How to organize and prepare a talkin' event

This is a description of how we've been organizing the talkin' events in Vienna in 2023/24. This is a guide for the talkin' team regarding supporting the experimenters, communication and tasks and roles. This is a suggestion, of course it can also be done in other ways.

We recommend that for each event there is one person - which we call the event coordinator - that will take the main responsibility for organizing the event. There are a couple of additional roles that are required each month as well, however several roles may be taken by the same person.

Roles:

• Event coordinator: Takes the main responsibility for the event, is the contact person for the experimenters, organizes and takes part in the coaching
• Additional coach: An optional additional coach
• Event poster: Posts the event on platforms and takes care of marketing
• Material providers: People who bring flip chart paper, pens and tape for the voting, as well as any other materials that the experimenters may need.
• Framer: The team member that will host the evening, give the introduction and organize the voting.
• Photographer (optional)
• The person that will exchange contact details with the new experimenters

At the previous event

At each talkin' event we vote at the end for the next topic and decide which of the participants will take the role of the experimenters (= the participants whose job is will be to plan the program for the evening and lead it).

Right then and there before everyone leaves, one person from the team should go up to the new experimenters, thank them for their engagement and ask them for their contact info. This would usually be a phone number. Also check with them, which messaging platform works for them (WhatsApp, Telegram, Signal, E-Mail...).
Ideally, you should decide before the event which one of the team will take care of that.

At this point, the date for the next talkin' should ideally already been fixed. If it is not or one the experimenters ask for a different date, please discuss it with them and try to find a solution. Also make sure as soon as possible that the location is reserved for that date!

Contacting the experimenters

We recommend having one person in the team per month who will be both the contact person for the coordinaters as well as the general coordinator of the event (e.g. making sure that every role is filled, see below).

During the days after the previous event, you should create a new document in the shared meetups folder. If you don't have access to it, ask one of your team members. To create a new document:

• Duplicate the template "Template talkin' vienna meetup: #XX: topic title" (Right click on it and use “Make a copy”)

• Rename the copy to match the existing ones and add the next event number and title

• Fill out the event and contact details in the file as far as already known

• Use the “Share” button to set “General Access” to “Anyone with the Link”  as an “Editor”. Click “Copy link”. Make sure that you only share the specific document and not the whole folder, as it contains confidential information about previous participants.

Then, contact the experimenters. We recommend creating a group in a messenger of your and their choice. Here is a potential template message you can use as an initial message, but feel free to adapt it to your liking and personality.

Hey folks, here's <Your Name> from talkin'!

Thank you for your willingness to lead the next talkin' event - talkin' thrives because of participant commitments like yours, and your effort is truly appreciated!

To kick off the event planning I've created an event document, that you can use to write down your ideas and the event description. You'll also find the outline of the time frame there: <Link to Document>

I suggest you use the following weeks to brainstorm a bit and discuss among yourselves how the event could look like. If at any point you need support or have questions, feel free to contact me here.

2 important things that will happen before the event:
• At latest _2 weeks prior to the event_ (= <Date>) we need a short event teaser text, that we can post on the event page. Doesn't have to be long or detailed, but ideally sparks curiosity and makes people want to join the event. Check out past events on our meetup page to see some examples: https://www.meetup.com/talkinwien/
• In _the week before the event_ we will do a coaching call, where we will discuss your ideas and I'll give you feedback on your program

Looking forward to the upcoming talkin' event under your guidance!

Cheers, <Your Name>✨

During the upcoming weeks you will be in contact with them and answer their questions. However, for more in-depth questions regarding details of the program you can also ask for them to wait until the coaching call.

Posting the event

At latest two weeks before the event, the experimenters should provide an event teaser text, which will be used as part of the event description on all event platforms (Meetup, Eventbrite, xperience etc.). The event coordinator should check a couple of days before if an event description is already written in the event document. If not, remind them to write one.

The event coordinator should then forward this text to the event poster (might be the same person). The event poster will then post the event on all platforms with the specific text (copy previous events, change title, date and description, and publish it - see also this video). 

Coaching Call

During the two weeks before the event, there should be a coaching call with the experimenters. The purpose of this call is to clear up any questions and give feedback to their program. It also serves as quality control, as an experienced talker' might see issues or difficulties with certain exercises that the experimenters might not see.

We recommend that the event coordinator joins the call. Additionally, an additional coach from the team may join as well (this additional coach may either be supporting the contact person, or actually lead the coaching, with the contact person supporting them). It is the event coordinators' job to ask for an additional coach in the team group if they require one.

It's the event coordinator's job to find a date at which all experimenters and coaches have time. The additional coach may be added to the messenger group to make date finding easier. 

The call should last around half an hour. You can use free video conference platforms such as Jisti. If you wanna use talkin.org/zoom, contact Matteo.

If no suitable can be found, the coaching can also be done in person right before the event.

Before the event

Before the event, the event coordinator should make sure that all other team roles for the evening are assigned:

• Material providers
• Framer
• Photographer (optional)
• The person that will exchange contact details with the new experimenters (for example the framer, the current event coordinator or the next event coordinator)

It is also recommended to already decide before the event who will be the event coordinator for the next month.

Also, the date and place of the next talkin' should ideally already been fixed before an event, so please make sure that there is a date and the location is booked.

At the event

During the event, the event coordinator and/or the additional coach may continue to support the experimenters and answer their questions (in breaks / during exercises) if anything comes up.

The framer on the other hand leads through the evening and is the main contact person for the other participants.

The event coordinator and/or the additional coach may give feedback to the experimenters right after the event if they request it.

After the event

Make sure to thank the experimenters in the messenger group, for example by sending a message like this:

Thank you for taking the time and effort to organize such an interesting event and creating the space for people to explore and show themselves! 🙂 I hope it was also a good learning experience for you. Hope to see you again at future meetups.