Hosting Multiverse's Largest Meet-up | by Finlay Knott

Why I hosted a Meetup

I remember becoming part of the Multiverse Community and being eager to attend the Multiverse events that were mentioned. I thought that they sounded great as they provided me with an opportunity to meet new people and also explore and find new places in London! However, I noticed that there were not that many that appealed to me.

Instead of dwelling upon this, I took it upon myself to be the change. I never attended a meetup before as I was only a couple of weeks into my apprenticeship. Luckily my coaches sent me an email with an upcoming event that we might be interested in. It was a thought leadership breakfast hosted by Multiverse which actually did sound really engaging and I thought it would be a great opportunity to meet some new people. After the event, Daisy (the Events Manager) asked us to reach out if we were interested in hosting a meetup. 

I thought about it for a couple of days, and the main concerns that I had were "What if it’s a failure?" and "Will I have the capacity to do this?"

I am a major overthinker, so in addition to those thoughts, I went down this spiral of thinking of every possible situation. Once I noticed that the situations were completely unrealistic, I just bit the bullet and reached out to Daisy to see what I needed to do to get started. She was very clear about what I needed to produce and research. I then started doing research and prepared a deck to be shared with her. I set up a call with her to walk her through what I had done. As this was my first time and I did not know what necessarily worked best with venues, I wanted to present as many options as I could, and then let her feedback guide what I chose.

My favourite thing about hosting a Meetup

I would say the feelings I experienced and learnt from. I enjoyed the process of curating this Multiverse meetup from start to finish. I knew that I had to stay persistent and on top of every aspect of producing the event. If I fell behind, the event could have ended up quite bland and I would have been disappointed in myself for my poor execution. I found the research process a little challenging. It was nothing strenuous but since I’m very picky and want everything to be perfect, the venue had to have the right vibe and be somewhere where everyone could get to. This meant sticking relatively central or somewhere with good transport links.

During the pre-event planning and the event going live on the Community Hub, I definitely felt nervous at first, thinking that it was going to be a failure and nobody was going to sign up once it went live. Shortly after it went live, I had a look to see if it was there; then got scared to look at it for a couple of days as I was expecting no response. Once I gathered the courage to take a look, I saw that, to my surprise, it was doing rather well! So I was excited for things to get rolling and for the event to take place. I was totally overwhelmed when Daisy let me know that the event was fully booked on the Hub and I received additional emails from people asking me to come along. I was not expecting a response like this at all!

The Evening of the Event

On the evening of the event, I definitely felt the nerves. I thought nobody would turn up and thought that it would be a failure! I had a couple of my colleagues sign up without me telling them I was hosting the event, so I was excited to travel with them and have them for moral support. 

As expected, I did have a couple of (3 or so) last-minute dropouts on the day, so my mood turned a little glum initially. However, this was quickly reversed when people started to turn up at the meetup point in Canary Wharf and started talking to each other. It made me feel proud as I was facilitating this event where people were being so kind to each other. At that point, I felt almost like the guardian of the group, making sure that I was saying hello to everyone, thanking them for coming, and also making sure to catch their name. I was physically present but not mentally present as my mind was making up this mental checklist for me to lead the meetup successfully. I was also having to be very alert on my phone as people were messaging and calling me. 

An issue that I soon found out about is that there were two entrance/exit points to where I said to meet and that my friends and I were at a point where no one else seemed to be. I thought that making the meeting point the Canary Wharf entrance to the Elizabeth Line would be suitable as it would be easy to find due to the significant signage. This turned out to be not the case which stressed me out a bit but I did not let this feeling weigh down on me as I wanted to be able to enjoy my time. I finally felt settled once we all started making our way to the bar. The event was a walk along the Crossrail Gardens followed by drinks at the bar. Once my phone calmed down and I knew that everyone was there, I was able to really enjoy the event.

Looking Back 

Post-event, I felt extremely satisfied with the outcome as I had people saying how great of an event it was and asking me when the next one would be! I had to reconcile the event with Daisy by submitting a Google form and then once I pressed submit, I had a feeling of huge relief. All my hard work was a success and I was motivated to do another one due to the sheer success of the initial meetup.

Next time, I think I’m going to do a little more thorough Google Maps searching for a more concise meeting point, something a little more obvious! Daisy emailed me after the meetup and let me know that (number-wise)  it was the most successful meetup that Multiverse had ever had, which took me by shock! I was stunned and met with the most unexpected feeling of success. It was a bit strange to process as it was something so fresh to me and I was this successful already. To say the least, I experienced a range of emotions and that made me learn a lot from hosting my own event! I’ve never done anything of the sort so I have learnt a lot from this experience!

What I gained from hosting a Meetup

There have been multiple elements that I took hold of from the experience of facilitating a meetup however the ones that stick out the most are the Confidence, Experience, Friends and Support that I gained.

• Confidence: As I mentioned before, I had a lot of self-deprecating thoughts during the leading process, but coming out of the event, I realised how radical they were. I wanted to do more and was no longer afraid. The only reason that an event could fail is if not a single soul comes, which is extremely unlikely. So after finally coming to that realisation, I wanted to host more as I feel like I am able to procure a space where everyone is comfortable.
• Experience: I now have the experience of being able to facilitate an event of around 30 people, which is great! I was able to take this into my role to be able to be more hands-on with event production, which is great. Also who doesn't love a little cheeky LinkedIn post showcasing what you've done?
• Friends: Everyone at the event was so lovely and I got the chance to make some great friends and for everyone to meet some great people. You do feel a little spark within for being the person who makes that happen.
• Support: Daisy was so supportive along the way and then I was able to pass that support on to one of my friends/colleagues. I received a message from them saying that after attending my event, they wanted to do one of their own! I was then able to support them in their event by being there and helping them to understand what to expect pre & post-event.

The advice I would give to those interested in hosting a Meetup 

I would say just do it. Explore that curious side and don’t be afraid to try something new. There's nothing to lose in this process. If you struggle in the process, Daisy and the team at Multiverse will be there to support you no matter what issue you’ll be facing.

In the process, you might experience some imposter syndrome and feel like your event will not be appealing, but I guarantee you that once you overcome these fears, the end result will be thoroughly rewarding. Most importantly, enjoy the process and have fun with it. 

Would you like to host your own meetup? Click here for more details.

Finlay Knott is pursuing a Digital Marketing apprenticeship at Google and is based in Kent, UK.