HOW TO: Organize a Mashable Meetup

As incredible as technology is for communication, there?s nothing like connecting with fellow web enthusiasts in person.

Many of our readers have been taking the reins in getting to know each other by organizing
Mashable Meetups. It’s a great way to meet with other Mashable fans and discuss social media and technology offline.

Like any event, these get-togethers require planning. As this can be the most challenging part of hosting a
meetup, we created a Facebook Group for
Mashable Meetup Organizers. Please request to join if you’d like to participate in conversation and collaboration around Mashable Meetups.

Still wondering what exactly a Mashable Meetup is? Here are some tips for putting one together.

Topics

As the go-to site for social, digital and technology news, it?s good to focus your Mashable Meetup on digital topics. Whether you invite influential speakers to give presentations or prompt small group discussions, try to keep with the theme of web culture. Anything from the viral video scene to social media best practices will do.

Time and Place

Be sure to set the date and time for your meetup at least a month in advance, as scheduling is a big determining factor for attendees. If someone has already created a Mashable Meetup in the same date range you?re considering, contact the organizer to see if you can collaborate.

Note the city where the meetup will be held immediately, so you can reach your local audience. If you haven?t scheduled a venue yet, no biggie, but you should aim to have this set at least two weeks before the event takes place to give yourself ? and attendees ? enough planning time.

Promotion

By solidifying meetup plans a month in advance, you leave yourself ample time for promotion. Most Mashable readers are social media savvy, making the web a great platform for telling the community about your Mashable Meetup. Use the
#mashmeetup hashtag and create a Facebook event to help reach your audience. Once you pin down a place, you can ask venue managers to spread the word by giving details on their social media accounts, posting flyers and talking up the event in person.

If you plan to host meetups regularly, it’s worth the time put in to make a Facebook Page, Twitter handle or website. Jed Singer’s
Philadelphia meetup group did all of the above and partnered with sponsors to help grow its presence (website pictured above).

Format

A Mashable Meetup can take just about any shape you?d like. It can be an informal get-together of a few social media minds, a packed gathering with technology influencers as keynotes, or somewhere in the middle. Here are a few examples of successful Mashable Meetups and a little bit about how they were done:

• 
  

  Russ Chargualaf organized a sizeable
  Mashable Meetup at the bar and restaurant he works at in Indianapolis. He coordinated a social good effort with a raffle and auction to benefit the Susan G. Komen Foundation as part of Breast Cancer Awareness Month, and he got local Komen representatives to attend. Indianapolis-based Scale Computing sponsored the meetup, providing free drinks for registered guests. Russ sent press releases to local media outlets and promoted the meetup through social media, including a Facebook event and a Twitter hashtag.

  
  


• 
  

  Escola Superior de Propaganda e Marketing (ESPM), a private college in S

  
  
  HOW TO: Organize a Mashable Meetup