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How to assemble a cool mitap: 16 tips from three “serial mitapers”. Leader-IT events # 1

We interviewed the experts who ate the meetings at the meeting (and some even had a bite of the python!), And found out how they arrange such events, what organization schemes and life hacks worked out, from which they warn and what they pay attention to themselves. This, of course, is not an exhaustive guide to conducting a mitap, but a selection of tips that, nevertheless, can save you a lot of money, personal time and neurons.





In IT mitap is more than mitap: it is also a networking tool, and a source of knowledge, and a leisure format. And for the organizer - a way to show their professionalism, strengthen the personal brand in the industry, make useful contacts. It seems that everyone is conducting mitaps, and perhaps you also want your own. The only question is where to start and where to lay the straws later.

Here are those who shared their rich experience with us:

Grigory Petrov (eyeofhell), DevRel in Evrone , head of the program committee of Moscow Python Conf ++, one of the organizers of the Moscow Python community . Since 2012, the community has held 72 mitaps for Python developers in Moscow.

Pavel Makarov , director of the training center " Master IT " (Ulyanovsk). For sixteen years he has been organizing meetings for two audiences - IT specialists and entrepreneurs (at the sites of the Ulyanovsk Boiling Point - about two years, where he spent a total of more than 150 meetings).

Alexander Popov , entrepreneur, head of the Business Environment community (Volgograd), holds dozens of events a year.






First of all, understand that the movement is not so terrible as it is painted


The organization of a mitap does not require fundamental skills, extraordinary personality traits and it is much easier to assemble it than to arrange even a small conference. Yes, and breaking oneself “for a great purpose” is by no means necessary: ​​the introvert organizer does not need to try to “turn on the extrovert”.

Grigory Petrov:

In 2020 in Moscow and St. Petersburg it is relatively easy to assemble a meeting. The main desire. It’s harder in the regions, but not catastrophically harder.

A mitap consists of three main components: platforms, guests, speakers. Usually, from three to four reports are made at meetings, and the reports themselves, of course, are more light and concise than at conferences, on average, for 15–20 minutes. Plus the mitap format implies more communication. Take the same our Moscow Python Meetup and Moscow Python Conf ++. They have a single leitmotif: we collect developers mainly for the sake of communication.

The difference is one. Professional developers come to the conference, to whom their employer buys a ticket, and they come up with specific questions and get answers to them from the pros, including CTO and leading engineers of world companies. Mitapas are also attended by beginners, those who want to enter the profession, and IT specialists from related areas, primarily to talk to each other.

It’s not always always to ask substantive questions, but, for example, to find out where to start training in a particular technological stack or in any specialty.

Alexander Popov:

Be bolder. Yes, you need to prepare for any event responsibly, but in the case of a mitap, people expect less from the organizers than when they come to a big conference.

If something goes wrong, it’s not even a fact that the audience will notice it: for example, that there are no markers, the speaker speaks without a presentation or the projector is missing. There are no canons. People communicate on a friendly wave and usually don’t look for pitfalls and inconsistencies in your training: “Well, that’s probably what’s intended.”


It is not necessary to have behind your back a team of like-minded people, especially hired employees, and freelancers should be attracted purely by necessity


No one bothers you to collect and hold a mitap alone. Many do so. Moreover, this approach is reasonable in the sense that almost always someone stands out in the organizing team, “who needs it most.” At the same time, it is absolutely normal to delegate part of the tasks to individual third-party performers, partners or volunteers.

Alexander Popov:

To organize a meeting, one person may be enough. The three of us are involved in events: I, my assistant and representative of the partner site. Two more people are “on the hook”: they help with compiling descriptions of events, work with social networks, and monitor technical aspects (are they in place flip-flop, is there a projector with an event splash screen before starting, is the person sitting at the desk, are chairs or ottomans arranged).

Make the most of ready-made solutions


Moreover, at all stages of the preparation of the event. If you wish, meetings, at least small ones, and even more so in cities with a high concentration of IT companies, can be arranged almost without financial costs. At least with minimal. But at first there is a risk, either out of ignorance or for the sake of reinsurance, to put money into something that it would be easy to do without.

It makes sense to collect applications from speakers, as well as receive feedback from guests of mitaps, using ordinary Google forms. To register visitors to the event, Timepad or Meetup.com are suitable.

When it comes to specifics, start organizing by gathering an audience


The most difficult thing is to understand who to invite to the meeting, and then figure out where to find such people and how to attract them to yourself. Perhaps this stage is fraught with the most acute risks. Alas, the usual thing: the site is found, the speakers are "charged", all friends and colleagues promise to descend. The organizer made an announcement on the mitap's Facebook group and published posts “warming up” the audience. As a result, 15 people registered, three came. It happens, there's nothing to be done. Be that as it may, even with a contact base and with a reasonable promotion, much less people come to a free event than they registered, an average of 30–45%.
Ed .: The percentage of visitors is called the planning index. We studied it separately in a post with statistics from our 18 thousand events.

Grigory Petrov:

Before you make your mitap or series of mitaps, do networking yourself. Come to other meetings, to friends, to universities, to professional parties and gather contacts.

There is no need to be afraid of competition. And the fact that you without experience will be a pioneer, too. Do you want, for example, to arrange a Rust-mitap, but they are not? You’re wondering what kind of languages ​​the “Rostovites” are distributed between. Look at which upcoming conferences there will be many "pythonists" and "pluses." You go to the conference, contact the organizer: “Hi, I want to make a Rust mitap, can I announce about it from the stage and invite listeners to it?” Someone flatly refuses, fearing that you will lead his audience away, and someone will willingly agree.

The same with personal invitations. Approach the person and say: “Hello. I want to make a mitap about refactoring code in Python. Are you curious? ” If he is interested, invite him to exchange contacts in Telegram. Add it there with the meetup tag. As soon as there are more than a hundred entries in a tag, bingo. Next, we outline the date of the event so that it does not intersect with the largest conferences in the industry, with calendar holidays, etc. And you go to negotiate with the site. Then methodically go around those who were tested in Telegram: “Hello, we have the first mitap of such and such a date, I will be glad to see it,” with reference to the event page. The first two years, one way or another, potential guests will need to be processed primarily through the messenger and via email.

Do not lose sight of for whom exactly do you make a specific mitap


For example, for juniors, pre-middle or middle, etc. Perhaps, when registering for an event, it would be advisable to ask people to indicate the level of competencies. As an option, the main professional interests are also important, but it’s important not to overdo it: it’s worth asking in more detail for those representatives of the audience who have already visited one or two of your events and who are at least somewhat loyal to you, otherwise a large number of additional questions threatens to kill a person’s desire to register .

Think in advance what opportunities for communication you will give the guests of the mitap and how to simplify their networking.


To deliberately, forcefully bring people together is not the best option. However, if a mitap implies an interactive or some kind of joint activity of the participants, certain tools to simplify the acquaintance, it turns out, are useful.

Alexander Popov:

If the audience is small, about thirty people, we first give each of those gathered 20-30 seconds to introduce themselves according to a certain algorithm: they say where he works, what kind of experience he has, what his current request is and how it can be useful to others. Usually I start with myself and pass the baton to someone from the audience. It takes about 15 minutes. When there are more visitors (from 20 people), this technique requires a lot of time. Then we divide people into groups of six to eight people, and they communicate according to the same scenario, but inside their circle. Then I ask all participants to mix up and form new circles so that there are as many strangers in their group as possible.

Mitapas are mainly about talking, but don’t forget about speakers and topics


At the same time, both speakers and topics should work to ensure that the participants ... yes, it was fruitful to talk about.

Grigory Petrov:

In the case of mitaps, the stardom of the speaker is not so important. More importantly, is it able to push people towards productive communication, does it raise hot topics for the industry. For example, in our Python meetings, the most lively interest in the public is caused by topics that initiate training, involve people in interaction: is Python really good for beginners, is it really suitable only for ML. Or, roughly speaking, “Python vs. Go in the backend "," As in 2020, the situation is with the development of mobile applications in Python "and so on. If you understand the topic (and it’s best to really do events on the topic in which you are guided and which is charged), then you yourself know very well that in connection with it the community is now “burning”, which is the hottest. <...> Speakers are the least problematic of the three main components of the mitap. Speak yourselflooking for candidates among friends, in your company, at other relevant conferences and meetings. It is optimal when there are three speakers on the mitap. Not one came - it's okay. Over time, you will form a reserve from which, in case of a sudden illness of the speaker, you can quickly "pull out" the spare.

A reasonable way to choose the right topics for the mitap is to “just ask” your target audience what it is, disturbing, and attractive.


Alexander Popov:

When we were developing a training course for entrepreneurs, 150 people were interviewed. We talked with each of 10 to 30 minutes and asked them open questions that revealed their “pains” and needs, “Wishlist”. Based on their answers, we compiled a “matrix of meanings”, relying on which in many respects we formulated the themes of the following events.

When choosing a site, check how “human-friendly” conditions are on it


Will it be easy for guests to get to the place and will it then be comfortable for them to spend in space those two, three, four hours that you allocated for the meeting?

Pavel Makarov:

Make sure that it is convenient for your audience to get to the venue of the meeting - both by public transport and by private. Are there parking lots nearby, is there a cafe nearby - if your mitap is longer than usual and provides for a lunch break. Check how light the room is and how well it dims (is it enough for normal operation with the projector). Finally, is there a serious source of noise near the location? For example, construction nearby is a huge minus. <...> Few of the organizers, in addition to the temperature in the room, pay attention to how oxygenated it is. The hall, where 50–80 people gathered, quickly “fizzles out”. I specially bought an air analyzer and checked it myself: after half an hour, the norm of carbon dioxide content is twice as high in the room. And that meansVisitors lose working ability, it’s more difficult for them to focus on the material. So check in advance how well the room is ventilated. My colleagues and I immediately see if the windows in the hall open so that there is no draft, whether there is any room for guests to move during the break during airing.
Ed .: if your mitap is non-profit, you can always spend it at one of the nearest boiling points .



Many have a good selection of facilities and equipment. They won’t take money for this.

A platform with a lounge area is especially preferred, where visitors can freely communicate with each other and with speakers


Grigory Petrov:

If there is one room in space with armchairs, a screen, a projector ... and that’s all - then this is extremely bad for a mitap. The platform should be adapted for communication. This is how our brains are arranged: when there are several people nearby, they talk to each other, and when there are 100-150 of them, it is hard for them to just start discussing something with each other. Including, therefore, we need a zone for communication, preferably with tea and coffee. Even if coffee boilers brand owners of space, that's okay.

,


What then to do with the video depends on whether the content part of the mitap is exclusive, whether the recording quality is high, who gathered at the event (and whether they will need such content afterwards). A working option is to upload speakers' speeches to a YouTube channel with direct link access and share recordings with your audience (for example, provide a link to a video in an email newsletter). In addition, looking at the mitap from the point of fact can be useful for working on bugs.

It’s great if the site administration is involved in the video recording and it has the necessary equipment and the person responsible for it (this is not uncommon). No - it doesn’t matter: just select a point with a decent view for shooting, put a simple SLR or even a smartphone on a tripod and turn on recording. For starters, it’s absolutely normal.

Get a mitap checklist


Even if there are few points in the scenario of your preparation for the events that you are organizing, it’s better to write a consolidated document that will list:

- all the main actions that need to be taken when organizing the event;
- everyone with whom you regularly interact during the organization of meetings;
- items in the presence of which you need to check on the site (spare batteries for the microphone, cables and adapters, clicker, slide switch, etc.).

Thanks to such a checklist, it will also be easier for you to quickly connect to the work of new people who have joined your team.

Alexander Popov:

The checklist of our team lists all the activities and areas of responsibility for the mitap. What to what number should be accomplished - and by whom. In particular, who and when negotiates with speakers, describes the event and creates a registration page, orders and receives visuals from the designer, places advertising and informational posts, prepares the hall for the event, and more.

The duration of the mitap depends on many factors, but it is best that it fit within the range of one and a half to two - two and a half hours


Less - it’s unlikely to be able to do something meaningful, more - the risk that the audience will begin to “defocus” increases, and not everyone who is interested is ready to devote most of the day or the whole evening to a local IT event.

Pavel Makarov :

There is not only a reasonable maximum, but also a reasonable minimum duration of a mitap. In my experience, this is about an hour and a half. In the end, if the event is shorter, people, even with a good program, may be disappointed that they spent time on the road and abandoned other activities for the sake of too little. Optimal - two to three hours. But if the mitap lasts three hours or more, then after an hour and a half (plus or minus) it is worth taking a break.

Grigory Petrov:

Free meetups of a more or less standard format are more often held on weekdays after work, from approximately 19:00 to 21:00 (the most active on their own initiative continue to communicate at the afterparty). It is clear that for some time it should be laid down for "shrinkage" (in which case, replace the microphone, wait a bit for those who are late, etc.). We give speakers about twenty minutes, between their speeches - breaks for communication for 10-15 minutes. You can arrange such events on Friday night, only then there is a great risk that people will prefer your pastime to have a different pastime.

You should not start promoting mitaps earlier than three weeks before its start


But the minimum period depends on your contact base, on its “warm-up”, on the reputation of your meetings, on how quickly you can assemble an event, etc.

Pavel Makarov:

In 2019, we happen to start preparations in a week, even less. But we have a large base, and the experience in conducting mitaps is decent. For those who are only trying their hand at their organization, I would advise laying everything on everything for two and a half - three weeks. Such a period is enough to come up with the event’s positioning, create a landing page, build a message cycle, start collecting registrations, etc. There is no sense to start earlier: the people will cool down and will not come.

But you need to promote the mitap, he will not advance himself


(This only works for those who make cool mitaps for many years in a row, and even then with reservations). Best on a detailed plan.

Pavel Makarov:

Before each meeting we determine which channels we will use and what we will throw. Usually the first one is e-mail: we send letters with information about the upcoming event to those participants in past events who agreed to receive the e-mail newsletter. The second is the VK distribution on behalf of the group to those members who have subscribed to a specific topic (we have several lines of events). The third is SMS. Fourth - voice messages to a phone number. Each of the four channels is not wholly accessible and open, so we combine them in different proportions.

Next, we make posts on Facebook and VKontakte. In some cases, we additionally buy targeted advertising, and in some, we don’t (for participants in previous meetings, look-alike audiences, etc.). In order not to “overheat” the audience, it is not frequent. Voice messages to the phone - from the force of once a month. Text - no more than once a week, but usually even less. It turns out that when organizing a mitap, we can disturb people with a maximum of two “waves”. Moreover, the second usually takes place three days before the event (many leave registration "for later", here they are calculated). With those who registered, additional work is underway. It is imperative for them to remind them on the eve that a mitap will take place tomorrow: by mailing list, SMS, message on VKontakte, depending on the situation and the history of your communications.
Ahead of the possible outrage over voice mailings: we periodically question our audience if this format is annoying. Interestingly, almost no one is annoyed, provided that the voice comes from us no more than once a month.

If you are not going to limit yourself to one or two events, it is better to conduct mitaps with a predetermined regularity


For example, once every three months. If the mitap and its organizer disappear from the audience’s field of vision, that one quickly weaned from it, and you begin to lose the collected base with such difficulty.

Grigory Petrov:

In order for the mitap to grow, you need to carefully collect the audience of early adopters, take care of it and track its dynamics. It is very important to sign visitors and those interested in the mailing list and announcements of the following events. It’s good to send them a digest once a month, which includes the announcement of the next mitap, and if you shot a video, you can also give a link to it. This is important: people get used to the fact that they receive the newsletter. Little by little you will grow this audience early adopters. Maybe 100 people will register on the first meeting, but 30 will come; visit the second "subscribe" 110, and get to you 27; the third one will register 130, and only 40 you will see in the hall and so on. In a few years, you will have a loyal - and vast - audience. If you deal with it systematically, at some point you realizethat the next mitap “somehow himself” gathered a hundred people.

This is a rewarding work in the long run. It makes sense to do it all the time. Say, every day, spend five to seven minutes adding contacts of potential guests to the messenger, once every two or three weeks - go to other meetings and arrange with sites.

PS Perhaps you will also be interested in all kinds of statistics on various events, ranging from the average number of participants to the planning index. We collected one from 18 thousand events and wrote a separate post .

Well, if you are looking for a platform for your mitap (lecture, seminar, conference), take a look at our Points . It's all for free!

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