Meet Magento UK 2021 - What we know so far
That's right! Meet Magento UK is back! And we here at Developer Connection could not be more excited!
We first attended MMUK back in 2019, sporting our trendy Hussey Coding t-shirts, as Developer Connection hadn't been announced yet, and ever since, we've been avid supporters of this event.
Meet Magento saved the day.
Then 2020 happened ... and we were so disappointed to see event after event being cancelled or postponed indefinitely due to the restrictions brought on by the pandemic. However, the brains behind MMUK20, JH, pulled off what can only be described as a colossally successful event when in about 2 1/2 months they not only moved the whole event online but scaled it, added to it and levelled it up in a way that we had not seen before or have seen since!
"In 2020, in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, and with all in-person events cancelled, we took Meet Magento UK online – because we believed the eCommerce community needed the event more than ever. And we were right"
- JH, MM21UK announcement article.
A successful online Meet Magento 2020
By including more speakers, adding two new tracks, providing live networking and community focused chats, MMUK20 brought together a wide range of eCommerce and Magento experts, ready and willing to share their knowledge and insights.
Meet Magento UK 2020 saw over 1000 people attend from all over the world. At one point during the closing moments, CEO and Founder of JH, Jamie Huskinson, mentioned that someone from Brazil had been watching the streams, something that may not have been possible for those people had the event been in person only.
Moving online for charity
But, in my opinion, the greatest thing they did was bring the global Magento community together by moving online for charity!
Last year's event was 100% free. You were able to register to attend, consume all the content and leave at no cost.
JH could have charged for tickets like some other online summits and conferences did through 2020 or, they could have charged and given a portion to charity but they didn't.
They made the event free, asking people to donate what they could instead of buying a ticket and, that's just what the Magento community did! Between the 1000 attendees and the event sponsors MM20UK raised over £83,000 for their three chosen charities - Mind, Age UK and The Trussell Trust.
Meet Magento UK 2021 - what we know so far
But what about this year? With restrictions easing, around 36% of the UK population being fully vaccinated (at the time of writing) and venues opening their doors once more, where do we find Meet Magento UK 2021?
Save the date for this year’s online conference
The most important thing that we learned last week is that MMUK 2021 will be taking place in around six weeks, on Wednesday, July 14th, so make sure to lock that date in your diaries.
Where will Meet Magento be held?
Just like last year, Meet Magento UK will be held exclusively online. In their announcement article, JH gave two reasons for this move.
The first being that a lot of people prefer virtual events at the moment. Though the country is easing its lockdown restrictions, that doesn't mean that we are ready for packed venues and unmasked high fives any time soon. Even if they were to limit attendance, employ social distancing precautions and buy in more hand sanitiser than you've ever seen in one place, this still doesn't guarantee the safety of the attendees, organisers or speakers and, that causes an uneasy, uncomfortable atmosphere.
The second reason they gave is so that more people can attend!
Meet Magento events have one thing at their core, the Magento community. The whole point of these events is to bring merchants, agencies, developers, extension creators, experts, newbies and Magento hobbyists together in one place to meet, learn and grow together!
JH get that and, keeping this year's event online is evidence of that.
"We don’t think it should be a trade-off between feeling at ease and accessing knowledge" - JH, MM21UK announcement article.
Will Meet Magento be live?
Short answer? YES!
It may be that a few of the talks are pre-recorded due to conflicting schedules or fear of connections being lost but, if last year is anything to go by, the vast majority of the seminars will be live-streamed.
There will also be a live chat function and separate "rooms" for networking, connecting and learning with other attendees and even the event's speakers during the day.
Will the Magento talks be recorded?
MMUK 20 saw four tracks running through the day so, unless you're Batman, it was impossible to watch and consume all four sessions happening at the same time. This year there could be more tracks but don't panic as we have had confirmation in the announcement article that they will all be recorded and be available at some point after the event.
What's new at this year’s event?
Speaking coaches at Meet Magento
New to this year's event are speaking coaches. They are people who have kindly offered their help to those who have great talks but maybe don't have the confidence or experience in presenting to an audience. Or are great public speakers but, when it comes to presenting to a webcam, find it difficult, as I'm sure many of us have experienced over the last 15 months. This new initiative serves to fuel that passion for Magento and its community by investing in the future of today's undiscovered talent.
Could you offer your speaking expertise?
If you're interested in becoming a speaking coach, then Email events@wearejh.com for more info.
Meet Magento UK 2021 - What we don't know yet
The 2021 speakers
At the moment, the call for speakers is still open and, at the time of writing, you have around one week left to submit your talks. If you'd like your opportunity to address the Magento community then click HERE to submit your talk today. As such, we have no idea who the speakers will be. What we do know, from experience, is that whoever they are, they will be a combination of industry experts, visionaries and Magento/eCommerce enthusiasts! And as these names and session titles are released, we here at Developer Connection will be covering all the virtual action to help you plan your day.
Tracks
So we don't currently know how many tracks there will be at this year's event. Last year saw four tracks, Merchant, Technical, Solution and Platform but, there's no guarantee that we will be getting those same tracks this year or that we will have four tracks at all. However, I think that we will see these four tracks return this year with the possibility of one or even two more.
How long does Meet Magento run?
We have no confirmation of the time however last year's virtual event, including some time to chat and network pre and post-event, ran from about 9.00 am to 5.00 pm (GMT). It stands to reason that this year's event will run too much the same schedule... except..
.
Celebrating Meet Magento’s 10th anniversary
This year sees the 10th anniversary of the Meet Magento events and JH are taking full advantage! In their announcement article, they said
"This year sees the 10th anniversary of Meet Magento events globally and the 4th year that JH has hosted Meet Magento UK. We think that’s cause for celebration! We’ve got lots of exciting ideas in the bag but unfortunately, you’ll have to wait a little longer to find out exactly what they are. We promise it’ll be worth it."
- JH, MM21UK announcement article.
How this will affect the running of the day, I have no idea, all I know is that when it comes to MMUK, JH has never over-promised or under-delivered and that makes me super excited for this.
Our final thoughts….
At the moment, that is everything we do and don't know about this year's Meet Magento UK online conference but rest assured that as more details are released we will be covering them here at Developer Connection.
Follow us on Twitter (HERE) to keep up to date with all things Meet Magento 2021.