Getting tech & non-tech people to hang out

The Characters

Ivan has been organizing meetups around social good and social tech for a while Rebecca has done non-tech organizing and tech organizing, but hasn't been able to combine the two yet

The Notes

• Ivan's strategies:
  • in the event description, say what each segment of the audience will get out of the event.
  • make it explicit that everyone will get something out of the event, and that different skill sets are welcomed
  • getting tech people in the room:
    • needing sponsors led to having conversations with tech groups
    • generalized, remember to network with tech groups as well as nonprofits!
  • have a "no question is too stupid" policy
  • have a question parking lot
• It's probably easiest to do this kind of event when the event is for casual tech users
  • a lot of Ivan's events were about how to choose products, not about the actual tech specs
  • Rebecca's group splits up their weekly hack nights so there are 3 hack nights and 1 non-tech discussion night
  • ask what the goals of the event is (because you're doing social good, so you probably have a lot of goals)