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2024-05-12 03:46:08
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 velcrozeppelin
     
Location: Rochester, NY
Gender: Male
Mandalorian Mayhem
 |  |  |  | How to Coordinate and Plan Your Very Own Meet or Convention
< on 8/4/2009 6:32 PM >
|  | | | As the usual coordinator of events for Rochester-based meets, I can say from personal experience that the easiest way to get regular meets going is to:
[1.]
Create you own private board (by going HERE or to the bottom of the home page and clicking the Create Your Own Private Board icon).
- By keeping the board private, you have more control over where the information goes, but you limit the amount of people who can help.
[2.]
Add local UER members to said private board, and discuss good days to meet and good locations to explore in medium-sized groups (re: no more than 10 people, unless it's a REALLY easy location).
- You can find local members by posting in the appropriate forum or by using the User Search function and searching by Location.
- Start a thread to get everyone's contact information. You'll never know when it will come in handy, and it's better to have it ahead of time.
- For multiple-day events, it's easiest to give each day its own thread in the private forum.
[3.]
Find a single, fairly central meet up point where everyone can go for breakfast/lunch/coffee. This way you can figure out if you can carpool from the meeting location.
- Make sure the meeting point is okay with people parking for extended times... and if possible, park in a further corner of the lot.
- It's typically difficult to meet at the site you're exploring, especially because the more cars usually makes it more suspicious, so don't bother.
[4.]
Create an entry in the events calendar (unless the meet is invite only). Once you've decided on the time and location for your meet, as well as a basic set of explorable locations, it's time to go to the Events calendar. Click on Events over on the left side of the screen and create a new event.
- For the first couple of events you coordinate, you may want to make the event a single, non-repeating event, or an invite-only event, until you get the hang of it.
- Once the event is ready to be opened to the public, make sure you check off the Event Is Ready box.
- For inspiration, take a look at the Toronto UE Meet page, they've got a good format for their page (or once I get the next Rochester meet up, you can plagiarize that too).
Note: Most monthly meets or small gatherings don't usually qualify for a Convention Star (the little car next to user's usernames) unless they meet specific requirements. Check the Convention Icons section of the FAQ to see if your meet qualifies.
Just a last few hints:
- It's usually easiest to carpool or print directions to the parking for the location. You don't want part of the group getting lost on the way. If you do not have directions, drive slow enough that others can follow you.
- Know where to park ahead of time.
- Have multiple exit strategies.
- If the meet is over multiple days, make sure you have enough space to let out-of-towners spend the night.
- Sheet pizzas are an easy way to feed a large group.
- Make sure to let the attendees know of any changes in the event ahead of time.
- Pick locations that are easy enough for people of all skill levels, but still present some form of challenge (i.e. photographic, physical) after you've entered the location. This makes the location more interesting for everyone involved.
- Make sure somebody is carrying a basic First Aid kit.
- Wait an extra 15 minutes before leaving the meetup location in case of any stragglers.
- If there are particular explorers who don't get along with others in the area, it may be best to not invite them in a polite way.
Best of luck to you future event planners, and remember to enjoy your event too!
Special thanks to Black Coffee, Oryx, and G to the Race for their assistance with editing and reminding me of helpful tips.
[last edit 8/4/2009 6:51 PM by velcrozeppelin - edited 7 times]
Me goin' legit would be like JarJar on speech therapy.
I'm on Flickr now! My Flickr Stream | I'm about as thick as a Bryk. |
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G to the Race
Hi!
| | Re: How to Coordinate and Plan Your Very Own Meet or Convention
<Reply # 1 on 8/4/2009 6:38 PM >
| | | | Good job! Thanks for giving us this.
You betcha |
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Oryx
 
Location: Who knows
:|
| | Re: How to Coordinate and Plan Your Very Own Meet or Convention
<Reply # 2 on 8/4/2009 6:47 PM >
| | | | Woo! Looks good. You'll probably be editing this a lot as we figure out more useful tips 
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Shawn W.
Location: Niagara Falls, NY
Gender: Male
Optimistic Pessimist
| | | | Re: How to Coordinate and Plan Your Very Own Meet or Convention
<Reply # 3 on 8/6/2009 9:04 PM >
| | | | Posted by velcrozeppelin
Make sure to let the attendees know of any changes in the event ahead of time.
Wait an extra 15 minutes before leaving the meetup location in case of any stragglers. |
I remember being the victim of these two not happening, both at the same event, and for those who know me, it was NOT because I procrastinated. 
The former happened when I showed up at a particular restaurant for a meal, only to find myself the only member of the group there, due to the event coordinator changing which restaurant everyone was supposed to go to about two hours before it was supposed to happen, so as to avoid a conflict with one person, which probably wouldn't have happened, anyway.
The latter happened when I was in a certain location, and got left behind, with the rest of the group taking my stuff with them, save for my camera and flashlight, to the next location. Thankfully, another couple of event attendees had shown up late, and gave me a ride.
Not a big deal, because they both turned out fine in the end, but yeah, give ample notice (a day ahead of time would be nice), and wait until you're at least reasonably sure that everyone is out.
A suggestion that I'd like to make is have at least a couple of people in the group carry two-way radios. I'd brought a couple with me to the last meet that I attended, which ended up not getting used, but at least they were there to use if we'd needed them.
[last edit 8/6/2009 9:05 PM by Shawn W. - edited 1 times]
What is a rebel? A man who says no. - Albert Camus |
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