MacDeployment is an Alberta-based group for Mac Admins, sharing current best practices in the area of deploying and maintaining Macs. We’ve held five conferences and now offer local meetups on an irregular basis in Calgary.
Meetups
Pre-pandemic, we averaged about 8 meetups per year, most commonly on the third or fourth Wednesday night of the month at about 6:30 p.m. Mountain Time. When we hold a meetup online, people from outside our area are welcome to attend. We post information on how to join us in the MacAdmins Slack. You can also DM us on Twitter for information.
Our format is open to “lightning talks” or mini-workshops (5-15 minutes each, although we’re open to longer), but we generally spend the bulk of the time in open discussion. Anyone who wants to give a lightning talk should propose it (see below for methods). Of course, if there is a topic you want to hear about (because, for example, you’re struggling with it right now), you can also float the idea in one of our online channels and perhaps someone will volunteer to share what they know at the meetup. One possible topic for a quick talk is to simply explain your context — what do you support (type, quantity, scale), what tools do you use, what are you looking to change or improve? Regardless, you are always welcome to bring your questions to the meetup; we’ve already seen successful connections built.
There is no charge for the meetup, but if you intend on coming to an in-person meetup, please let the host know so they can have adequate space (and sometimes food & beverages) at the venue. You can let us know:
- By posting in the #macdeploy channel in the Mac Admins Slack (this is preferred); or
- By contacting the meetup host directly.
Most commonly, we have a meetup “watch party” for the annual WWDC keynote in early June.
Conference
Our MacDeployment Conference has brought in top speakers from the Mac Admin community has been an important gathering place for our Alberta Mac Admins community.
Our most recent Conference was held June 1-2, 2021 online. Thanks to everyone who attended, contributed, and supported! Those talks can be viewed in our YouTube Channel. There are currently no firm plans to hold a future conference, but if this interests you, reach out to us in the #macdeploy channel in the Mac Admins Slack.