

Ask YC:  Would HN readers be interested in a HN events site? - iamelgringo

So, I run the hackers and founders meetup here in Silicon Valley every couple of weeks. People really seem to like getting together and having a beer with fellow HN readers:  http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=566583<p>I've noticed that it can be really hard to get something like that launched, unless you can get your announcement on the front page of HN.<p>While that works for larger metro areas, like SV or the recent HN gathering in NYC, smaller areas like Padova, Italy it can be a bit challenging to get a HN meetup off the ground: http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=566583<p>I own the domain www.hackersandfounders.com.  Currently it just points to the Hackers and founders Meetup page, but I've been toying with the idea of building a Craigs list style community meetup listing.  Would the HN community be interested in something like that?<p>I'd love to hear your thoughts.
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dbul
Would it be too much work to also have a listing of everyone's startup? I've
thought about scraping profile pages or simply allowing people to freely add
their information.

I know TechCrunch has this sort of thing, but there is a lot of clutter and
also it would be nice to have, say, 50 listings on one page with brief
information about each.

How could you avoid clutter? Tie it into HN so that when a user who is
associated with the startup earns karma, their listing gets placed higher.

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tptacek
Starting 2 years ago, every month or so all the security people in Chicago
meet up at a bar (usually Hopleaf). Our turnout started around 15, and now
tops out 40-50. The idea has since spread to NYC, San Francisco (I made it out
to a BaySec last month), and Boston.

There are already Ruby and Python users groups in Chicago, but I can't bring
myself to go watch a presentation about coding when I could be playing with my
kids, drinking, or both.

If there were a casual hacking/startup meetup in Chicago, I'd definitely go.
If there was a site to coordinate one, I'd participate. I've gotta believe
there are more startup people in Chicago than there are security people.

~~~
sachinag
For Thomas: there are some; they all end up dying. The Jelly bar nights are
the closest to one, but they're very high on freelancers.

~~~
brm
Adding to that here's a few things we've learned about hosting good meetups
from starting Jelly in Chicago...

Consistency is #1 - have it on a consistent day and time at the same place
every time you do it, especially in the beginning. Its easier to spread it by
word of mouth this way and easier to catch people who just show up because
they heard about it

Having it in a public place with the possibility of food and drink is
incredibly important

Do not publicize it to anyone but your friends and acquaintances, keeping it
to people you know is a good group filter. The way it grows is everyone who
comes invites their friends too and you meet their friends, friends of friends
etc...its a simple quality filter that can grow very quickly. friends vouching
for something is the best way to verify that its worth your time as well. To
this end, twitter is easily the most useful tool for this type of meetup (this
may be a chicago thing as all sorts of people flock to any event on the radar
since we only have a few)

That said, welcome everyone who shows up.

NO PITCHING NO SELLING, HAVE FUN, good business relationships come from people
you know and like not people you sell too and trade cards with

Have the meetup even if only you and one other person show up and keep having
it, people will come eventually and even if they dont you still hung out with
a friend for a while. People get discouraged if you let the meetup lapse. A
new person showing up to zero people will have a negative reaction but showing
up and meeting 2 people makes it a worthwhile night for them. Meetups are like
startups, sometimes in the beginning you just have to do it even though no one
seems to care or be paying attention, hang out with smart/good people and the
word will start to spread

~~~
tptacek
Two conflicting takes:

* We don't set a hard and fast date (although we try to keep the time and place regular). NYSEC does a "second Tuesday of the month" thing; there's more security people in NYC, but our attendance is often 2x theirs. What we do instead is a mailing list and a website, and we poll the group members about what the best date is. 8 months in, we switched from Thursdays to Wednesdays, for instance, and got a significant boost in attendance.

* We publicize. Why wouldn't we? Sure, you want good people there, but the idea that there even is a "group filter" is a deterrant to newcomers. And what's more important than a group filter is attendance.

I actually _don't_ think showing up and meeting only two people makes it a
good experience for a newcomer; I think it ensures that newcomer isn't coming
back next time. Better to skip a month or two than risk new people having that
experience.

~~~
brm
i should add that its important to determine what the people who start the
group want from it in the first place... ever been to a tech cocktail, silicon
prairie social, or social media camp event? The lack of quality interaction
that exists there is one of the reasons we choose not to go crazy with
publicizing

second tuesday of the month or whatever meets the consistency principle, note
that you didn't switch until the event was established

the number of people needed to make it worthwhile depends entirely on the
frequency with which you have the event

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mtw
I'm doing startupdrinks and freehackers in Montreal, Canada

there's a website where people can register and see upcoming events
<http://techentreprise.com/Montreal/events>

there's also local version for major tech hubs.

imho, the events are very easy to get off the ground (although I'm not the
typical user case, since I had montrealtechwatch which had a big readership
base)

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carlosrr
Me and my friends created groupieguide.com for managing these kind of things.
We would be more than happy to help setup something like this.

~~~
iamelgringo
Ping me, let's talk and set something up.

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rmason
I think its a great idea! I know that I'd be willing to travel a distance if I
only knew about these events ahead of time.

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khangtoh
With every other site that is releasing their API, I think it's time HN News
release it's own API.

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mkramlich
I'd be interested in something in the Denver/Boulder area. In fact I'll
volunteer to help organize something. I do agree with tptacek's view that the
key is to be as casual as you can, while still keeping the cats somewhat
slightly herded.

~~~
silas
Let me know if you get something together; I'd be interested in a Denver meet.

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lucumo
Definitely in favour of that!

Also, it would be nice if it got linked from the front page, like the green
icon and "Search HN".

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garply
Yes. Maybe you could add a poll to this thread?

~~~
iamelgringo
Sorry, too late.

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Tichy
Just make sure you also twitter about the events, because I am not going to
check out another web site on a regular basis.

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h34t
I migrate between Calgary and Kelowna and Vancouver. Would definitely be
interested in something like this.

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catch23
how about holding them near public transportation? (ie caltrain) There were
times I wanted to go, but sometimes they were just a bit too far.

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geuis
Actually, I think its a great idea. You were talking about this at the last
H&F meetup I think.

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kunqiana
anyone in Waterloo Canada?

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DTrejo
Yes.

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TweedHeads
Sounds ineresting.

It is time for HN to grow far beyond news aggregation.

Startups database and events would be great additions.

