What's a meet? How do you plan one? Discussion & FAQ.

I've been involved in meets for a long time and used to maintain a meet FAQ on another forum, so I thought I'd start one here. These kinds of things evolve with experience, so consider this just some suggestions to start the discussion with. Feel free to add, comment, throw some haggis at me, or whatever.

What's a meet?
There's all kinds of different meets. From a few friends getting together to hone or shop, to the "Great Shave Event" in Chicago sponsored by Merz Apothecary.

If you're going to a meet

• Post in the thread that you're going.
• Post again in the thread if you change your mind.
• The day of the meet is probably too late to post changes because some members will already be heading towards the meet. If you change your mind, you need another way to notify people.
• Read the thread for any specifics or changes. Keep reading it to keep up to date on any changes. Read it once more just before you leave for the meet for any last minute emergency changes.
• Get a couple of phone numbers through PM, just in case, especially if the meet is moving around town, or if you might be late or absent. People might be waiting for you, and vice verse.
• As a general courtesy, don't post pictures online without permission. This includes people, their homes, or their stuff. Within reason, this courtesy should extend to restaurants, their employees, etc.
• Don't post any personal information, such as your address or phone number, and think twice before publishing any other information. Remember this is a public forum accessible to everyone anywhere.

If you're planning and organizing a meet

• Read the Meet Sticky for the official B&B info about the Gatherings and Get-Togethers forum.
• Decide what kind of meet you want to have
  • Will there be a shopping trip to some shaving stores, or stores and museums for other hobbies?
  • Do you want to do a shaving or honing clinic?
  • Are you planning on a pass around or potlatch?
  • Is it mostly about eating, drinking, and just having fun chatting?
  • Will it be in a single location, perhaps someone's house or a store or hotel?
• Start with an interest check.
  • Propose a few dates and locations, then decide which is best.
  • Propose an agenda or two. If the agenda is informal, feel free to change the small details. If the plan is for something more specific, like a clinic in a shave shop or house, stick to that agenda and follow through. Nothing's more important at this early stage than being focused and narrowing down the choices for time, place, and agenda. If it turns out that you have to change the agenda completely, it's probably better to start a new thread. (But post a memo in the original thread so people don't keep posting on the dead horse.)
  • Do this early enough to work out any schedule issues, and to help set the agenda. You might have someone with a special interest, and can do something interesting, but you need time to discuss this in the thread.
  • Be careful about posting addresses, phone numbers, etc. online. For a large public meeting, you'll probably post information about the place you're meeting. But for smaller meets, think about whether it's safer to keep some things in PM.
• Take a roll call.
  • You want to do this as early as possible, unless you're doing a small, informal 2-5 person impromptu shopping trip.
  • Depending on where you're going, you might need to reserve space ahead of time, or there might be limited space. So you might need a head count or to set space limits.
  • The role call often dictates what kind of meet you have. There's no sense booking space in a hotel for 2 people, or having 50 shavers come over to your small flat. So an early roll call is really part of the interest check, and planning an agenda.
• Plan for a smooth meet.
  • Make sure everyone's clear about the date, time, and location(s).
  • Post an agenda if you're moving around, shopping and eating in different places.
  • Encourage people to exchange phone numbers with at least two other members (through PM). People can be late, emergencies happen, and this also allows for some flexibility in the agenda. If people can contact each other during the day, you can stay in one shop a bit longer, decide to eat in a different place, or change plans due to weather or whatever else happens.
  • Plan a window of time to give people time to show up. There's been a few meets where someone shows up a bit late and had to go home because there was no way to catch up with the group.
• Follow up.
  • At least one person should document the meet in pictures.
  • If you take pictures, pass the pictures around to the members that show up. You can do this privately though PM or email.
  • Decide whether you want to post pictures of people online. Don't post pictures of anyone without their permission--Ask everyone before posting their picture.
  • Post about the meet. Follow up discussion can sometimes be almost as much fun as the meet itself.

For a large organized meet: (More than about 5-8 people)

• Start the interest check at least 6-8 weeks in advance to give people a chance to work out their schedules.
• Propose several alternative dates to avoid conflicts.
• Propose a location and agenda, or a few alternatives.
• If you have too many or too few people, you might need to change the agenda or location, or restrict how many people can come.
• If you're just going to a pub and doing some shopping, the date and place should be fixed 2-4 weeks before the actual meet. Less than that, and you'll end up with a lot of maybes and conflicts.
• If the event is taking place in a shave shop, hotel, or anywhere else that needs a reservation, you'll probably need to fix the date a lot earlier.
• Start a roll call as soon as the date is fixed. You should already have an idea of roughly how many folks are coming while you're doing the interest check.

For a small mini meet or shopping trip:

• Depending on how informal the meet is, you can plan in as little as a day, but 1-2 weeks is better if you're looking for a small crowd.
• Be clear about when & where you're meeting.
• If the meet is in someone's house, decide on some way to notify other members of any emergency cancellations. (Maybe this should apply even if it's not in someone's house.)
• If you're in a a less populated area or one with fewer B&B members, you should probably follow the plan for a large meet.

FAQ
The members make the rules for the meet, so there's no way to answer every question. If you're planning a meet, be prepared to answer these kinds of questions.

• Do you need to be a B&B member to show up?
• Can you bring friends & family? If so, how many, and is there a minimum age?
• Who pays for what? It's bad planning if a poor student shows up and you unexpectedly go to an expensive restaurant that's way out of their price range.

Thanks for the post.
We had our second Denver meet a few months ago.
Since then I’ve met some more DE and straight shavers.
These meets open up the community.