Impact of Social Distancing on Face To Face Meetups for Software Practitioners during the Covid-19 Pandemic

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Thousands of technology professionals attend in-person meetups each month in cities around the world. However, during the Covid-19 pandemic, social distancing requirements have forced meetups in many locations to operate exclusively virtual events for the first time. We surveyed participants (n=251) who attend technology meetup communities in the UK to find out how the pivot from in-person to virtual meetings has affected meetup communities. We gathered data about participants' experiences of virtual meetups and compared with in-person experiences. While in-person meetups are important venues for practitioners to network, learn, socialise, meet people and participate in discussions (enabling transfer of tacit knowledge), participants attend virtual meetings primarily for learning. Virtual meetups offer poor support for socialising, networking, discussion and transfer of tacit knowledge, However, they do offer learning opportunities via structured talks and content, and can rival in-person meetups when it comes to learning new skills like programming, keeping up to date with general technology developments and improving one's general practice. The low barrier to entry for virtual events improves accessibility for both speakers and participants. Our findings suggest that some meetups may benefit from considering how to incorporate virtual meeting formats into their schedules for the long-term.