Getting People Organized

May 20, 2005 9:53 AM

What is the best time, and day of the week to organize getting a group of people together?

I'm in the process of setting up an ongoing, collaborative project and need to have an initial meeting to get people together. I am in the process of sending out a call to action for the first meeting of the project and am trying to figure out the best day of the week, as well as the best time of day to get a group of peers together. These people may not necessarily know one another, but will probably only have 1 or 2 degrees of seperation between them. Also they will most likely be in their 20s-30s and have an interest in art/design/social issues. The end group would be a like a club or collective. Any ideas?

posted by helvetica to society & culture (18 comments total)

Ask them?
posted by 23skidoo at 10:01 AM on May 20, 2005

Obviously there is no hard and fast rule for meeting times. Ask all of them when they are available to meet, and hopefully there will be some consistent overlap in their free time that can be used for a meeting time.
posted by apple scruff at 10:07 AM on May 20, 2005

Try using the app recommended in this recent ask.mefi question?
posted by vacapinta at 10:11 AM on May 20, 2005

Personally, I like 4 p.m. for meetings like these so I can leave work early and get home at a decent hour. I'm not verbal in the mornings so breakfast is out, and lunches can be hard to manage logistcally.
posted by SashaPT at 10:12 AM on May 20, 2005

Well, I'm going to be sending out the call to action to a large number of people, and also on a couple of related local newsletters. I am pretty sure that people will be passing the message along as well. It would also be during people's free time so I wouldn't want to intrude on regular business hours. Sorry if that wasn't clear.
posted by helvetica at 10:17 AM on May 20, 2005

Tuesday. They've recovered from the shock of Monday and aren't yet thinking about the weekend.
Nine to eleven. They've recovered from breakfast, aren't quite thinking about lunch, and aren't dozing off because of lunch. Nor are they thinking about traffic going home.
posted by IndigoJones at 10:30 AM on May 20, 2005

Sorry, didn't see you were talking about non-work hours. You have my sympathies. I have no advice.
posted by IndigoJones at 10:32 AM on May 20, 2005

If I were going to something like this, I would prefer a weeknight (Monday through Thursday), at about 7 p.m. I would want it to end no later than 9 p.m. This way there's time for a little bit of dinner, and also time to decompress when you get home.

If for some reason weeknights won't work out, then early-ish on a Saturday morning (say 9 or 9:30), so there's still Saturday afternoon left to play in.

I agree a bit with 23skidoo, however -- you're in a much better position to know about these people's habits than we are; can't you take some kind of random sample of preferences? The things I said above are largely based on the fact that I'm not married and don't have children, and easily might not apply to others.
posted by JanetLand at 10:54 AM on May 20, 2005

JanetLand, I think this would probably be the best description:
- Urban
- 20s - early 30s
- Single or Married, probably no-kids
- creative/artistic types
- Most likely public transit users
- interested in cultural and social things

I'd like to make this as simple as possible for people as it's more of a general call to action aimed at a larger group. An app. like the one recommended would make an extra step I would like to avoid for now. However, as things develop and theres more of a core group I think that would be something that could be used.
posted by helvetica at 11:00 AM on May 20, 2005

you need to find out what other regularly scheduled events happen in the area that attract the same people and try not to conflict.

IME, you want right after work--not a gap that gives people time to go home and become unmotivated to go back out or which leaves them not enough time to go home first and still get there on time.
posted by crush-onastick at 11:10 AM on May 20, 2005

I think it depends, in large part, on how late you think it's going to go and where it is going to be (how much travel time on average).
posted by papercake at 11:22 AM on May 20, 2005

I meet the above criteria and I'd be most likely to make it if it was after work without too long of a break (as someone said, 7 pm or so) on a weeknight that was not a Friday. Wednesdays are often the best day for that sort of thing, in my life. On weekends I'd want it at the beginning of the day so I could do my other plans afterwards, but not as early as I'd have to get up for work, so maybe 10 or 11 am.
posted by xo at 11:28 AM on May 20, 2005

I feel like xo is close to the mark. So, what would be more enticing, or less irritating to attend? Pros & Cons?

- Wednesday at 7pm
- Saturday at 11am
posted by helvetica at 11:34 AM on May 20, 2005

if they're public transit users, check the times for your local system. you might find that 7pm leaves people with no way to get home.
posted by andrew cooke at 12:11 PM on May 20, 2005

My book club chose Thursdays at 7 pm, and that seems to work regularly for many of them (women, in 20s and 30s, mostly no kids). It didn't work so well for me because I have to cover the reality shows for MSNBC, and they almost all run Thursday nights, but that's me.

A friend in the same age group has a different book club, and they meet Sundays at like 2 pm.
posted by GaelFC at 1:22 PM on May 20, 2005

Oh, also, if you use evite, it allows you to pick a number of different time/date combos and let invited people vote on the best.
posted by GaelFC at 1:24 PM on May 20, 2005

If it's New York, I would suggest something more like 7.30 or 8 unless you'll be serving dinner. Lots of people, especially in the group you describe, work till 6 or 6.30 and you want to leave them time to eat and take the train.

I'd do a weekday evening before I did a weekend, but that's because I like my weekends wide open and dithering.
posted by dame at 5:28 PM on May 20, 2005

Sunday sunday sunday! There's no other day to do it, and I'm assuming we aren't talking about religious types. And if they're like me, Saturday AM and Sunday AM is for going to the local cafe (usually after waking up around 10 or 11) for breakfast with their s.o.'s or last night's hook-up.

Sunday 4. My friends started an afternoon garden party club and get great turn-out Sundays at 4, because it's the least likely time for anyone to have anything to do. This is L.A. and NYC experience, not Toronto, but I find Sunday afternoons for the urban artistic set are excellent. Besides, what else is there to do on Sundays but finish off the last of the weekend's stash?
posted by incessant at 5:28 PM on May 20, 2005