The Ultimate Guide to Hosting Successful Meetups
Meetups are so important to creating a sense of community, providing support, or facilitating volunteer events. How can a host prepare for a meetup to be beneficial, fun, and keep people wanting to come back? What’s in the secret sauce of a successful meetup? We've got you covered.
Clarify your purpose
What is the purpose of your meetup? Clarify your goals of the meetup and summarize what activities will take place along with a timeline. Make it fun and inviting! This will attract people who are genuinely interested or curious in the activity and give them a realistic expectation.
Location, Location, Location!
Your favorite realtors are correct, location matters. Make sure wherever you are hosting your meet up makes sense for the activity. For example, if you’re hosting a board game night, it wouldn’t make sense to host it at a rowdy bar corner where you can’t hear anyone or converse. Make it make sense! Pick a space that will fit your expected crowd size, consider parking or public transportation access, and get permission from owners and/or managers if you are reserving a venue.
Prepare an agenda and set expectations
Plan your timeline for the event with ice breakers and main event activities, leave enough time for people to mingle and get to know each other. Let attendees know what to expect: if refreshments are provided, if they should plan to bring anything, if there is a fee for attendance, and if there is a recommended dress attire (sporty activity, casual, semi-formal).
Set a Date and Promote!
Pick a time and date that would be convenient for you and your target crowd. Think about standard work schedules for the average attendee. Promote on amiqo! Create your event easily on the amiqo app and share it on social media!
On The Day Of
Welcome attendees warmly, encourage everyone to connect, and create introductory ice breakers. Lead discussions and directives as the activity progresses, make eye contact and have conversations with attendees during the event. Provide refreshments like water or snacks if appropriate or arrange meetup near restaurants or accessible necessities. Stay on track and end the meetup on or as close to the scheduled time as possible.
Follow Up
Send thank you’s to your attendees via email and ask for feedback on how to improve in the future!
Tell Us All About It
We at amiqo love a successful meetup! Do you have any suggestions on how to create a successful, engaging meetup? We’d love to hear from you in the comments!