Guide to organizing a grassroots tech event in Hamilton
Organizing a tech event in Hamilton may seem like a challenge! Isn’t it difficult to do software events in a steel city? Well there are a host of online tools and resources to help you organize an event, and garner publicity too! Here is a quick and dirty guide:
1) Decide on a focus and format for the event
You can check out this list of software startup events we don’t have yet in Hamilton to get some ideas. Come out to events like DemoCampHamilton and StartupDrinks and talk to people to get a feel for what kinds of ways people would like to connect. We don’t have an event focused around free technology talks, or an event focused around 1-1 sharing of programming techniques or technologies. Try to make sure there is demand for the event in the community, but make it an event that you would to go to anyways; this should be fun for you too!
Get a few friends to help you run the event if you don’t have enough time. Remember that some of the best tech events are lightweight. StartupDrinks is just talking technology and startups over drinks, but that’s enough to let the right connections happen and to let the right knowledge be shared. You don’t always need dozens of sponsors or months of preparation, a lot of the time you just need some space, an idea and the right people. It’s a nice bonus if that space has some combination of caffeinated beverages or beer available, and maybe some pizza or munchies too…
2) Select a date
Check out relevant regional organizations and event calendars in order to avoid a conflict, such as Software Hamilton, Innovation Factory, Hamilton Hive (and related organizations), Hamilton Economic Development, Mohawk College, McMaster University, ThinkHaus, Joomla! User Group South Western Ontario, Hamilton Linux User Group, McMaster Computer Science Society, McMaster Software Engineering Club, CIPS-GH and IEEE Hamilton. You may want to check out the event calendars of neighbouring regions depending on the scope of the event, such as Silicon Halton, Innovation Guelph, HalTech and nGen.
Most people like to keep most of their weekends free for the more important things in life unless it’s a really special and amazing event (cough, Startup Weekend Hamilton). But they will go out for a few hours on a weeknight for a fun and interesting tech event… it beats watching re-runs of The Big Bang Theory at home! Well, usually, sometimes Sheldon and Penny together can be pretty hilarious…
3) Pick a space, book it if necessary
Pick a space that’s appropriate for the event. If it’s a primarily social event, perhaps a bar, pub or restaurant. If it’s about sharing knowledge, perhaps a coffeehouse or classroom. Do you need a projector, wifi access and speakers? How many people do you think will show? Make sure you have enough space, and maybe room for the event to grow if you plan to repeat the event. A lot of our software community in Hamilton is made up of students, maybe pick a place near Mohawk or McMaster? If you need the space exclusively for your event, make sure you have it booked for that event exclusively beforehand; booking it may not mean you have it exclusively depending on the venue.
4) Create a registration page
Use a service like EventBrite or GuestList to create a registration page for the event. This will give you a definitive online reference point for the event, attendees can share the link on social networks, and it will help you to know how many people are expected to show up.
5) Get some publicity
If it’s an event related to technology, software or startups it is definitely welcome in the Software Hamilton Events Newsletter. The Events Newsletter goes out about once a month to a fairly representative group of hundreds of people in the Hamilton software community, primarily to let them know about the next DemoCamp and StartupDrinks events, but also other relevant events. Just e-mail a 100 word or less description of the event and a link to the registration page to newsletter@softwarehamilton.com. You can also add it to the Software Hamilton event calendar if you have an account; any event in the event calendar will be pushed out in the next Events Newsletter.
You can use Twitter to spread word about the event. Use the #HamOnt hashtag to spread the word about the event in Hamilton. I don’t know what the etiquette is for using hashtags to publicize events, but if it’s a non-profit event I imagine a Tweet a day won’t cause much of a fuss. Also, if you tag @hamiltonsw in the Tweet, it will be retweeted.
Some other quick and free ways to get the word out:
- Happening Hamilton (post it on their Facebook wall)
- Hamilton Seen (post it on their Facebook wall)
- Innovation Factory (ask them to put it in their calendar)
- Raise the Hammer (create an account, post it in the calendar)
- Reddit Hamilton (post link to the event under Hamilton)
- Snap Hamilton (post to the event calendar)
What are some other good, free ways to get publicity for your event in Hamilton? What are some other events you would like to see in Hamilton?
