Venue needs
- Wifi
- Outlets
- A restroom
- Tables and chairs arranged so everyone can participate
Supplies
- Food + drink
- Plates + cups
- Utensils for eating + utensils for serving
- Garbage bags + paper towels
- Paper schedules
- Sign-in sheet
- Notion swag
- Paper name tags
Roadmap 🚗
Two hours is a good amount of time for this. Decide whether to split people up into breakout groups by topic or host one big group for a facilitated conversation on several topics. We've drafted guides for both below.
Breakout groups:
When you invite people, ask anyone who RSVPs what they'd like to discuss. Use their responses to choose topics for group discussions. Ask passionate respondents if they want to moderate!
Topic suggestions by discipline 🎣
- Notion for students
- Notion for engineers
- Notion for product designers
- Notion for personal use
- Notion for team management
- Notion for product managers
- Notion for entrepreneurs
Topics suggestions by interest 🦊
- Task management systems - how folks built them and how they work
- Helpful templates - people can share what might be useful for others
- Tips and tricks - hacks, workarounds, or ideas people have really enjoyed
- Notion for work - how people's companies use Notion, helpful workflows, etc.
- Personal wikis - how people have structured their personal notes and work
- Icons & cover photos - share custom icons or images to beautify Notion pages
- Integrations - tools are people excited to build when Notion has an API and Zapier integration
- Self improvement - how folks use Notion for journaling or other habit formation
- Show & tell - volunteers walk through through an interesting system or page built in Notion
Arrive 45 minutes early.
Have your moderators arrive early, but after you've set up the food, utensils, waste bins, etc. Provide paper schedules for them for breakout groups so they don't have to check their devices for the schedule when other people in their groups are speaking.
Brief your moderators before the event.
Assign different topics to different parts of the venue + know where they'll go. If you're confident beforehand, making signs isn't a bad idea!
People tend to arrive early!
Set out the sign in sheet + name tags 20 min. before the event starts. Minimal, clean design always helps this type of thing look professional ✨Here's a Notion logo to use:
As soon as you have critical mass, start with a round of introductions.
Recommend "tweet-sized" intros so people keep it short and sweet. Otherwise you can eat up a lot of time. Here are some ice breaker questions:
- Name?
- Where are you living?
- What do you do for work?
- Favorite thing to do for fun?
- Favorite Notion feature?
Ask people to split into groups.
- Introduce the moderators.
- Have them provide a very quick description of what their discussions is about and what people are going to learn or be able to show off.
- Have moderators lead the charge to their corner of the venue.
- People can grab food on their way to these breakout groups.
- If one moderator doesn't get critical mass, announce to the whole group that it happens all the time, no sweat 😅and that moderator should just join another group.
- Depending on how much time you have, break your time into two discussion sessions and have people switch to learn about a different topic.
Wrap up!
Make sure to stick to a schedule! As the host, consider walking around and giving moderators a 5 minute warning before their session ends.
Try to catch people on their way out and ask them how their session went, what they learned, etc. Consult the guide on post-event promotion.
Single discussion format:
When attendees RSVP for your event, ask them what they'd like to learn or discuss with other Notion users. Use their responses to devise a "topic menu" with three subjects that you can bring up during the event to spark conversation. Consider asking a few attendees who are especially passionate to moderate the topics you select.
Arrive 30 minutes early.
Set up the food, waste bins, or any other venue or comfort requirements. Ask any moderators other than yourself to arrive early as well to help and review the plan.
Brief your moderators before the event
Make sure everyone is on the same page about what part of the conversation they are driving. Share some best practice guidelines with them:
- Ask open questions about the topic at hand.
- If someone is talking for too long, gently interrupt them to say we have limited time and want to make sure everyone is contributing.
- Ask for people to show off their own setups whenever possible.
- Summarize best practices or tips that surface during the conversation so people can take away clear advice and recommendations.
People tend to arrive early!
Set out the sign in sheet + name tags 20 min. before the event starts. Minimal, clean design always helps this type of thing look professional ✨Here's a Notion logo to use:
Ask people to get food and sit down as they come in so that you save time later.
As soon as you have critical mass, start with a round of introductions.
Recommend "tweet-sized" intros so people keep it short and sweet. Otherwise you can eat up a lot of time. Here are some ice breaker questions:
- Name?
- Where are you living?
- What do you do for work?
- Favorite thing to do for fun?
- Favorite Notion feature?
Explain the rules and goals of the event.
- We want everyone to leave the room having learned something new or feeling inspired about what they can do with Notion.
- We're super supportive of creativity and the maker mentality. People should feel free to share whatever it is they're proud of building. No hard and fast rules.
- Be respectful of time and other people. Be mindful of how long you're speaking so we can make sure everyone who wants to contribute gets a chance.
- Let's ideate together! Don't be shy about asking questions or pitching ideas.
Kick off the discussion.
- Briefly go over the three topics on the menu for the evening and how they were selected.
- Introduce the moderators.
- Hand over the discussion to the moderator of the first topic.
- Have them kick off the discussion by ideally showing off their own workspace or explaining why the topic has significance to them. This will encourage others to share.
- Keep an eye on the time so you can cover all topics (unless people are really excited to stick with one). Always ask, "Are folks okay with moving on?"
- I.e. if you have 1.5 hours budgeted, each of three topics could be a 30-minute conversation.
- If attendees demo something complex, try to unpack how they built it.
- Have fun! This doesn't have to be serious or formal. Don't feel stuck to a schedule. You can adapt as people's interest levels demand :)
Wrap up!
Consider budgeting 20-30 minutes at the end of people to mingle and chat now that they know each other. Try to catch people on their way out and ask them how their session went, what they learned, etc. Consult the guide on post-event promotion.