Organizing an event is exactly like throwing a party. It’s easy to do reasonably well, few know how to do it excellently.

I’ve met many people who would like to but are afraid to organize one, so inspired by the excellent article 21 Facts About Throwing Good Parties - I decided to share my private collection of tips (plus a few I’ve stolen).

This will be an evolving and breathing series of posts because there’s no way I’ve thought of everything:

You

1. The first and most important rule: The most important thing is that it’s fun. No matter what kind of event it is, if people enjoy it - the chance that they’ll say it was successful and come to the next event you organize increases significantly.

2. Always create an event that you’ll also have fun at - it permeates to all participants. Some people even come for you, and the overall experience will be affected by your experience.

3. Try to completely avoid tasks that need to be done during the evening - even if the idea of making cocktails yourself for all the guests sounds really cool. A successful event is one where you organized everything in advance, and at the event itself you can be present.

4. Your role during the event: Make sure people feel welcome. This means: standing at the entrance at the beginning to greet those who arrive and say how happy you are they came, going to chat with someone you saw who isn’t finding their place, making connections between as many people as possible.

Your Guests

5. A successful audience mix is like in the game Set: everyone is completely homogeneous/heterogeneous in important characteristics. Examples: everyone knows each other beforehand or everyone is a stranger (so no one feels like everyone is friends except them); an event that’s only for women, only for men, or as balanced as possible; everyone at similar career stages; everyone knows the topic being discussed deeply or doesn’t know it at all.

6. Attendance percentages out of those who confirmed - varies according to event size, how strong the community is, and its exclusivity level. Rules of thumb - for small events (up to 50) expect 85-90%, for medium events (up to 100) around 75%-70% and for large events (100+) around 60-65%.

7. Always, always make sure to have name tags / stickers - a lifesaver when people come who you really recognize from somewhere who say hello and you’re like “hey wow what’s up with youuuu”. Both for you and for the other guests. They’ll thank you.

8. People, like in section 4, like to feel welcome. Sending a private message with “I think it could be really interesting for you!” or “there will be people there I think you’ll love!” significantly increases registration chances. I recently discovered https://joni.pyrogss.com to automate WhatsApp messages for wide distribution.

9. No no, I’m sending you private messages for real!

The next post about the things that are really scary - logistics 😱

If you have more tips, share them!