them from the active membership of the program.

Adding yourself to the Heroes page

Upon acceptance, Heroes are asked to submit a Merge Request to add themselves to the GitLab Heroes members page.

To add yourself to the Heroes page, you will need:

Picture Requirements

  • Crop image to a perfect square.
  • Keep maximum dimension under 400 by 400 pixels.
  • Use the JPEG (.jpg) or PNG (.png) format.
  • Test image in color and black-and-white.
  • Name file yournameinlowercase and add the appropriate file extension.

Once you have the above items, follow these steps to add yourself to the Heroes page:

  1. Go to the Heroes file in the GitLab.com / www-gitlab-com project.
  2. On the file page, click on the button labeled Web IDE near the middle of the page.
  3. When prompted, click Fork to create a Fork of the repo which will allow you to make changes and submit a Merge Request.
  4. You should see the heroes.yml file open in your browser once the fork has been created. Add the following fields to the end of the file and enter your information into each of the blank fields:
- type: person
  name:
  locality:
  country:
  role: GitLab Hero
  twitter:
  bio:
  gitlab:
  picture:
  1. After updating heroes.yml, use the file browser on the left side of the screen to navigate to source/images/heroes.
  2. Click the ⋁ icon next to the heroes directory, select upload file, and upload the photo of yourself. Be sure to follow the picture requirements listed above and confirm that the file name matches your picture entry in heroes.yml.
  3. Once you have finished this, click the Commit button in the bottom left. It should say something like 2 unstaged and 0 staged changes. This will bring up a sidebar with an Unstaged and Staged area.
  4. Check the files to ensure your updates are what you expect. If they are, click the check mark next to the filename to "stage" these changes.
  5. Once you have verified all of the edits, enter a short commit message including what you've changed. Choose Create a new branch. Name the branch in the format of YOURINITIALS-heroes-page or similar. Tick the Start a new merge request checkbox. Then click Commit once more.
  6. Click on the Activity link in the header to go to your Activity page. Once there, click on the blue Create merge request button at the top of the page.
  7. Fill out the merge request details. Please ensure you tick the box to Allow commits from members who can merge to target branch as detailed on the Allow collaboration on merge requests across forks page in our docs.
  8. Mention @jrachel1 in a comment in the merge request so our team can review and merge.

Adding members to the GitLab Heroes project

Upon accepting new members to the GitLab Heroes program, newly accepted members should be invited to the GitLab Heroes project by the Evangelist Program manager.

To add a new member to the project:

  1. Navigate to GitLab Heroes project
  2. Go to Project information > Members in the left sidebar.
  3. On the Invite Member, input all new members using their GitLab username or email address associated with their application.
  4. Set Choose a role permission to Developer.
  5. Set Access expiration date one year from the date of acceptance.

Communication with Heroes

Communication with Heroes applicants and members of the GitLab Heroes program is conducted through email updates, generally from the Evangelist program, and via the GitLab Heroes project. Please communicate using MRs and Issues in the GitLab Heroes project whenever possible to provide transparency to the wider GitLab community and allow for easier collaboration.

The [GitLab Heroes Feedback form] (https://forms.gle/kGp9num9nHGWk4TF6) collects the feedback of the heroes who are looking for a more private way to contact the Evangelist Program Manager.

When communicating with GitLab Heroes:

Virtual Heroes Hangouts

The purpose of monthly hangouts is to bring together the Heroes to network, share hacks and build camaraderie amongst the GitLab Heroes. As the evangelism program manager, one of my goals is to get to know more of the GitLab Heroes and engage with you all on a regular basis.

Each hangout is either hosted by a GitLab evangelist team member or a hero. The goal of rotating hosts is to be inclusive to all regions.

Requests for Heroes

Please follow the process detailed in the GitLab Heroes project to request support from Heroes.

GitLab Heroes Licenses

GitLab team members can issue an Ultimate license to GitLab Heroes for a Group within their personal namespace (i.e. not for the individual namespace itself) by following the steps below. These licenses are only open to GitLab Heroes at the Hero or Superhero level. Licenses should be for 1 user. Licenses should be issued for 6 months and can be extended as long as the GitLab Hero maintains their Hero or Superhero status in the program.

If you are a GitLab Hero seeking an Ultimate license, please create an issue in the GitLab Heroes project and tag the Evangelist Program Manager in the issue.

Self-Managed

  1. If you need access to license.gitlab.com, you will need to get permission to login to dev.gitlab.org by creating an access request issue.
  2. Log in to license.gitlab.com with your GitLab credentials.
  3. Choose the manual entry option.
  4. Select the Ultimate license (unless requested otherwise).
  5. Set the term for 6 months.
  6. Set the appropriate number of seats to 1.
  7. Indicate that the license is for a GitLab Hero and that use of the license is limited to personal use only in the free form text box at the bottom of the page.

SaaS

  1. Request that the GitLab Hero sign-up for a free trial on GitLab.com via our trial page and select a Group to which they would like to apply the license.
  2. Create an issue under the internal-requests project and choose the GitLab.com Trial Extension template.
  3. Fill in the relevant information including an end date six months after the start date and that plan should be upgraded to Ultimate.
  4. Assign to the Director, Community Relations for approval. Include a brief note about the motivation for this change.
  5. Once approved by Director, Community Relations, a member of the Support Engineering team will pick up the issue and complete the request.

GitLab Hero Alumni Group

We are planning to launch the GitLab Heroes Alumni group in early February 2022. The alumni group provides a way for us to continue to recognize the important contributions of Heroes who are no longer able to contribute regularly. As folks experience changes to their personal and professional lives and as we have all had to adjust to new norms, we understand and empathize. We are implementing this solution to keep alumni involved and connected to our community while allowing us to focus our program resources on our most active community members.

Those who join the GHA group are welcome to reinstate their active status upon resuming community activity at the GitLab Heroes level.

The requirements listed on the hero’s journey table will continue to be the standard for qualifying to be a Hero.

The ask

If you would like to remain in the active GitLab Heroes group, please update your community contributions to maintain your GitLab Heroes status by following these steps: Adding a contribution to the GitLab Heroes Contributions.

If you have not shared any recent contributions or otherwise been involved in the GitLab community between February 1, 2021 and January 31, 2022, the Evangelist Program Manager will reach out with an invite to join the GitLab Heroes Alumni group.

Looking ahead

The evangelism team is looking towards the future of the GitLab Heroes program and wants to ensure we are supporting each of you.

The future of the program includes:

These are just a few benefits of being an active hero. We look forward to learning more about each of your contributions to GitLab. #EveryoneCanContribute

Please reach out to the Evangelism Program Manager, Jamie Rachel if you have questions or comments.

GitLab Heroes Swag

GitLab Heroes swag is available only for GitLab Heroes.

Gitlab Heroes swag fulfillment is managed by Printfection.

GitLab team members who wish to provide Heroes with swag, which is typically done upon acceptance to the program, please follow this process:

To replish Heroes swag, please follow the necessary steps in the Merchandise workflow pages of the Handbook.

GitLab Heroes Project

The GitLab Heroes project is used for discussion via Issues, as a repo for materials that GitLab Heroes create, and a home for other resources for members of the program. Everyone in the program will have Developer access. GitLab Heroes and our community are encouraged to contribute to the project.

Community events

If you are organizing or speaking at a community-driven GitLab-centric event, we will do our best to support you including connecting you with speakers and, when possible, sending stickers or other small swag items. At this time, we are unable to provide financial support to community events. If you have questions, you can always reach us by sending an e-mail to evangelists@gitlab.com.

Student-run hackathons

Student hackathons are the events most frequently submitting requests for support from GitLab. Hackathon organizers who wish to leverage GitLab's DevOps platform for their events are encouraged to use free trials for their events. This can be done by directing hackathon participants to apply for a free trial of GitLab for use during the hackathon which will allow them to use all of GitLab's features. In some cases, if your event meets the criteria above at a score of 9 or higher, we may also send stickers for participants or swags as prizes. Given the volume of requests we receive, providing financial support for these events is not feasible.

Find a tech speaker

We'd love to support you if you are organizing an event, be it GitLab-centric or around a topic where GitLab content is relevant (e.g. DevOps meetup, hackathon, etc.). There are a few ways you can get in touch with speakers from the GitLab team and the wider community to participate and do a talk at your event:

For GitLab team members, you can check the #cfp channel on Slack where many of our active tech speakers will see your speaker request. Most speakers will also be able to do talks remotely if the event is virtual or if travel is a challenge.

If you have questions, you can always reach us by sending an e-mail to evangelists@gitlab.com.

Community nominations

GitLab team members and members of the wider GitLab community are encouraged to nominate community members to participate in our programs. This is a valuable way to contribute to the growth and sucess of the GitLab community.

To nominate a community member who may be interested in becoming a code contributor or meetup organizer, who actively shares their knowledge of GitLab in talks or blog posts, or who meets the criteria for the GitLab Heroes program, please contact the Community Relations team by emailing evangelists@gitlab.com.

Community content

GitLab actively supports content contributors. Our community team tracks GitLab content and our evangelist program manager and editorial team regularly reviews the content. If you would like to submit your content for review, please create an issue on our evangelist program project.

We make an effort to amplify and support content contributions that generate value for our community. Criteria we consider include: how well a post addresses an issue in the Community Writers issue tracker, how well a post aligns with our strategy and values, and how well a post is written.

Media Releases

The Evangelist Program Manager must collect a signed Media Consent and Release Form before their content is published by GitLab. GitLab team members can request a copy of the form to send to members of the wider GitLab community via the #legal channel in Slack.

Evangelist Program Office Hours

Join GitLab developer evangelists and community program managers as they host Community Program office hours. Office hours will begin May 10, 2022, via Zoom every other Tuesday at 10:30 - 11:10 AM ET - excluding holidays. They want to answer all things pertaining to contributions, release features, hackathons, meetups, events, and more. The team wants to connect with you all. Find the meeting information on the [Community Events]() calendar and our meetup group.

Helpful Resources

Resources for speakers

For resources for GitLab team members who are planning on attending events or speaking at conferences, see Speaker Resources.

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