Latest / Talk Commerce / Magento Community: Meet Magento Netherlands and Beyond with Sanne Bolkenstein
Transcript
- Brent Peterson (00:02.168) Welcome to this Magento edition of Talk Commerce. Today I have Sanne Bolkenstein. is the producer of Meet Magento Netherlands. Sanne, go ahead, introduce yourself. us your day -to -day role and your passion. Sanne (00:19.145) Sure. So yeah, my name is Sanne. I've been involved with the Magento community for 10 years now. I'm from the Netherlands. I live in Amsterdam. And I currently work as commercial director at Hyva, the Magento 2 front end solution that a lot of Magento users by now know. So that's great. And my passion is actually community. So that's why I volunteered to be on the board of MageOS Netherlands, which is the Magento Industry I'm here in the Netherlands. Aimed at bringing the Magento community together, organizing events, making sure that people connect, can exchange knowledge, and enrich their business as well. And in that capacity, I'm leading the Meet Magento team, which consists of volunteers, all people from the community, so working for agencies or tech companies that work with Magento, here their time to organize this event for and by the community. Brent Peterson (01:24.824) That's great. And I have to remember because Yissa Ritsma is the one that I always get his name wrong. So your Sanne and the E is like an A. So I'll try to remember that in the future. Sanne (01:36.379) Yeah, I always say it's like Susanna but without the Sue. Brent Peterson (01:39.638) Right. Okay. Good. That's that's much that's good because yes, he always said to like jump and like, yes, Sanne (01:46.231) Yeah, yeah, yeah. Brent Peterson (01:48.526) Not Jesse, which I think it doesn't matter. Let's be, yeah. Sanne (01:52.291) Yeah, our names translate poorly into other languages, unfortunately. Brent Peterson (01:59.966) Alright, so before we get started talking about meet Magenta Netherlands, I would like to kind of just briefly cover Mage OS and then of course, the Magento Association. I'm going to tell you a joke. Just give me a rating one through five. So here we go. At the Olympics, I approached a man with a long stick and asked him, are you a pole vaulter? No, I'm German, he said. But how did you know my name? Sanne (02:23.931) I get it. Brent Peterson (02:26.196) Hahaha Brent Peterson (02:30.392) Good. Yeah. Sanne (02:30.505) That's a good one, that's a good one. I'll write that, so 1 is lowest, 5 is highest? Yeah, yeah, okay, so I'll rate it at 4 .5. Really? Brent Peterson (02:40.406) Okay, good. so jumping into meet Magento, we used to organize meet Magento Mexico and then meet Magento India. And of course, VJ took over meet Magento India and we don't have a meet Magento in Mexico anymore, but I did do a joke in Spanish at meet Magento Mexico. And maybe I should try to do one in Netherlands if I come in October in Dutch. Sanne (03:07.217) Yes, that's very ambitious. Brent Peterson (03:12.723) Thank you. Sanne (03:15.177) But people appreciate it regardless if it's a good joke or not. Brent Peterson (03:19.562) I saw a funny joke at the German, into Germany and it said the colors of the German flag and the color blue in the flag represented German humor. Sanne (03:32.393) Sanne (03:36.509) think you could just use that joke from Imogenz and MLS. People like making fun of De Jervis and MLS in general. that's a joke. Brent Peterson (03:37.998) Right. Okay, so let's talk about Meet Magento's. Tell us a little bit about your conference. know yours is the oldest, Sanne (03:54.313) It is actually, yeah. it used to be organized every year up until 2019. Then COVID hit, of course. And then after COVID, it didn't return back, mainly because the organization was in the hands of one person. And that person left the Magento ecosystem and started working actually for another econ platform. So yeah, there wasn't an incentive for him to organize it anymore. But people really started missing it, including myself. Actually, three years back now? Yeah, almost three years back. me and some volunteers started getting together and said, like, we need some sort of vehicle to bring the community together again and to organize Meet Magento, but also other things like mage titans or smaller meetups throughout the country, because people really value those type of events. And it helps to grow the community and it helps to grow the Magento ecosystem as a whole. It also helps to attract new talent, new clients. But somebody needs to do it. Somebody needs to organize it. So it can't be just one company. And that's how the idea of starting an industry association, like a lot of industries actually have. came to Frisian and we decided at the time to go for MajoS Netherlands simply because the name MajoS already existed and there was already some knowledge and some traffic around that name. So it made sense to kind of have our own local branch focusing on the Magento community, but we do represent the whole community. So not just MajoS or Magento open source, but also Adobe commerce. Sanne (05:55.235) we actually have very good relations with Adobe here in the Netherlands. We really try to represent the whole community and then get to do an event that benefits us all. So that has good content, great speakers, lots of opportunity for networking, making new connections, and also actively reaching out to merchants to come and check out the latest innovations in Magento and how that could benefit their business. Brent Peterson (06:27.694) And I think, so Meet Magento Netherlands is primarily in English. Is that Sanne (06:33.765) It is, yes, yes, we do encourage. everyone to give presentations in English because we actually have quite a lot of international visitors, which is great. So we do want to provide most of the content in English. But if you know the Dutch a little bit after a few beers, if they're surrounded by other fellow Dutchies, they probably will switch to Dutch. So you have to keep encouraging them to speak English amongst each other as well. Brent Peterson (07:05.838) The event itself, where's the location this year? Sanne (07:12.561) It's the same as last year, so it's in Amsterdam. It's on the west part of the city, so it's very accessible, it's very close to the airport. It's very easily accessible by train or bus and even by car because it has free parking, which is pretty exceptional for Amsterdam. So that's why we chose that location. It also happens to be quite close to my home, but that's not related, of course. Brent Peterson (07:37.518) So if you have three reasons why somebody should attend any Meet Magento event, what would they Sanne (07:46.275) The main reason would be to connect with other people. that's the, for me, that's always been the greatest thing about Meet Magento is that you meet some people that you already know, but there's also always new people that you meet and it's just, you know, physical interaction. There's nothing that beats that. You can have interactions through video calls or calls on the phone, but it's not the same. It's just meeting someone, having a chat, and who knows what comes from that. I very much believe in bringing people together and something will come out of it. So that would be number one. Number two would be to gain insights because all of the Meet Magento's are focused on bringing high quality content to the audience. whether it's a innovations or technical innovations or in general like new features or propositions for the Magento ecosystem. If you want to be up to date about what's happening, just go there. It's usually one day packed with information and you go home with lots of new ideas and information. So that would be the second and the third. I think would be because they're great fun. I think the Magento ecosystem and the Magento community is exceptionally good at mixing business and pleasure. So definitely going there, like the primary objective is business always, but definitely second is fun. Like we're all in it too, you know, because we enjoy being work, working with what we do and we enjoy working with the people. that we're with and so there's also ample opportunity for relaxing, having a nice chat and a dance properly. Brent Peterson (09:34.658) Yeah, the dance and I know that there's always a pre -party, then there's an after party, and then there's an after after party, I'm pretty sure in Amsterdam there'd be an after after party. There's opportunities no matter what you do to have fun. Sanne (09:48.572) Yeah. Definitely. the great thing about, well, one of the great things about the location where we hold organizing the Gender Netherlands is that it's actually a nightclub. So it holds a license to stay open until like very late at night, which means that all of the event is at the same location. So we have, you know, the event and the talks and the networking during the day. And then while we're having dinner, they were kind of rebuilding a changing Sanne (10:25.036) the main hall where the main speakers are placed into a club and we can just continue and we have a band there and yeah it's really really nice atmosphere and last year everybody went completely crazy there so that was really fun to watch. See everybody upload whatever energy they still had in their body so yeah looking forward to that. Brent Peterson (10:50.638) I do agree the Magento community is unique in the sense that it really brings together developers, merchants, the whole ecosystem comes together in a place that, we, you know, it's not overly commercial like some of the other big tech events. As a merchant, why would a merchant Sanne (11:13.341) because it's a great opportunity to again gain insights, learn about e -commerce in general and magento in specific, whatever questions you might have or challenges you're facing, you're bound to find somebody who can help you with that. And also it's a great way to get introduced to people that might help your business grow further, but it's... you know, and maybe a competitor or some service provider you're using at the moment that you're not completely happy with, but it could also be a completely new service that you weren't even aware of, but that could generally fit, you know, the business needs that you have. Brent Peterson (11:50.242) Yeah, one of the things that I always like about going to the Meet Magento events is the fact that there are so many new ideas always coming out and there's always somebody that's sort of pushing the boundary with something technical or some solution that they've come up with and they would like to present it. And it's a chance for you as a merchant to meet not only developers, but other agencies who are sponsoring, maybe sponsoring that specific developer who has this great idea that is just has very passionate about it. think that passion, especially from the developers in the community is unique. That doesn't go across, certainly doesn't go into any other SaaS platforms that are out there in terms of e -commerce. And it's very unique to the Magento community. Sanne (12:36.529) Yeah, and on top of that, I would say it's also a great place to meet peers because for Mi Mitento Netherlands, we really try to encourage merchants to go on stage and share their story. So it's not only like learning from the providers themselves, but also learning from fellow merchants, like what are they doing? What were the pitfalls that they were facing? How did they overcome any hurdles they had, et cetera? And that's very, very beneficial to have as well. Brent Peterson (13:07.63) All right, let's switch gears a little bit. can close out with Magento Association. Why would, so I'm on the membership board, so I have a little bit of a need to try to get more members, but if you were to say, would somebody join the Magento Association, what would that be for? Sanne (13:12.435) Sure. Sanne (13:28.349) because the Magento Association is the community of Adobe and it's very important anything community related that you actually have a voice, like you're representing the community, whether it's about events, like think it's great that the Magento Association is the one who's instigating all the big Magentos, who's facilitating any organizers like ourselves to organize these events and to gain awareness and to make sure that we attract the biggest possible crowd. But it's also whether it's the needs of the community, like any needs that we have, whether it's new features or security improvements or whatever, we need to speak as one voice. And the Magento Association allows us to do that. Plus, the Magento Association actually has a thing to say. And I think that's great. We have this vehicle to represent us as a community, and it's very democratically organized so we can talk as peers with Adobe. instead of like all these different voices saying like I want this I want that and nobody actually getting something done the association is able to actually get stuff done so if you go there and you have if you join the committee into association you have a voice and it will be heard and I think that's the most important thing Brent Peterson (14:55.15) Yeah, and you have a chance to vote for the board members. And there is a trifecta in sorts. You've mentioned Adobe Commerce or Adobe as one of those players. I'd mentioned to association, but MageOS is also a strong partner with all three of them. So tell us, and you mentioned MageOS Netherlands, just give us a 10 ,000 foot view of what MageOS, 10 ,000 meter view. 3 ,333 meter view of MageOS. Sanne (15:28.639) So, Majo -S is a branch of Magento and it came... for it's a fork, sorry, I should say of Magento. And it came from a few community members that were a little bit concerned about the future of Magento open source. And so they decided to ensure that future by making sure that we have a fork that we maintain as a community. And I think the result of that is that, well, the Magento Association is there essentially. Adobe realized we need to stay in close contact with the community need to listen to what a community wants and needs in order to make sure that we deliver the best product that we have for our merchants out there. So, Mage .OS is an initiative, as I see, to ensure the future of open source, but also an initiative to bring together the community spirit that was, especially post -COVID, lost a little bit, which I think makes sense, like with all the physical events being gone. And most people like working behind our screens and not from offices anymore, it's easy to lose touch. So I think major ways has played a vital part in bringing the community together again, uniting the community and making sure that, know, innovation takes place again and there's a place where that can be And then, yeah, as you said, it's very important that there is a close collaboration between MajoS, the Magento Association, and Adobe. And I think with these three pillars, we actually have that that ensures that we have a product that's here to stay. Brent Peterson (17:09.26) That's a great way to phrase it. Thank you so much. Sanne, as we close out, I give everybody a chance to do a shameless plug about anything you'd like, but would you like to plug today? Sanne (17:13.038) You're welcome. Sanne (17:21.289) My plug is always the same. It's always about diversity, especially about women joining our community. I would encourage anyone who's interested in Magento or e -commerce in general, especially if you're a woman. Come to one of these events, come to meet Magento or any other event, and please feel welcome to join us. There's a lot of job openings, there's a lot of growth within this community, so there's a lot of place for people, and we need to have more women here. So feel welcome. I can say from personal point of view, it's an excellent workspace. It's a very good, it has perfect work -life balance, so please feel welcome and join us. Brent Peterson (18:03.938) Yeah, thank you. And I'll just final comment that the magenta community is a Pac -Man community. So there's always an open space for you in the circle to join and talk. And there's very rarely pretentious people that'll shun you because you've said something wrong about some technology. It's very open and understanding. Sanne (18:26.375) Yeah, exactly. Brent Peterson (18:28.302) Sonny, it's been Sanne, Sanne, it's been such a pleasure. Thank you so much for being Sanne (18:31.143) No, sorry. Thank you so much for having me.