Organize an event
Anyone can organize and host a NextNY event. NextNY events have come in many forms, ranging from Community Conversations, to post–Meetup get togethers, to Dodgeball, Softball, and more.
Community Conversations
A hallmark of NextNY, the Community Conversation is organized around a topic, has one or more moderators and typically several guest speakers relevant to the topic. Think of it as an “un–panel” (or salon… whatever works for you). We have “conversation leaders” but there are no tiers. Everyone is part of the audience and everyone can participate. We put 6–8 leaders into the crowd and lean on them to contribute the guiding thoughts behind our conversation, but we rely on much audience participation, questions, etc. to move things along.
What to do:
- Create a page on the wiki with an appropriate title and description of the event you want to pull together. There's a sample Community Conversation Template, select it when you click *New Page* to use it.
- Post your description to the NextNY mailing list and invite collaborators, guest speakers to help organize the session through the wiki
- Collect RSVPs either through the wiki or through a service like Eventbrite
- Line up space. A typical community conversation has between 40-60 attendees.
- Add the event to NYC Tech Events and other event sites like Gary's Guide. Publicize it through Center Networks, Alley Insider, and of course the NextNY Digital Google Group.
- When you start off the event, make sure to thank your host and offer them a few minutes to talk about what they do or can offer to the NextNY community.
- Announce or agree upon a tag / hashtag for the event or use “nextny”.
- Post event, update the page on the wiki or create a page on the wiki to talk about the event, what was learned, discussed, etc. Link to any blogs or other coverage of the event.
