06: How to market to devs

Join us at Resend Forward: https://go.resend.com/building-fwdHow do you market a developer conference (and a developer product) without making devs roll their eyes? In this episode of Building Forward, Christina Martinez and Chris Pennington sit down with Hank Taylor (advisor, co-host of the Code to Market podcast, ex-Vercel, Laravel, GitLab, Neo4j) to unpack the marketing and event strategies behind some of the most iconic dev conferences of the last few years.## What's covered- The story behind Next.js Conf 2020: how a viral ticket page turned a 5,000-person goal into 80,000 registrants (and moved the NPM download needle for Next.js)- Why "developers hate marketing" is wrong and how to speak to a developer's identity, ego, and aspirations- Balancing in-person and virtual experiences so both feel premium- Why Laracon attendees stay in their seats while other conferences empty out- The rise (and saturation) of side events, viral ticket generators, and "wrapped"-style campaigns- Advice for anyone launching a first-time dev conference: find a meaningful theme beyond your product## Connect with Hank- Hank Taylor — https://codetomarket.fm---## Timestamps0:00 Intro and Meet Hank Taylor2:52 Balancing Virtual and In-Person5:22 Do Developers Really Hate Marketing?7:51 The Viral Ticket That Broke Next.js Conf12:26 Marketing a Product vs a Conference15:13 Why LaraCon Attendees Stay Seated17:44 Side Events and Viral Fatigue21:33 Making Your Conference Stand Out24:17 Where to Find Hank