Online meetups: to love or to hate?

Online meetups: to love ❤️ or to hate 😠?

I’ve asked myself this question many times. With the start of the Covid-19 pandemic, I also started running online meetups. My initial enthusiasm slowly turned into frustration. Too such an extend that I stopped hosting them.

For a couple of months, I highly enjoy it again. So what changed? 🤔

1️⃣ I have accepted that online isn’t the same as in person. Nothing beats the in-person experience. For too long, I tried to copy the in-person experience into the digital world. This proved to be a struggle. They’re two different beasts 🐶. Each requires a different, unique approach.

2️⃣ I don’t limit the number of participants. With free, online meetups, sign-up doesn’t mean show-up. If 200 people sign up, 30–40 show up. This used to piss me off 😡. Most because I already limited the number of attendees and some people on the waiting list couldn’t join. I’ve simply accepted the reality, and use the Open Space mindset: ‘Whoever comes are the right people’ and ‘whatever happens, is the only thing that could have’. These aren’t all the rules & principles, but the ones I find most relevant for my meetups.

3️⃣ I make it available for everyone to join, it’s not Patreon limited. Meetups were intended as a gift to our Patreon community. But making the meetups patron-only proved to be an administrative burden. Frustrating patrons and myself. Removing this restriction even gave our Patreon community a nice boost! 🚀

4️⃣ I use a co-facilitator or technical assistent, so I can finally join the conversations myself. This might be my biggest frustration. I used to be so busy with technical stuff (creating breakout outs, managing the waiting room, offering support), that I could never really engage in the conversations myself.

5️⃣ I made it teamwork. Every member of our Patreon community can host their own meetups. By now, we’ve got a group of ±10–15 people that occasionally runs their own meetups. I love it, when people step up and take the lead!

6️⃣ I use topics that I consider interesting myself. I became more selfish 😅. Instead of asking “what would the community consider interesting?” I nowadays often choose topics I find valuable. Luckily, many people share my interest!

7️⃣ I standardize meetups and use templates. I want to minimize the time I need to prepare meetups. It’s about the conversation, not offering a unique structured meetup each and every time. I rather spent time defining a powerful invitation (topic/question) and NOT designing a unique string of Liberating Structures.

8️⃣ I discovered my personal sweat spot of 90-minute meetups ⏰. Especially because all my meetups are interactive and use breakout rooms, 60-minute meetups proved to be too short. A 2-hour is too long.

9️⃣ I don’t record meetups. It takes too much time, isn’t that valuable because most conversations take place in breakouts, and I share the takeaways in a blog posts anyhow.

What is your experience with running online meetups? What works best for you? Any best practices you can share?