Re:Engage - The Real Stories Behind Guild Engagement Challenges

Wix Engineering Meetup

Sunday, April 27th, 18:00 - 20:30

Wix Campus, Yunitsman St 5, Tel Aviv-Yafo.

About our meetups

Wix Engineering’s meetups dive into the real-world experiences behind building strong engineering cultures. In this edition, we’re tackling one of the most common, but complex, challenges: guild engagement.

Join us as speakers from Check Point, Rakuten Viber, HiBob, Similarweb, Glue, and Wix share how they built, scaled, and sustained active guilds—through hiring, leadership buy-in, internal frameworks, cross-org collaboration, and beyond.

Whether you're launching a new guild or trying to re-energize an existing one, this meetup will offer real stories, practical tools, and fresh ideas to help you spark meaningful engagement and long-term impact.

Please note: All talks will be delivered in Hebrew.

Agenda

18:00 — 18:30

Pizza & Gathering

18:30 — 18:40
Hadar Bismut,
Founder, Glue

The Unsolved Mystery of Engagement

Engagement is one of the biggest challenges for guild leaders. How do we get people involved? How do we sustain participation over time? And why does commitment look so different from one guild to another?

In this opening talk, we’ll map out the different types of Guilds, the various levels of engagement—from simply joining to taking ownership and leading initiatives—and where each of us fits in this journey.

18:40 — 19:00

Aviva Peisach,
Head of R&D, Wix

Building the Guild Energy Wheel: Engagement in Motion

For the past eight years, Aviva has been leading the Wix Server Guild, driving its growth and impact.

In this talk, she will reveal the secret sauce behind running and scaling an engineering guild. She’ll explore the guild’s energy wheels from infrastructure teams, hiring, onboarding, guild days, guild weeks to sub-communities and beyond, breaking down how each operates, evolves, and fosters engagement. More importantly, she’ll show how these elements interconnect, forming a greater energy wheel that powers cross-Wix collaboration and enables large-scale, evolutionary projects and cultural shifts.

19:00 — 19:15

Oren Efraim,
Tech Leader, Check Point

The Bottom-Up Tech Guild: How to Build, Sustain, and Get Leadership to Care

Building a strong tech guild isn’t just about organizing meetings- it’s about creating a space where engineers can learn, share, and grow. In this talk, we’ll explore how we revived an inactive guild at Check Point, turning it into a thriving community with high engagement and leadership support.

From internal meetups to large-scale events with external tech communities, we’ll share key takeaways on how to sustain a guild and align it with business goals. Whether you're facing low engagement or looking to scale your guild’s impact, this session will provide actionable insights to make it happen.

19:15 — 19:30

Peleg Bahar,
Sr. Director, R&D, Rakuten Viber

Collaborative Hiring: Strengthening Guild Engagement Through the Process

Peleg has been overseeing the Viber Guilds since he initiated them three years ago.

In this session, he'll share how they transformed the guild hiring process into a powerful engagement driver. He'll reveal practical strategies for boosting guild member participation, fostering a sense of ownership, and ultimately strengthening overall guild engagement.

See how increased guild engagement leads to a clearer, more aligned hiring process, resulting in higher-quality candidates and improved hiring outcomes.

19:30 — 19:45

Bar Amsalem,
Server Team Lead, Wix

Guilds: From “Where’s the Coffee?” to “Where’s the Code?” - Real Stories of Developer & Team Lead Wins

Ever feel like your guild is just another meeting on the calendar? Let’s change that.

We’ll dive into how fully embracing guild structures can translate into tangible wins for you, the developer, and you, the team lead. I’ll share personal success stories of how guilds have boosted my own development, amplified my team’s impact, and turned “just another task” into “let’s build something awesome.”

Expect practical tips, relatable anecdotes, and a clear picture of how guilds can become your secret weapon for growth and collaboration.

We’ll focus on how to use the guild as a resource, and how to contribute to the guild in a way that will benefit your personal and team goals.

19:45 — 20:00

Doron Cyngiser,
Director of Platform, HiBob

How Guilds Fill the Void

As Director of Engineering at HiBob, Doron has seen firsthand the challenges that emerge in fast-moving tech orgs — when developers want to grow, lead, and innovate, but lack the space, support, or structure to do so.

In this talk, he’ll share how HiBob’s Frontend Guild stepped in to fill that void - creating a framework where engineers from across teams can collaborate on impactful cross-company projects, grow into technical leadership, and turn their ideas into reality.

Through real examples and hard-won lessons, Doron will unpack how the guild works with key developers to amplify their strengths, foster ownership, and build the exceptional — not just in code, but in culture.