What Makes A Great Tweetup?
Throwing a great tweetup isn’t as easy as throwing a great party (where free alcohol= good time). Ok, maybe it is.
Regardless of the alcohol availability, here are a few ideas to throw a great tweetup.
- Partnering with a conference to get on the official schedule
- Hosting at a bar — offer 2 free drink tickets with registration at the door and free appetizers. Get e-mail address and twitter accounts here
- Have it at a bar near or in the hotel where everyone is staying
- iPad’s or some other technology on hand where people can sign up for your service
- Use a hashtag that you promote via blog post and Twitter prior to the event
- Post the hashtag on posters at the event
- Wifi (I’ve been to a tweetup with no wifi — can you say disaster?)
- Nametags — encourage people to write name AND twitter username
- Use a tool like Eventbrite for online registration
- No presentations- people come to mingle, not listen to another speaker
- Communicate! — Big details like theme down to small details and reminders like bringing business cards, etc
What’s the best tweetup you’ve attended? What made it great?
Kat Kibben View All →
Kat Kibben [they/them] is a keynote speaker, writing expert, and LGBTQIA+ advocate who teaches hiring teams how to write inclusive job postings that will get the right person to apply faster.
Before founding Three Ears Media, Katrina was a CMO, Technical Copywriter, and Managing Editor for leading companies like Monster, Care.com, and Randstad Worldwide. With 15+ years of recruitment marketing and training experience, Katrina knows how to turn talented recruiting teams into talented writers who write for people, not about work.
Today, Katrina is frequently featured as an HR and recruiting expert in publications like The New York Times, Chicago Tribune, and Forbes. They’ve been named to numerous lists, including LinkedIn’s Top Voices in Job Search & Careers. When not speaking, writing, or training, you’ll find Katrina traveling the country in their van or spending some much needed downtime with the dogs that inspired the name Three Ears Media.
Can I add – do your advertising through social media – minimize advertising through the conference. A recent tweetup that I attended was advertised heavily through the conference – including he iPad give away. Immediately after the drawing, the room emptied except for the serious social media attendees. Everyone else came for the free drinks and the drawing but had little interest in the tweetup itself.
Interesting and a great point. Who/how you advertise has a huge influence in the audience that attends.
One of my former coworkers brought up a similar point- call it a networking event rather than a Tweetup to get a different crowd.
Thanks for commenting!
Great post, Katrina!
Can I also add- take pictures and put them online. Remember to advertise that they are posted after the TweetUp using the same hashtag- it keeps the convo going after the event is over and everyone loves photos!
You and I probably know wayyy too much about this! :-)