Dinner & Code

Dinner & Code Organisation

Schedule: One evening (Tuesday to Thursday) each month
Host: Thoughtworks and others Start Time: 18:00 or 18:30
Kick-Off Time: ~15 min in
End Time: 20:30-21:30 (depending on venue)

Four Weeks Before

• Create draft for meetup event copying from an existing one.
• confirm the venue and date/time
• if new venue, update "how to find us", address and accessibility
• Find a speaker for a 30-45min talk. You will need:
• Talk title
• Talk description
• Speaker name
• Short bio
• Email address
• Twitter handle

Up To Two Weeks Before

• find a host who will be at the event and facilitate
• Confirm all other details and announce the meetup

One Week Before

• remind speaker and venue via email
• Let them know who will be facilitating on the day

One Day Before

• send final info to venue about how many people will need food (about 20% no shows is to be expected)
• If the event is full, send an email about asking people to drop off the list if they're no longer coming

At the Event

• Arrive 15–20 minutes before
• Introduce yourself to the venue host and make sure that people will be let through (security, person at the door etc.) to the room. Ask if they want to say a few housekeeping words at the start (advertising of the company, toilets, fire exit, WiFi ...)
• Check if additional signage is required and if yes add signs to point people to the room
• make sure the food & drink are accessible and labelled for dietary requirements
• make sure the name tags are available and make yourself one (with pronoun). Put the laminated explanations next to them.
• Find the speaker and introduce yourself, ask how they'd like to be announced
• At the official start time, announce the real start time (ca. 15 min later)
• Ask the speaker to get set up

At the unofficial start time

• Give a short introduction of Queer Code London (reason for the group, slack channel, newsletter, how to get involved in organising)
• remind people of the food and to respect peoples pronouns (ask for people to put it on their nametag if they're comfortable)
• Remind both the speakers and attendees about the Code of Conduct and the photo policy
• Ask venue host to do the housekeeping announcements
• Mention about the license raffle (if there is one), create a list where people can enter with the name they have on meetup.com

When handing off to the speaker

• Check to see whether they are set up
• Introduce them
• Ask for a round of applause

After the talk

• facilitate a Q&A.
• Remind people that it's encouraged to code together and ask people if they have any projects they want people to join for the evening (ok if there are none).
• remind people about the time we need to leave the space
• Announce the winner of the raffle
• Close up by thanking everyone

5 minutes before we need to leave

• kindly ask people to get ready to leave and make an effort to leave the venue by the agreed time

Being a Host/Facilitator

• Summing Up:

  • Remind the attendees before the event to update their RSVPs
  • Remind them the above on the day
  • Welcome them into the room at the venue on the day
  • Remind both the speakers and attendees about the Code of Conduct etc...
  • Welcome the speakers, speak to them
  • Make announcements about the talks for the evening
  • During the different times of the evening announce the talks, thank the audience
  • Do raffles and announce winners - when there is one and things like that.