How do I host a Minted Meetup?

Thank you for your interest in hosting an artist-led meetup! We've provided some helpful information below to guide you in the planning process, but this meetup is your event, so feel free to get creative!

Timeline

Below is a suggested timeline for planning your meetup. We recommend kicking off the planning at least 8 weeks before the target meetup date. You should plan to spend around 3-5 hours on planning your meetup (this will vary depending on its complexity) and to spend 2-4 hours at the event itself.

1. Planning

Guests. Identify invitees by emailing the Artist Relations team at [e-mail]. We’ll have to receive permission from each artist to share their email address with the host. If there are any other artists or designers who live nearby that you would like to introduce to Minted, feel free to include them as well! 

Date and time. In order to ensure a good turnout prior to sending out invitations, identify key invitees (community leaders, long-time Minted artists) and/or find a co-host for the meetup. We recommend starting a poll in the Minted's Community Slack by typing "/poll" to identify a date that would work well for everyone. In general, weeknights tend to work the best, but if you think many artists will have to travel far to attend your meetup, consider a weekend event.

Locale. There are likely many places in your community that would work well for a meetup – bonus points if the venue allows you to hold or reserve space ahead of time without a minimum! If possible, choose a venue with an aesthetic you admire. Artists have hosted meetups at restaurants, rooftop bars, and art and craft spaces, but feel free to get creative and think out of the box – you could also try hosting a cozy meetup in your home, volunteering at a local nonprofit, or outside at a beach or park! 

2. Sending invitations

Invites. After you’ve received a list of invitees from the Artist Relations team, send out an email invitation or use a Minted online invitation. Sending your invitations 6 weeks in advance is a good rule of thumb. Be sure to introduce yourself on the invite (name, artist name, contact info, when you joined Minted, why you’ve volunteered to host, etc.)! Even if your venue and activities are not 100% confirmed, you should provide initial event details on your invite (e.g., “We’ll likely meet at Shenandoah Joe’s or in the neighborhood. Guests are welcome to order their own drinks or snacks from the coffee bar.”). Ask the artists to RSVP by a certain date. Email [e-mail] to post your event on our events calendar.

Event details. Once you have a sense of the headcount from the RSVPs, try to finalize the venue and activity, and align on an exact date/time if you haven’t already. 

3. Finalizing your guest list

Check in with invitees. We recommend sending out a reminder email at least a week before your meetup to confirm your final headcount. You may want to also follow up with artists who initially responded that they could not make it if you’ve changed any major details of the event, such as the date, time, or activity. 

Agenda. You may want to draft a simple itinerary, depending on your event. For example: 

• Introductions: Go around the group and introduce yourself and answer a couple of icebreaker questions.
• Activity: While you're welcome to simply socialize at your meetup, it's nice to have an activity or craft project to do together. At past meetups, artists have created terrariums and woven flower crowns, to name a couple.
• “Dear Mariam”: We wish Mariam, Minted’s founder and CEO, could be at every meetup! She’d still love to hear from each of you. Save some time for the group to jot down notes or feedback to send to Mariam and the team.
• Photos: We all want a sneak peek of your event! Be sure to take photos of the event and the entire group together.

Food and beverages. You are not responsible for picking up the tab for food and drinks just because you’re hosting! If you are hosting at your home rather than a venue, you can have everyone bring their favorite snacks or drinks to share.

4. Finalize details

Reminders + final itinerary. Send out a final reminder email to confirmed attendees the week before as well as the day before to confirm the meetup time, directions, location, and parking information for the next day. You can also share your itinerary if you’d like.

Final details. Create name tags or place cards before the event begins. It's good to bring blank name tags with you just in case guests who initially weren't able to attend are able to join you at the last minute. Try to make sure that you have everything you need for activities and crafts ahead of time so that you're not stressing about getting everything done on the day of the meetup. 

The meetup!

Day-of logistics. Be sure to have recorded all attendees' contact information in case you need to reach out to them. Please take attendance during the meetup so that the Minted team knows who joined you. Bring any supplies or decorations and set up in advance. When posting pictures after the meetup, tell everyone to tag #mintedmeetup.

Hosting tips.

• Don’t be surprised if several people are no-shows and don’t take it personally! Expect about 20% of people not to be able to make it at the last minute for one reason or another.
• It's great to channel the most outgoing version of yourself, but know that it’s also totally okay to be shy and nervous! Everyone will be so grateful to you for bringing everyone together and your efforts will not go unnoticed.
• Try to include everyone. If there is someone who doesn't know anyone, make a special effort to include them in conversation by asking them questions about their involvement with Minted, their family, etc. If all else fails, a little compliment goes a long way! 

After the meetup 

It’s nice to send a thank you email out to all attendees and include any photos you took after the event. Keep in touch! You can exchange tips and feedback with these new friends to help you all develop your work going forward. Please drop us a line at [e-mail] to let us know who came and how it all went. We'll be so excited to to hear about the good time you had!