How to organize a monthly-event in GDG Istanbul?

We want to tell you how is the process of organizing a monthly-event in GDG Istanbul. You can follow these steps and also you can tell us about your negative/positive feedback. Let’s look together now. 😀

Step 1: Setting of Date
First of all, you should choose a date at least three weeks ago from the event. This period of time is the best duration to be able to set the event location, find your speakers and make social media announcements.

We really pay attention to organize our monthly events every 3rd Saturday of each month as long as possible. This both simplifies our work and provides consistency.

Step 2: Search for the meetup place

After the date is decided, you should contact the institutions/companies that want to support you. If you send the details of what you want to organize, they will probably respond to you positive/negative. If you want to organize a technology-focused event, it will be your best decision to contact firstly the companies in the technology sector.

You should take care not to do step 1 and step 2 at different times, you should do these steps at most 1–2 days interval. Again, as stated in the first step, it is important to organize the activity in the places where activity has been performed previously for consistency. If the place is not suitable, they should be selected the central points that everyone can easily reach.

Many companies/institutions such as Dome Istanbul, Garanti Partners, Kworks, Habita and Orange Lab have provided long-term support to us and most of them continue to support.

Step 3: Find the speaker | choose | invite

First of all, it is necessary to form a speaker application form and keep this form open every time. If you can not make the event you aimed with applications on the form, at this point, you need to reach to possible speakers. You can invite people who are experts in the field and who are doing good work instead of being a recognized person in the sector. One of the goals of the monthly events is giving the people opportunity of improving themselves on public speaking. For this reason, new speakers are welcomed.

It is ideal for 2 or 3 speakers for an event. The talk topics should be as similar as possible. When there are two different presentations like Android and iOS, the participants can be divided into two groups. Therefore, it is very important to have a single focus on both the participant and the speaker.

As GDG Istanbul, you can take a look at Meetup to see how we group.

Step 4: Event announcement

You can use some sites/apps to get registration such as Meetup, Eventbrite. It is very important to announce the event registration form/link that you have created from social media accounts such as Facebook, Twitter, Linkedin. In addition, it would be useful to share the event link with your followers who are in your mail list. At this point, you should be a little careful because if you send too many e-mails to people, they can unsubscribe from your mail list. 😊

How to create GDG ISTANBUL announcements?

• Firstly, the social media announcement is made 2–3 weeks ago.
• Mailing is done 2 weeks before the event day.
• A week before the event, announcements are made through social media.
• The event location is shared one day before the event.
• A social media announcement like “We are ready for XX XX event” is held a few hours before the event.

Extra: If your event requires specific information, you should get the information of the participants through the platform or form. In this case, the event can be shaped according to the participants.

Extra 2: We use Buffer application for making announcements because Buffer is a simpler and easier way to schedule posts, track the performance of your content, and manage all your accounts in one place.

Step 5: Recording of presentations and photos
a) Recording: during the event, you can record presentations video and share them on YouTube. So you will have reached the people who can not come to the event.

b) Event photos: You can create a photos album at the beginning of the event, make short link, and then you can announce the participation at the beginning of the event. In addition, you should give access to participants for add photos to event albums.

As GDG İstanbul we use bitly.com for short link.

c) Feedback Form: At the closing of the event, you can create a short feedback form. You can also get a short link (like gdg.ist/subat18-fb) and get feedback from the participants. These feedbacks show our mistakes and you can try to make it better thanks to feedback. Participants are more likely to fill out the form if you do not necessarily ask for personal information such as name, e-mail or phone number.

Sample Feedback Form

d) Use of social media during the event: it is very important to take photographs and share on social media during presentations.

e) Sharing of event-report: After the event is over, you should also publish a report via social media within 3–5 days.

We are sharing the event report via Medium and website of gdgistanbul.com

The following should be in the event-report;

• Plenty of photos with participants
• Speakers, their presentations and social media accounts
• A short comment about the event opinion
• Links such as photos, feedback form, slack link that are shared in the event.

Try to organize social activities at least twice a year. 😎

As GDG Istanbul we are trying to organize an event in this format. Please give feedback to us at the points where you think we are wrong.

With the hope of seeing you at the next event. !