As a means to enable the coming together of the business community in any locality, a face to face meetup beats anything offered on social media. So if you have been meaning to organise such an event, now would be a good time to go ahead and do so.
Advantages
There are numerous advantages of organising a local meetup. To cite just a few:
- They are not as expensive as organising a conference or a convention.
- The fact that all the attendees will be from the same city/town, makes logistics less complicated.
- Facilitating a business meetup earns you the respect and appreciation of other members of the local business community and gives a boost to the participating businesses (your business included).
There are many important aspects which come together to create a successful meetup. We will look at these aspects in two parts, first the organising and second the actual meetup event.
Organising a Meetup
Here are a few points you have to keep in mind when organising a meetup:
- Do Your Homework – It is necessary you have a clear roadmap on how you want the meetup to pan out, and what you want to achieve with it. This will save you a lot of last minute hassles and the regret of unrealised goals.
- Target Group – Do you want to invite entrepreneurs from a particular field (for example – your area of expertise) or an assortment of fields? Once you have made this decision it is time to start work on the logistics.
- Number of People – Since you are organising your first meetup it would be a good idea to keep the numbers small. This makes it easier for you to work the crowd and get attendees to mingle with each other also.
- Guest List – Once you have decided on the number, now it is a question of who to invite. You can invite a few entrepreneurs you are already acquainted with and ask them to bring their entrepreneur friends. This would make the meetup more intimate and avoid the need to break the ice. However always keep in mind the number of attendees you have decided on is not exceeded. For example, if your target is 15-20 people and you know 5 entrepreneurs, then ask your acquaintances to bring along a couple (be specific) of their friends. This will help you make your numbers, without the danger of overrunning it.
- Venue – Since this particular event will be a small scale one, find a venue which will be easily accessible for everyone. Keep the theme casual where attendees can walk around freely and get to know one another.
- Food and Beverage – Find out the dietary preferences of your acquaintances and their friends, and adhere to it. Serving canapés would be a better idea as compared to a full dinner, as it will not inhibit the free movement of the attendees.
In case a majority of the people don’t drink, it would be preferable to completely avoid alcohol. Otherwise you will run the risk of upsetting and alienating people, which would defeat the very purpose of the meetup.
Day of the Meetup
- On Time – Be at the venue before the first guest arrives, you do not want them to walk into an empty room and feel lost.
- Helping Hands – Get a couple of your acquaintances to help out on the day of the meetup. This will ensure you are not too caught up with the organising aspects and are able to greet your guests.
- Perfect Host – Walk around the room and put the attendees at ease, ensure they are mingling and not sticking to their known circle. This will help lighten the atmosphere and enable more relaxed free flowing conversations.
- Follow up – Make sure you get the business cards of the attendees (or make a note of their details), and give them a thank you call on the following day. Don’t let the acquaintance end with this, try and maintain contact even if you know there will be no direct benefit for your business. This will help you build more meaningful business relationships.
Finally as mentioned the key purpose of the meetup is building meaningful business relationships, so relax, enjoy creating new ties and re-establishing old ones.
