Co-organizers

The more the merrier! Recruiting co-organizers can also

  • help you share the load
  • let each organizer pick tasks they prefer (as opposed to one person having to do it all)

Where and how to recruit co-organizers?

If you’re lucky, a member of the chapter will volunteer on their own. 😁 Sometimes, though, folks need more encouragement.

  • If you have someone in mind, talk to them directly. Think of what being an organizer represents to you so that you can tell them that. 😉

  • Have a call to organizers e.g. at the beginning of events. Prepare materials (a slide?) and provide a process for interested folks to talk to current organizer(s) to better understand the commitment.

  • If you have a form for asking questions to new members, ask them whether they’d consider becoming an organizer so that they at least know it’s a possibility.

  • Maybe you will randomly meet your co-organizers at a conference! (when in-person events are a thing again, or in the break-out rooms of an online conference)

  • In all cases try to think of how to diversify your team. (We welcome tips!) It might come with diversifying who attends the meetups, by promoting events in different places than usual?

You can point people who hesitate to jump on board to the intro chapter for organizers.

If some people are happy to help without committing, it’s already a great progress for you. Remind them regularly they could become an official organizer. 😉

How to onboard organizers?

  • before a volunteer commits as an organizer, an idea might be to have them host (i.e. organize) one or a few meetups (be careful to acknowledge their work although they’re not an official organizer (yet)!) — see Meetup docs about the “event organizer” role;

  • after that, register them as organizers

    • on meetup and
    • at the global level (guidance in flux) to have them access your chapter email address; get invited to the organizers slack.
    • Locally, make sure to give them access to the needed tools/services e.g. Tweetdeck access to Twitter.

  • Point them to this guide (and tell them any feedback is welcome).

How to organize team work?

  • You might assign roles to organizers e.g. one would be in charge of social media for instance;
  • Or task assignment can be more flexible. Organizers will probably volunteer to do things that play to their strenghts. You can have a rotation system for some tasks like Twitter and Meetup management.

Regarding Meetup roles, all organizers should have the organizer role on Meetup.

Chapter governance

There is no rule around the governance within your local chapter but we encourage you to be welcoming of other volunteers.

R-Ladies NYC has a formal governance structure with a board.