Assemble Your Team

A great team is vital to a successful event. You’re the leader, and you’ll need a solid team of people to help. Here’s a rough overview of the talents you’ll need:

• Logistics: managing the venue, booking travel reservations, managing volunteers
• Communications: emails to attendees, sponsor solicitations, managing social media
• Hospitality: catering, staging the look and feel of the event, and
• Networking: connecting with the local community, finding speakers and sponsors
• Production: running the show, keeping things on time and on topic
• Technical: dealing with projectors, audio gear, and internet issues

Choose these people wisely. The success of your event depends on them.

Get Your Money Right

Create separate bank or PayPal accounts to handle sponsorship money that comes in. Running it through personal accounts could have tax implications on whoever handles the money for the local team.

We will handle all the ticket sales on the national level, so that makes things easier for you.

Pick a Date

Open up your calendar. Picking a date is one of the first steps. In reality this will move around a bit due to availability of speakers and venues. Start by picking a season or month you think will work, then narrow it down from there.

No Collisions

Be sure to look at sites like Plancast, Meetup, Eventbrite, and Lanyrd to make sure the date you choose doesn’t conflict with other events. Avoid any time around major holidays or Web/tech events. The last thing you want is to put a lot of work into this only to find out your audience will be out of town for something else.

Fridays and Saturdays are Great

We suggest you pick a Friday. It’s easy for most people to take a Friday afternoon off work, especially for a work related event. Plus it doesn’t cut into the weekend, so people can still enjoy their family time. But Tuesdays are okay, too.