NYC Instameet Summary
Brian DiFeo
I am @bridif and I hosted the NYC Instameet at the coworking space that I manage. While I am not even close to some of the very talented NYC photographers, I have had the pleasure of personally knowing a few of them and together we had a very successful event. I like to be involved in community cultivation, and therefore I am working with a few other IG New Yorkers to grow the NYC group.
First, I hosted my event at a coworking space, check if there is one in your city because it is where a lot of creatives (and iPhone owners :) work and hang out. Our space is very centrally located as well, which made it easy to attend. Second, the tips given by Morgan @grether from Portland Oregon were nearly exactly what we did. A lot of people RSVP'ed for the Meetup and there was a long conversation about the event there. We were very active with answering questions that people had before the event, which demonstrates that there are motivated people to organize it and might have encouraged others to attend because of that. But more importantly, Morgan's tip to use hashtags and the location option to find other active IG users was the most important factor. We created the tags instagramNYC and instameetNYC to reach out to people and encourage them to participate. If you go on the app and engage with people in real conversations, they'll be interested in taking IG to the next level, to meet up and to join a community. Keep looking via hashtags for people in your city!
For our actual event, we had a good hour of mingling and everyone chipped in for pizza and drinks. Some people brought cookies and cupcakes too. We had a projector up and I got users that wanted to present 5 pictures to email me their images. It is a little tricky though because I am not, nor did I want to be, a photo editor! However it was a nice cross section of users: from pros who are using IG to show their work to beginners who learned they have a creative side because of the feedback that they had been getting from strangers on IG. A great Q&A followed where people shared tips, apps, etc.
We are currently developing a scavenger hunt to be a part of our next event. This is what we are thinking: have everyone meet around 6pm and then divide up in to teams. Select a specific hashtag for everyone, and assign a clever hashtag name for each group, then have a series of fun assignments - like take a picture of a certain car, type of person, location, etc. After an hour, we'll all meet up at the coworking space again and use the projector to view everyone's submissions. There maybe some sort of prize like a giftcard to itunes or iphone cases... My fellow NYers and I are currently trying to figure out the final plan for this. We had thought of a photowalk but since the group is probably going to keep growing, it would be too crazy to have 75 people walking around together!
Just to repeat, the key is to engage your community on the app, in my opinion. Since Thursday, I have noticed all these people are now talking to each other on the app - it has been great to see. We also created a Facebook group which has had a lot of activity.
I look forward to hearing more about your experiences and efforts!
Brian
Brian DiFeo
Community Manager - Hive at 55
55 Broad St, 13th Floor
New York, NY 10004
646.556.6805
www.hiveat55.com
www.downtownny.com
________________________________________
From: inst...@googlegroups.com [inst...@googlegroups.com] On Behalf Of Hotmail [renatamo...@hotmail.com]
Sent: Monday, March 21, 2011 6:11 PM
To: inst...@googlegroups.com
Subject: Re: Instameet SP (Mar 24)
Good idea, Chris!! Thanks! I have also shared the info w/ some local opinion leaders (mainly bloggers, trendsetters & havy-users) Hope that can land us a hand and help us spreading the news on the meeting's agenda & stuff. Let's see :) I keep you posted. Cheers!! Renata
Sent from my iPhone
On 21/03/2011, at 18:37, Chris Prakoso <braja...@gmail.com<mailto:braja...@gmail.com>> wrote:
Renata,
For us in London, I created a separate IG account @instameetlondon, you can create for yours too. I think it would be good as a reference point for this event and the future ones.
Chris
On Mon, Mar 21, 2011 at 6:34 PM, Renata Monte Alegre <<mailto:renatamo...@hotmail.com>renatamo...@hotmail.com<mailto:renatamo...@hotmail.com>> wrote:
Thanks for your replay, Chris!
Great, I have created an invitation and posted it at Instagram, Facebook and Flickr... Would you suggest any other community and/or initiative?
And again, many tks for your thoughts and good luck for you as well!
Rgds, Renata
________________________________
Date: Mon, 21 Mar 2011 10:06:24 +0000
Subject: Re: Instameet SP (Mar 24)
From: <mailto:braja...@gmail.com> braja...@gmail.com<mailto:braja...@gmail.com>
To: <mailto:inst...@googlegroups.com> inst...@googlegroups.com<mailto:inst...@googlegroups.com>
Renata,
Nice to hear that you will have something there too.
I would suggest to create an Instameet invitation (don't forget that there is a contest for that ;)), and start posting it to your followers, asking them to repost it.
I assume also that you've already chosen the venue for the Meetup :)
Ok, Good Luck from London!
Chris
On Sun, Mar 20, 2011 at 11:56 PM, Renata Monte Alegre <<mailto:RenataMo...@hotmail.com>RenataMo...@hotmail.com<mailto:RenataMo...@hotmail.com>> wrote:
Hi there! I am helping to put together the very first #Instameet in
Sao Paulo on 3/24... Things are still in the very beginning at this
point but any help, tips or thougths that you can share will be
greatly appreciated! In the same way, I am planning to keep you posted
on our local experience as it unfolds...
Rgds & many thanks in advance,
Renata
IG profile = @coisapakka