What is the Data Mesh Belgium community?

Data Mesh Belgium is a community that brings together people that are interested in the concept of data mesh. We aim to stimulate the sharing of data mesh experiences, organize meetups, and create a space for like-minded individuals to connect.

Data mesh is a decentralized sociotechnical approach designed to share, access, and manage data in complex and large-scale environments—whether within organizations or spanning across them. Its principles are inspired by best practices from Data Engineering, Domain Driven Design (DDD), Product Ownership, Platform Thinking, Platform Engineering, Evolutionary Architectures, Microservices, Cloud-Native Service Mesh, etc.

What does a meetup session look like?

Usually, a Data Mesh Belgium meetup features two speakers that give a talk about a Data Mesh-related topic. Following the talks, there's an opportunity for informal mingling, socializing, and enjoying good food. Alternative sessions like workshops and discussion panels are possible.

Typically, the meetup takes place in the evening, starting at 18:30 and ending around 21:00, with each speaker getting a 45-minute slot.

What do we need from a Meetup Partner?

Meetup Partners are expected to help with finding speakers, workshop facilitators, and other necessities to ensure a smooth facilitation of the meetup. We are looking for partners who can offer a suitable location equipped with: 

• Presentation facilities for our speakers  (beamer/screen, HDMI connection, internet)
• Sufficient space for our meetup members (minimum 50, preferably more)
• Food & drinks

Additional aspects such as reachability and accessibility are highly valued.

What’s in it for you as a host?

Hosting a Data Mesh Belgium meetup offers several benefits, including:

• Bringing speakers to your company, providing your employees with learning opportunities beyond their usual environment.
• Associating your company with the innovative Data Mesh concept as our meetup members visit your location.
• A big thank you during the introduction and ending of the meetup by a Data Mesh Belgium member.

What does the Data Mesh Belgium community do?

As organizers, we: 

• Source and invite the speakers to create the program for the event. In this case, we also ask the partner to help finding speakers. 
• Setup the invite mailing and registration form through meetup.com.
• Promote the event on various social media channels (Facebook, LinkedIn, and X).

Other important considerations for prospective partners:

• The meetup is organized as a "Data Mesh Belgium" event, not a "<PARTNER_NAME> event”.
• All attendees must register through the Meetup group to support group expansion and streamline the signup process.
• Choosing the date and location to host a meetup session is strongly guided by availability and preferences of potential speakers. When a partner finds a speaker, this also helps in selecting the partner’s location as the next meetup location.
• The meetup is not a commercial event, it is intended to share knowledge, experiences and lessons learned concerning Data Mesh. Pure product placement is to be avoided by speakers.
• Because it is not a commercial event, we do not leave room for the hosting company to introduce themselves, deliver promotional talks, distribute promotional gadgets or present any sort of "promo" talk for the company.
• Sustainability is important to us. Therefore, we want to avoid as much as possible any unnecessary waste generation through the distribution of gadgets and the use of hard-to-recycle materials (e.g., for food and drinks).
• After the event is announced on the various channels, the host will receive a set of links (1 for each platform) so they can retweet/repost/share among their own network.