Friendships First

Show Notes

Guest: Maya Schaeffer, Community Lead, Evolving Web

Recorded at: EvolveDigital New York

In this episode, Community Lead Maya Schaefer pulls off EvolveDigital events in two weeks because templates and community knowledge make it easy now. Her goal? Bring different industries together: higher ed, nonprofits, finance, you name it, to discover they share similar problems but never talk to each other.

Key insights:

• In-person beats platform evangelism. At Drupal events, you'll hear "pick Drupal," at WordPress events: "pick WordPress," but neutral spaces provide authentic advice about what actually works.
• Universities don't always know themselves. Some departments use WordPress, while others are in Drupal — how to connect them?
• Friendships before business. Events build community and network first.