Transcript of an interview with HelenBaby of Sonic London (which has held several successful meetups since 2010), on how to best organise a Sonic the Hedgehog meetup.

1. How much does it cost to host an event?

Meet-ups, as opposed to conventions, can be (and often are) relatively informal events. As a result you can tailor your meet-up to your budget. Some friends of mine (Ben/Rio and Jenny Tablina) organised a pre-Summer of Sonic party at a sports bar in London the year before last with video games (Sonic ones) and everything. There was an entrance fee (as the venue had a per-person minimum charge) and had they not managed to attract the right numbers they would have had to make up the difference out of their own pockets. As things turned out it was a roaring success, however (Mike Pollock even showed up!).

I’m not from a rich background whatsoever, and have been in and out of employment the whole time I’ve been running SonicLondon. As a result I haven’t had the finances to risk ventures like the above (although one day I hope to be in the position to do so). So I’ve played it safe thus far with venues like pubs and parks which have no fee whatsoever.

2. What are the best ways to set up a meet up group (in person, social media, etc.)?

The best way is probably a mix if possible. When I set up SonicLondon I already had a whole bunch of Summer of Sonic attendees and staff (aswell as other random Sonic fans) among my Facebook friends, so just created a group and invited them all. Then when they joined it would show on their wall, and their friends joined. And so on and so fourth…

Facebook’s still a really good way to put something like this together (arguably the best). Forums are also a great place to draw together like-minded people. If you can afford it meetup.com is really good, but the people you’ll attract may end up being more casual fans than longtime community folks.

3. Once a group is set up, what is the best way to spread the word about it, from your experience?

• Facebook (of course)
• Meetup.com
• EventBrite
• Handing out leaflets/business cards at conventions (whenever we’ve done this at Summer of Sonic we’ve always seen a surge in member numbers afterwards
• Word of Mouth. I always make sure to mention SonicLondon whenever I come across a Sonic fan. Its a good way of recruiting.
• Video game event directories (I actually run a UK one at my website 3DSBlessed, where I’d be happy to add any UK events. Not sure which US ones to recommend, just google it and try and get in as many as possible!)

4. What would you say is the best group size before considering a meetup?

Personally I would say 10. You won’t have to wait forever to recruit 10 people, and if there are no-shows on the day you’ll still have a happy little crowd.

5. Once it’s decided to have a meet up, where would you recommend the first meetup be?

Tough question. Here in the UK there’s something of a pub culture, especially when it comes to geeky meet-up groups (talking as someone who’s been to visit a fair few meetup.com groups). I was also aware that there were a lot of Sonic fans who, like me, were in their 20s, so holding it a pub was our natural choice of first venue. I believe in other countries things are a little different though. Also, holding a meet in a venue with age restrictions obviously rules out some of your potential attendees (although SonicLondon is actually 18+ regardless).

Parks are another option. As are arcades. I heard someone at the weekend say they were thinking of hosting a meet at a foodcourt, which I think is an awesome idea…

6. At each meet up, is there any particular method you use to keep the guests entertained so everyone has a good time?

Not really. I used to attend furmeets (the shame!) back in the day, and DS meets more recently, and the onus on them was for the members to mingle and entertain each other. So that’s how I initially ran SonicLondon, and certainly how I will continue to run some meets…

That said, at our 8th meet I bought a few small Sonic prizes from Forbidden Planet, and let staff member Cyburn borrow my deck of Sonic cards. He proceeded to kindly host some games of Blackjack with some of our attendees, which were very well received. At the meet gone by we expanded this so that, in addition to the return of Cyburn’s Blackjack games we also had a handheld corner (with a Sonic Transformed tournament) and an art corner (again with contest). I enjoyed providing the guests with something to do and its something I’d certainly like to do again (although, like I said, perhaps not at every meet).

7. What are the hardest obstacles you’ve faced as an organizer, and how did you overcome them?

(Helen respectfully declined to answer for personal reasons)

8. Any extra thoughts you have on founding meetup groups, hosting meet ups, or anything of the sort?

My advice is: if you’re thinking about it, just go for it. Arranging these Sonic meets has been so worthwhile in so many ways. These include, but are not limited to ;
• Allowing me to see things -from the other side- (like I said before, I attended a lot of meet-up groups, but always wanted to experience things from the organisers’ perspective. And now I have!
• More respect (both in the Sonic community and when attending meet-ups in general)
• Helped me hone my team leadership skills.
• Helped my job prospects (one of my previous jobs, which was a massive leg-up for me, was attained more or less because I had the event management skills I only acquired through running SonicLondon)
• Making new friendships and strengthening old ones. This is the reason I founded the group and is still something I treasure
• I can now say I’ve worked with Sega/Sumo Digital, Nintendo and Capcom (albeit in a small way)
• Allows me to contribute something back to the Sonic community where I’ve met so many awesome people.