Venue needs
- Wifi
- Outlets
- Presentation screen or wall and projector + appropriate cords
- Audio/video support depending on the size of the event
- A place for your presenters to put their laptop
- Ideally good acoustics
Supplies
- Refreshments + drinks
- Utensils for serving, plates, napkins, cups
- Garbage bags + paper towels
- Sign-in sheet
- Notion swag
- Paper name tags (optional)
Suggestions + guidelines
From our Notion Pro & event organizer at Penn 🙌
In May 2019, a few of us at Penn organized a Notion show and tell — a small gathering of students interested in sharing their experiences with digital productivity tools. We thought it'd be great to see how each of us approached these tools to organize our work, our thoughts and our ideas. After connecting with the Notion community, we saw interest in holding these kinds of events elsewhere, so we've put together this brief guide highlighting our tips for holding such gatherings in the future.
- Find productivity nerds. This is easier than it sounds — we found that having an event literally dedicated to a note-taking productivity app brought them out of the woodwork. A handful of us were in the leap-out-of-your-seat-to-get-the-next-cool-productivity-app category (you know, the ones who procrastinate by downloading and setting up a new email client...); and the rest were curious people along for the ride. Overall, we had about 15 of us and the atmosphere was buzzing.
- Get a nice space! Somewhere where people can comfortably gather around a big screen with snacks is ideal. We had a wonderful lounge space with a kitchen, a big screen TV that people plugged their laptops into, a snack table in the middle, and a circle of couches to lounge in. Try to get HDMI converters so people can plug their devices to the TV/projector without a hassle.
- Kick off the event – set the tone by sharing what brings you all together. One speaker had a great short powerpoint presentation about what motivated him to host the event, and what he hoped to get out of it.
- Introductions – have everyone introduce themselves and share why they came to the event to build a sense of community. Let this go wherever it goes — at our event, we meandered into a group discussion about the ways in which our minds influence our digital systems, and how our digital systems shape the way that we think. This piqued everyone's interest, and got them thinking about the meetup as more than just a "productivity event," but also as a glimpse into the lives and minds of those who were sharing.
- Share away! Some people signed up in advance to share, but more people spontaneously got inspired and wanted to showcase their system in the moment. It's great if there's no minimum on what people need to share – whatever people wanted to showcase was exciting to us!
- Everyone has their own interpretations and ideas they've come up with, and it's really interesting to see the different ways people use the same tool.
- We especially advise that you encourage both novices and power users to share — there shouldn't be any "minimum" experience for sharing, and you'd be surprised about the insights to be gained from very simple workflows!
- Among our highlights were a messenger bot someone had built using Notion's API to record things in a table; journal systems; a startup's knowledge base; and a VC team coordination system.
- Everyone had as long as they needed to share (usually not more than a few minutes), and people asked questions afterwards about different aspects of the system.
Overall, we had a fantastic experience hosting a Notion-inspired meetup. Everyone left with new ideas and a renewed vigor to organize their digital life. We definitely recommend organizing an event if you're a Notion fan looking for inspiration and connection!
Wrap up! 🙏🏼
Be sure to follow the guides on post-event promotion. You never know when this group will want to convene again, or where these connections might go.