Organising A Meeting with PledgeBank

One of the great things about sites like PledgeBank is that they provide a single service and they they do it well enough that it can be bent slightly to serve another purpose. I organise the occasional meeting for techies and one of the few major worries is “what happens if no one turns up?”. It’s not a complex fear but it can result in some sleepless nights.

It’s not even just a case of “will I look like an idiot if this goes wrong?”. If you’ve snagged non-local speakers it can become a major worry. They’ve given their time, often for free, to come down, pay their own travel and deliver a talk. The worst thing that could happen is no one turns up!

This is where pledgebank comes in. I’ve been considering holding some evening meets in London for different tech crowds. They would be short, two talks (45 minutes each with a ten minute break) and then to the pub for food, drink and conversation. Getting the first one off the ground will be difficult because people don’t know if anyone else will go.

I’m thinking of putting up a pledge containing the speakers, topics and location. Put it up two-three months in advance and close it two weeks to a month before the night. If it’s got 20 people do it. If not drop it and try and come up with different topics. It might also be worth setting up some kind of alternate date with a “I’d come to this if it was at the second choice date.” option. The idea’s got some kinks to work out but it seems like a good idea. To me…