I'm no expert on throwing FF events but I've helped organize a few in San Francisco and figured I'd share what I've learned. Please add any ideas you might have!
Mailing List The FF events forum is great, but people don't check it enough. You need to form a local mailing list (with google groups or whatever) so people will get timely updates.
Planning You can toss around ideas for awhile, but note that someone needs to actually propose something concrete. If no one else does, it's up to you!
Venue The first successful meet-up we did was at Cheesecake Factory in San Francisco. I chose it because:
a. It's close to public transit;
b. Parking available;
c. Not too expensive;
d. It's a familiar enough place that people would feel comfortable going there. People are going to be shy about attending, especially in the beginning;
e. There's food;
f. There's alcohol;
I'm not saying all events should be at Cheesecake factory; just that the above factors are good ones to consider.
Time and date So far we've always met Sunday's at 4pm. I'm starting to think a little later might be better. Though too late and we could run into the dinner crowd rush.
Recruiting I not only posted in Events but would often encourage local people I saw in chat or elsewhere on ff to get on the mailing list. At this point I have 34 people on the list.
Two-banger Events On our last meet-up we went bar-hopping afterwards. We had to walk several blocks to find a good place, which of course can be hard on bigger people, especially after a large meal! It occurred to me it would be nice to plan that in advance and figure out a second place that would be easy to get to from the first place.
Mailing List The FF events forum is great, but people don't check it enough. You need to form a local mailing list (with google groups or whatever) so people will get timely updates.
Planning You can toss around ideas for awhile, but note that someone needs to actually propose something concrete. If no one else does, it's up to you!
Venue The first successful meet-up we did was at Cheesecake Factory in San Francisco. I chose it because:
a. It's close to public transit;
b. Parking available;
c. Not too expensive;
d. It's a familiar enough place that people would feel comfortable going there. People are going to be shy about attending, especially in the beginning;
e. There's food;
f. There's alcohol;
I'm not saying all events should be at Cheesecake factory; just that the above factors are good ones to consider.
Time and date So far we've always met Sunday's at 4pm. I'm starting to think a little later might be better. Though too late and we could run into the dinner crowd rush.
Recruiting I not only posted in Events but would often encourage local people I saw in chat or elsewhere on ff to get on the mailing list. At this point I have 34 people on the list.
Two-banger Events On our last meet-up we went bar-hopping afterwards. We had to walk several blocks to find a good place, which of course can be hard on bigger people, especially after a large meal! It occurred to me it would be nice to plan that in advance and figure out a second place that would be easy to get to from the first place.
9 years