Скачать или смотреть Organising Conferences at Scale with Aris, founder of CityJS

In this episode of Señors @ Scale, Aris — founder of CityJS and longtime community builder — joins Dan to talk about the journey from small local meetups to organizing one of the fastest-growing global JavaScript conferences.

Aris shares his unlikely path into programming, starting as a basketball-loving student in Greece with no computer at home, to innovating on the job with early Java projects, and eventually embracing frontend frameworks like Angular, React, and Vue. Along the way, he reflects on the competitive yet collaborative nature of programming, the evolution of the frontend ecosystem, and why choosing the “best” framework often depends less on hype and more on context.

We dig into the heart of community building: why meetups matter beyond the pizza, how to create opportunities for first-time speakers, and the hidden challenges of finding sponsors and keeping attendees engaged. Aris also opens up about the leap from organizing monthly gatherings to running large-scale international conferences, and why he believes conferences should be treated as professional training — not optional perks.

🎯 Whether you’re a frontend developer, a meetup organizer, or simply curious about what it takes to build thriving developer communities, this conversation offers a rare inside look at the messy, human, and rewarding world of tech events.

Chapters
00:00 Introduction and Name Origins
04:14 Aris's Journey into Programming
06:56 First Job and Early Experiences
09:32 Transition to Frontend Development
12:23 Framework Preferences and Ecosystem
14:56 Meetups and Community Building
17:44 The Importance of Networking
20:11 Organizing Meetups and Conferences
22:54 Creating Opportunities for New Speakers
25:41 Challenges in Meetup Attendance
27:32 Sponsorship Strategies for Meetups
34:28 Transitioning from Meetups to Conferences
39:37 The Value of Conferences for Professionals


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#javascript #conferences #developercommunity #frontend #meetups #cityjs #softwareengineering #techevents #communitybuilding #señorsatscale #webdevelopment

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