diff --git a/docs/CHANGES.md b/docs/CHANGES.md
index 5836683e1..dd74bc107 100755
--- a/docs/CHANGES.md
+++ b/docs/CHANGES.md
@@ -3,6 +3,8 @@
 ## 2.0.1 (Unreleased)
 - Allow the context (i.e. `this` value) to be passed in when registering event
   listeners with `converse.listen.on` and `converse.listen.once`. [jcbrand]
+- New event ['rosterContactsFetched'](https://conversejs.org/docs/html/development.html#rosterContactsFetched) [jcbrand]
+- New event ['rosterGroupsFetched'](https://conversejs.org/docs/html/development.html#rosterGroupsFetched) [jcbrand]
 
 ## 2.0.0 (2016-09-16)
 - #656 Online users count not shown initially [amanzur]
diff --git a/docs/source/development.rst b/docs/source/development.rst
index befeb285b..77d0bb5a5 100644
--- a/docs/source/development.rst
+++ b/docs/source/development.rst
@@ -996,6 +996,19 @@ When the roster has been received from the XMPP server.
 See also the `cachedRoster` event further up, which gets called instead of
 `roster` if its already in `sessionStorage`.
 
+rosterContactsFetched
+~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
+
+Triggered once roster contacts have been fetched. Used by the
+`converse-rosterview.js` plugin to know when it can start to show the roster.
+
+rosterGroupsFetched
+~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
+
+Triggered once roster groups have been fetched. Used by the
+`converse-rosterview.js` plugin to know when it can start alphabetically
+position roster groups.
+
 rosterPush
 ~~~~~~~~~~
 
diff --git a/src/converse-core.js b/src/converse-core.js
index 1857ff47f..cca9d06bc 100755
--- a/src/converse-core.js
+++ b/src/converse-core.js
@@ -667,6 +667,19 @@
                 b64_sha1('converse.roster.groups'+converse.bare_jid));
         };
 
+        this.populateRoster = function () {
+            /* Fetch all the roster groups, and then the roster contacts.
+             * Emit an event after fetching is done in each case.
+             */
+            converse.rostergroups.fetchRosterGroups().then(function () {
+                converse.emit('rosterGroupsFetched');
+                converse.roster.fetchRosterContacts().then(function () {
+                    converse.emit('rosterContactsFetched');
+                    converse.sendInitialPresence();
+                });
+            });
+        };
+
         this.unregisterPresenceHandler = function () {
             if (typeof converse.presence_ref !== 'undefined') {
                 converse.connection.deleteHandler(converse.presence_ref);
@@ -693,6 +706,7 @@
         this.onStatusInitialized = function () {
             this.registerIntervalHandler();
             this.initRoster();
+            this.populateRoster();
             this.chatboxes.onConnected();
             this.registerPresenceHandler();
             this.giveFeedback(__('Contacts'));
diff --git a/src/converse-rosterview.js b/src/converse-rosterview.js
index f8120d105..2c092cb48 100644
--- a/src/converse-rosterview.js
+++ b/src/converse-rosterview.js
@@ -39,10 +39,7 @@
                 converse.rosterview = new converse.RosterView({
                     'model': converse.rostergroups
                 });
-                converse.rosterview.render().populate().then(function () {
-                    converse.rosterview.update();
-                    converse.sendInitialPresence();
-                });
+                converse.rosterview.render();
             },
 
             RosterGroups: {
@@ -248,17 +245,13 @@
                     converse.roster.on("remove", this.update, this);
                     this.model.on("add", this.onGroupAdd, this);
                     this.model.on("reset", this.reset, this);
-                    this.$roster = $('<dl class="roster-contacts" style="display: none;"></dl>');
-                    // Create a model on which we can store filter properties
-                    var model = new converse.RosterFilter();
-                    model.id = b64_sha1('converse.rosterfilter'+converse.bare_jid);
-                    model.browserStorage = new Backbone.BrowserStorage.local(this.filter.id);
-                    this.filter_view = new converse.RosterFilterView({'model': model});
-                    this.filter_view.model.on('change', this.updateFilter, this);
-                    this.filter_view.model.fetch();
+                    converse.on('rosterGroupsFetched', this.positionFetchedGroups, this);
+                    converse.on('rosterContactsFetched', this.update, this);
+                    this.createRosterFilter();
                 },
 
                 render: function () {
+                    this.$roster = $('<dl class="roster-contacts" style="display: none;"></dl>');
                     this.$el.html(this.filter_view.render());
                     if (!converse.allow_contact_requests) {
                         // XXX: if we ever support live editing of config then
@@ -268,6 +261,16 @@
                     return this;
                 },
 
+                createRosterFilter: function () {
+                    // Create a model on which we can store filter properties
+                    var model = new converse.RosterFilter();
+                    model.id = b64_sha1('converse.rosterfilter'+converse.bare_jid);
+                    model.browserStorage = new Backbone.BrowserStorage.local(this.filter.id);
+                    this.filter_view = new converse.RosterFilterView({'model': model});
+                    this.filter_view.model.on('change', this.updateFilter, this);
+                    this.filter_view.model.fetch();
+                },
+
                 updateFilter: _.debounce(function () {
                     /* Filter the roster again.
                      * Called whenever the filter settings have been changed or
@@ -310,18 +313,6 @@
                     return this;
                 },
 
-                populate: function () {
-                    /* Fetch the roster groups, position them and then fetch
-                     * the roster contacts.
-                     */
-                    var deferred = new $.Deferred();
-                    this.model.fetchRosterGroups().then(function () {
-                        this.positionFetchedGroups.apply(this, arguments);
-                        converse.roster.fetchRosterContacts().then(deferred.resolve);
-                    }.bind(this));
-                    return deferred.promise();
-                },
-
                 filter: function (query, type) {
                     // First we make sure the filter is restored to its
                     // original state
@@ -435,11 +426,8 @@
                      * positioned aren't already in inserted into the
                      * roster DOM element.
                      */
-                    if (model.length === 0) {
-                        return;
-                    }
-                    model.sort();
-                    model.each(function (group, idx) {
+                    this.model.sort();
+                    this.model.each(function (group, idx) {
                         var view = this.get(group.get('name'));
                         if (!view) {
                             view = new converse.RosterGroupView({model: group});