3 Surprising Lessons You Learn From Throwing A Meetup Event

The best part of building products for people, is the people.

The best part of using products people love, is loving the people you meet.

Every company, organization, government, gang, school, and more all want to build this one amazing product all people love...

It's called community.

When I started on my journey of entrepreneurship nearly a decade ago, I had an endless amount of confidence.

No matter the idea my best friends shared, I always responded with, "I think I know how we can build that. Let's do it!"

And years later that confidence hasn't faded a bit.

Until the end of 2019, and early 2020.

At the end of 2019 I attended some amazing meetups for entrepreneurs and creatives and I loved it.

One of my favorite of the events I attended was called Startup Weekend.

And I fell in love with the spirit of entrepreneurship and all the super badass creatives I met there.

Those events had a lasting impact on me. So much so that I decided for the year of 2020, I would throw my own meetup event...

Every. Single. Month.

As the first event approached near the end of January, I started having mini-panic attacks.

For the first time ever, I truly felt that I had no idea how, what, where, or why I was doing this meetup event.

I ended up calling on my most social, and optimistic best friend Dwayne and he helped me pull the whole event together in time.

And while I still haven't reached the level of monthly events people love and share, I've since thrown more successful events here and there.

Here's 3 surprising lessons you learn from throwing a meetup event.

1) Always underestimate your numbers.

When you throw an event, your number one concern is people.

"How many people will be there?"

"What kind of people do I want to invite?"

"What if some people don't get along?"

These all good questions but the most pertinent is the number of people.

If you don't know how many people will be there, you don't know the venue size needed, or how much food to cook, or what kind of activities are possible.

I went above and beyond inviting people with my very first meetup.

I should of kept a stat sheet, but I estimate there was at least 100 people invited.

When the dust settled that evening, a little less than 10 people showed.

The lesson I learned staring at a barely eaten platter of chicken nuggets that feeds 60+, is that you should never think the number you see, is the number you get.

Especially when those numbers deal with people.

The world will throw a curve ball or two your way and those good numbers you're hype about will dwindle faster than you realize.

One thousand emails, really means 300 emails that are actually opened.

One hundred thousand dollar salary, really means $60k after Uncle Sam takes his cut.

One hundred people RSVPing for an event, really means 10 people actually making it out.

2) Always be different.

The worst thing you could hear after throwing an event is nothing.

Nobody wants to put tons of time and effort into planning a whole bar mitzvah that nobody cares about.

The ultimate goal of all events is to make an impact.

People should be talking about your event.

People should remember your event years later.

People should be looking to your next event, and be eagerly inviting others to join.

But the truth is, it's so much harder than you think to have a lasting impact on people.

In this day and age, we've seen it all.

The number one way to make your event memorable, is to be different.

You should add at least one different thing or experience that people will never see coming.

It could be as simple as having guests freestyle rap to introduce themselves(this worked wonders at my last event), or as complex as a full blown scavenger hunt.

Whatever you do, do it different.

This applies to all areas of life.

Where a different tie to your interview.

Go to prom in a buggy not a limo.

Make your twitter profile pic, your elementary school photo not your photoshopped selfie.

Be different, and you will be remembered.

3) Time is malleable.

The last lesson you'll learn from throwing events is one of the most powerful.

Time has always been thought to be a constant thing that is unchangeable.

You have to work within the time you're given or you'll be left behind.

When you throw an event, nothing is more important than managing the time.

But at some point you learn than you don't have to bend for time if you can make time bend for you.

My last event started late because two guests showed up 30 minutes off schedule.

The whole itinerary was thrown off.

There was no way we'd get back on track and do every activity planned for the day.

But by the end of the day, we were relaxing with more than 30 minutes to spare.

We didn't change a single thing on our itinerary.

We just learned to make time work for us.

We worked faster during some activities and made others more effective as we went.

If you learn to bend time to your will, you will do more with your time.

Maybe you can study with audio books while you drive through traffic, rather than thinking traffic will ruin your entire daily schedule.

Maybe you can get a friend to help you with a homework assignment and get it done two times faster.

Maybe you can be super present during your next conversation with your crush and make five minutes feel like half an hour.

Time is what you make of it.

And there's no better time to put all these lessons into practice.

You can start with the most important event of all...this little thing called lif...

In progress,

Tim