[darinf]

After a discussion in the Schiit Rag and Yggy thread about organizing meets, I thought it would be good to have a place where people can learn and give advice about organizing your own meet.
 
There is a lot of great info that has been posted over the years about organizing meets, but I couldn't find any threads that had all the info and advice in one place.
 
Mods: If this thread should go somewhere else, please move it.
 
So, if you are thinking about organizing a meet in your area, please post your questions here.
 
For those of you who are experienced meet organizers, it would be great if you can give advice here. I know there are a lot of very experienced meet organizers on Head-Fi.
 
Hopefully this will lead to more local meets!

 

[reddog]

After a discussion in the Schiit Rag and Yggy thread about organizing meets, I thought it would be good to have a place where people can learn and give advice about organizing your own meet.

There is a lot of great info that has been posted over the years about organizing meets, but I couldn't find any threads that had all the info and advice in one place.

Mods: If this thread should go somewhere else, please move it.

So, if you are thinking about organizing a meet in your area, please post your questions here.

For those of you who are experienced meet organizers, it would be great if you can give advice here. I know there are a lot of very experienced meet organizers on Head-Fi.

Hopefully this will lead to more local meets!

Thanks

 

[darinf]

I'll go first...
 
When I first started lurking on Head-Fi, I had never been to a Head-Fi meet or CanJam, etc. But I wanted to go to a meet. While there had been one local meet a year before, there were no plans for any more. And although there was some discussion about a San Diego meet, everyone wanted to attend, but no one wanted to step up and make it happen.
 
So, I decided to organize a meet even though I had never been to one and I knew very little about headphones.
 
I did get some great advice from other experienced meet organizers via PM. 
 
Here's a few things I learned now that I have organized the San Diego meet for the past 3 years. (I am no expert though!):
 

1. Venue:
   I looked everywhere from hotels to community halls to churches to libraries. The hotels were SO crazy expensive, even for the cheap hotels, they were a last resort.( I didn't want to spend thousands of dollars and then stress about recouping the money.) The community halls and churches were not bad. None of them were free. Most wanted $100 to $200 for the use of the room for a day. The libraries in the city of San Diego wanted more than that, somewhere around $200 to $400. Then I got lucky and found that the nearby city of Coronado had a library that offered their rooms for free to anyone. Just so you know, the city of Coronado is a very affluent area and therefore their city has a LOT of money. Their library is beautiful and their meeting room is really nice. Their kitchen is nicer than my kitchen at home.
   
   So I lucked out and found a perfect venue for free. The only catch was that you have to reserve the room fairly far in advance (a few months). We also have to abide by their rules such as no alcohol, attendance must be open to the public, no admission fee.
    
2. Costs:
   With a  free venue, there really weren't a lot of costs. I was glad I would not need to recoup any money so I didn't need to charge admission to the meet. I didn't need to charge vendors anything to exhibit at the meet. However, I did want to offer food and snacks and soft drinks. (The library does not allow any alcoholic beverages.)
   
   So, I simply asked the vendors/manufacturers to donate whatever they could to help pay for the food and drink. I just bought drinks and snacks at Costco and ordered pizzas for delivery and got a bunch of Subway sandwiches. Super easy and the vendors were gracious enough to cover all those costs. Since they were exhibiting for free, they were happy to donate given that other trade shows can charge many hundreds if not thousands of dollars to exhibit.
    
3. Setting the date:
   There are different schools of thought, but the most important thing is to just set the date! Don't waste time with interest checks, picking a date based on votes or by committee, etc. You will never find a date that works for everyone. Yes, don;t pick Thanksgiving weekend or any holiday weekend or during a CanJam or other audio trade show, etc. (Mostly the vendors will not be likely to attend if they are doing another big trade show or they are getting ready to leave or just got back from a trade show.) But until you set a date, nothing can really happen. Just set the date that works best for you and go with it.
   
   Some had advised me to set the date and announce the date at least 3 months in advance if not more. Others said that last minute (under a month) is no problem. I think giving people a lot of notice is not a bad thing. People then have time to plan for it. Sure, some will commit and then back out as other more important plans come up, etc. I think you will get more people to attend with more notice. But early on, there will not be a lot of momentum or enthusiasm for the meet. That's OK. As the date gets closer, more and more people will commit.
    
4. Attendance:
   Don't stress about attendance either. Most people worry more about no one coming than too many people coming. At our venue, there is a limited number of tables, so I just tell people that space is first come first served and space is limited. So it's up to individuals and vendors to get their act together and decide if they want to reserve space. This can help me get a handle on how many people are coming as early as possible. But I still find most people still don't commit until the date gets closer. And since I don't charge admission, I really have no idea about how many attendees will be there.
   
   But the main thing to remember is that even if hardly anyone shows up, that's OK. Some of the best meets are the super small meets where you can really enjoy meeting new people and talking and listening in a relaxed environment. Maybe the vendors might not be happy, but at least they didn't have to pay for the table space.Even then though, it's great for the attendees to spend some quality time with the vendors too.
    
5. Other notes:
   Don't be afraid to ask people for help. Most people are more than happy to help. They may not want to plan their own event, but once someone else takes charge, many are willing to help out.
   At the San Diego meet, everyone is so nice and willing to help. It really is a pleasure to spend the time planning the event.
   
   It's OK to be selfish: If you plan a meet, you can find people or vendors who have the gear you want to hear and invite them. For the first meet I planned, I wanted to hear Stax 009's, Cavalli amps, etc. So I did my best to try to get people to bring theirs and it worked. If you are taking the time to plan a meet, then you deserve to cater to yourself and your needs. Odds are many others will share your same wants.
   
   Have fun! Sometimes, if you are a meet organizer, you may end up not being able to actually enjoy the meet. Delegate enough tasks to other people to make sure you have time to actually enjoy the meet.

 
Well, that's all I have for now. If I think of more, I will add to this post. Otherwise, please feel free to join the discussion.
 
-Darin

 

[reddog]

Thanks for the advice sir. I have re-read it several times. I think it's best to give about two months notice and to make sure mini meet does not happen, when a big head-fi meet .
I shall check out local libraries first, then a few local churches, for viable venues. I need to think about some possible vendor I can ask to come. Well thanks again a in your last post was extremely useful.

 

[Armaegis]

An obvious but sometimes forgotten detail: bring enough power bars/extension cords.

 

[zabzaf]

I organized the Metro Detroit meet last year before ever attending one. We had the most memorable day! We have out next meet in Ann Arbor, MI this coming Saturday.

Piece of advice that worked for us in terms of venue...approach the local hifi store who sells headphones. Overture in Ann Arbor was happy to host and has been beneficial in helping to get vendors to attend and make products available for drawings.

My motto...just do it. The worst thing that will happen is you'll meet some new friends and get to check out some great gear!

 

[reddog]

I organized the Metro Detroit meet last year before ever attending one. We had the most memorable day! We have out next meet in Ann Arbor, MI this coming Saturday.

Piece of advice that worked for us in terms of venue...approach the local hifi store who sells headphones. Overture in Ann Arbor was happy to host and has been beneficial in helping to get vendors to attend and make products available for drawings.

My motto...just do it. The worst thing that will happen is you'll meet some new friends and get to check out some great gear!

Thanks for the advice, I am new and appreciate any tidbit of wisdom.

 

[bozebuttons]

darinf posted some great tips to organizing a meet
 
 
I will  add a quick guide
 
1-pick a venue ( check out the layout for table space,electrical outlet #s & locations to see how many extension cords & power strips you might need)
 
2-set a date when the venue will be available usually I like to have at least 3 months notice ahead of the actual meet date.No holidays .
 
3-Start a thread in the meets get-together forum
Reserve the first 2 or 3 posts when you start the thread to add more info later/member vendor list,equipment list. 
In the first post add Date/location directions. As a example Here is a link to the NY meet thread to give you a Idea http://www.head-fi.org/t/743424/official-new-york-spring-meet-sat-may-2nd-2015
 
4- Contact vendors( I usually do this the first 2 weeks after setting up the meet thread  to give them enough time to make arrangements)
 
5-Post in the thread with any updates or just to bump it at least once a week so members are aware there is a meet in the area.
 
6-Have fun no matter how big or small the meet is.

 

[reddog]

darinf posted some great tips to organizing a meet


I will  add a quick guide

1-pick a venue ( check out the layout for table space,electrical outlet #s & locations to see how many extension cords & power strips you might need)

2-set a date when the venue will be available usually I like to have at least 3 months notice ahead of the actual meet date.No holidays .

3-Start a thread in the meets get-together forum
Reserve the first 2 or 3 posts when you start the thread to add more info later/member vendor list,equipment list. 
In the first post add Date/location directions. As a example Here is a link to the NY meet thread to give you a Idea http://www.head-fi.org/t/743424/official-new-york-spring-meet-sat-may-2nd-2015

4- Contact vendors( I usually do this the first 2 weeks after setting up the meet thread  to give them enough time to make arrangements)

5-Post in the thread with any updates or just to bump it at least once a week so members are aware there is a meet in the area.

6-Have fun no matter how big or small the meet is.

Thanks for the advice, it is very much appreciated. I will definitely check the lay out of the room in regards of table and electrical outlet setup. Once I have the venue space nailed down I will contact vendors.