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447. How to Start an Airbnb Host Meetup (And Why You Should!)

 [00:00:00]

Introduction and Weekly Listener Highlight

Sarah Karakaian: Hello, welcome back to another great [00:01:00] episode. My name is Sarah Karakaian.

Annette Grant: I’m Annette Grant and together we are Thanks for visiting.

Sarah Karakaian: Let’s start this episode like we do each and every week. And then a sharing one of you, our incredible listeners who’s heading on over to strshare. com, sharing everything you can about your short term rental.

So we can celebrate you here on the podcast and on our Instagram account on Sundays. Annette, who are we sharing this week?

Property Spotlight: Throwback Surfshack

Annette Grant: We are sharing at Throwback Surfshack. What I love about this property, for those of you that are buying a home that needs maybe a little bit of rehab and you’re trying to pick and choose, like maybe, maybe most of us have a budget, the Throwback Surf Shack did an excellent job.

I can tell in their bathroom they have some of that old pink tile that a lot of people would just chuck and get rid of. No, they kept it. They leaned into it. They upgraded. Some new stuff, but kept that. I also see they have some like wood paneling walls, but again, they brought that into this [00:02:00] throwback surf shack.

So think about when you’re rehabbing, what are some things that you could keep and lean into? But I can tell they were like, you know what? We got to redo the whole kitchen. So they spent the money there and I’m sure once they did the kitchen, they were like, all right. What else can we keep that really? we could lead into.

So I think that’s a nice job of keeping some of those retro elements, maybe helping their budget. And if it wasn’t to help their budget, cause I love it. Good for you also, but check it out. They’ve done a nice job of keeping those elements there. And I love the front door color, so make sure to check it out.

Other thing I really, I want to share, they have some lifestyle photos. I want you to go through their Instagram feed and see how they’ve done, um, some lifestyle photos woven throughout also. I know people are trying to do some more of those shoots at their home and this will be a good, uh, place for inspiration.

Starting Your Own Meetup: Why and How

Sarah Karakaian: All right, let’s head into today’s episode [00:03:00] and it is about starting your own meet up in your own community. If you want to be the leader in your community for short term rentals, and you might want this for, um, a variety of reasons. Maybe you want to create a trusted network for partnerships or vendors, or you want to network with people who might want to sell you their property, or maybe you want to sell Maybe you’re a co host

looking for clients.

There are so many reasons why becoming a leader For short term rentals in your community could be beneficial and We’re gonna share a little story about how Annette and I did this very thing But we see some of you out there wanting to step up wanting to be leaders wanting to be the go to Experts in your not only in your community, but beyond and we’ve been there and we want to share everything we know

Annette Grant: Yeah, we’ve hosted a ton of these meetups.

So we just want to give you the how to step by [00:04:00] step

Sarah Karakaian: Annette, let’s go down memory lane. Yes. And reminisce about meetup that we hosted.

Annette Grant: It was. So fun. It really was game changing for us.

Our Meetup Journey: Pre-COVID Success

Annette Grant: We started this meetup and this is pre COVID. Uh, so we are, you know, we’re taking 2018, 2018, 2019, and. We literally were like, we want to meet more hosts. We want to be the go to people. We want to know all the hosts. We want to be a positive impact in the community.

And we were like, how can we meet and connect with as many hosts as possible? Because, you know, you can’t go out there and try to like, I mean, there’s some Facebook groups and stuff. And we were like, but we want to actually get to know them. We want to meet in person. We want to learn from each other and.

We went to meetup. com and invested in, uh, there is a small investment there, but we decided that we wanted to start our own meetup here in Columbus. And it [00:05:00] was awesome.

Sarah Karakaian: Let me go over some of the other, other reasons why it was important for me to host a meetup. I just moved to Columbus, Ohio, and I wanted to meet new people and meeting people who do what you like to do.

And talk about what you like to talk about. Obviously, like, isn’t that what makes a great friendship? Is that you have common, uh, interests. And I knew that doing short term rentals, Airbnbs, was going to be my full time focus. And so, I got to meet, I mean, I was trying to build a co hosting business so I could meet new clients there.

Also, it was around this time that our community, our Columbus, Ohio was considering putting on some pretty strict regulations to short term rentals. We were all in support of fair regulations, but we knew that if we could get the Airbnb community together.

Annette Grant: Harness the power of the group.

Sarah Karakaian: Yes. And start talking about, Hey, cause a lot of people aren’t active in their local government and it can be scary [00:06:00] and overwhelming, but we knew if we can get everyone together and kind of introduce them with pizza and soda and like a bar, right, like that. It’s not so scary. It isn’t that we can actually speak up and be responsible hosts in our community, but also fight for our right to host responsibly. So I just think there are so many layers to why being a leader and hosting a meetup could be beneficial to any of you out there.

Annette Grant: And we met. We still have so many good friends that we met during that meetup that we We still hang out with, we go on vacation with, but the biggest thing too, is like, we were, there were new people coming to the meetup that had never hosted.

So it was also a way for us to help new hosts figure out, did they really want to become Airbnb hosts? And I’m just telling you that, um, we were blown away with how many people attended, um, all of our meetups. It was standing room only, and we’re not going to lie. It was nerve, it was nerve wracking in the beginning.

Sarah Karakaian: And it was work.

Annette Grant: And it was work. And we did have to invest. So we invested, it was [00:07:00] like 50 for meetup. com. We invested our own money to buy the said, uh, pizza and soda that we, that Sarah was talking about. But we were lucky enough to have a local host who had an event venue, uh, that’s a pro tip for you. If you can find a host that also has a venue, they donated the venue to us, which really was a game changer for getting the meet up off the ground.

Sarah Karakaian: I want to bring up a small controversial aspect of this story that I think will be helpful for any of you out there. There was already. So when I moved here, I joined a Facebook group for local hosts. And I, listen, you guys, if you don’t know me by now, I am a go getter.

I like to be bossy. I like to be the leader. I like to be in charge. I like to take action. Actually, more than any of those things, I like to take action. I like to be moving. And I mentioned something to the Facebook host coordinator that like, Hey, if you ever wanted to host something in person, uh, I’m here to help.

And they probably saw me as stepping on their [00:08:00] toes. I can maybe be a little bit much and I get that. But he really said thanks, but no thanks. And then time went by and there was no in person meetup. So I decided to Well, I think Annette and I decided, I don’t know how it all went down, but to host our own.

So I guess the moral of that story is like, even if someone else is a leader in your community, and they’re, and they’re not doing things exactly how you would, or they’re not being, or you see an opportunity, you see an opportunity, or they don’t want to collaborate with you, like don’t let that be the reason you don’t do it.

Annette Grant: It doesn’t mean you’re in competition with them. No. You just have a different offering.

Sarah Karakaian: Yes. Everything’s fine. And we had the meet up, and it was great. It was so fun. I don’t regret anything.

Finding the Perfect Venue

Sarah Karakaian: First things first, you got to find out where you’re gonna do this. When you find out where, then you can find out a date, but the where Annette is kind of a, what are some things that you think about when it comes to finding where?

Annette Grant: Um, when it comes to finding where, and I’ve hosted a lot of different meetups and a lot of different [00:09:00] industries, number one is the capacity. So you want to make sure you have enough room, hopefully at the event. is a huge success or if it grows over time, but that doesn’t mean you can’t start small. So the, um, the capacity of the venue, parking,

parking is so important. People will literally leave if they can’t find a place to park, or if it’s not easy to park. Um, some people are nervous, you know, or, and also this is taking a part of their day. And so you just want to make sure that parking is easy, uh, and that the capacity is there. And then third, it is, I want to say centrally located.

So for us, you know, we always made sure ours was in our downtown, which is the center of our city. So those are three things. If you can, you know, hit all of those, you’re going to be. you’re gonna be good to go.

Sarah Karakaian: Of course asking once you find a little about like a area of your town that you want to host it in money is going to be a concern. There are some places that might have you [00:10:00] spend a minimum amount. They might just charge you a flat rate. And obviously you’re doing this because you want to hang out with other people who love what you love and you might not be Ready or willing to promise that you’re going to spend five hundred bucks that night or a thousand bucks that night, right?

Annette Grant: So we don’t want you spending a ton of money. You can find you can find I have always let me this caveat We have always been able to find sponsors for the location and or food and beverage. So in the location is a lot of times, Hey, we’re going to be buying, you know, if there is a place that, um, sells food and beverage that maybe you’d be buying it from them. People could buy, um, cocktails if they wanted, or they also wanted the, um, marketing for people coming through their doors of like, Oh, we’re going to bring in. X amount of people that will see your venue and maybe they’ll want to, um, share it, you know, their experience with others. So I would really try to get a, um, complimentary place .

Sarah Karakaian: Hosting it on a [00:11:00] weekday that isn’t as busy will support what Annette just said in terms of like, Hey, Tuesday nights. Like we find a lot of our meetups happen on Tuesday night because right, because Thursday and Friday, they’re already nights where people go out and hit the scene. Uh, Wednesday, uh, I think Tuesday or Wednesday are both great days to look into, and then don’t forget the power of your own network.

If you’re on Instagram or Facebook or Tik TOK, ask a story, say, is there anyone out there that has a small venue where I can host a local meetup and I’m looking for something where we could, whether. Exchanging shoutouts or bringing people to your venue on a less busy day in exchange for the space and spending money at your bar.

What have you got? And even if you don’t follow someone who has a place, someone might know someone, just never forget the power of your own network. It’s bigger than you think it is.

Planning and Promoting Your Meetup

Sarah Karakaian: All right, the next step, or step two, is planning and finding speakers. You don’t have to have education as [00:12:00] part of your meetup.

Right. You don’t have to have a speaker.

Annette Grant: Absolutely, but, but, it helps to have a focus of the event. Any meetup that I’ve ever hosted or participated in, there’s always been a theme, some education, Q and A, and then networking. And we know in the beginning, Hey, if you want to be the leader, like our first meetup, we were the speakers.

So please take that time for you to shine, but it’s so nice. Um, we can give you some ideas. Some of the other speakers that we had, we had a city council member come in who was also a short term rental owner, which was awesome. kind of got like political host there, which was a really cool perspective. We had, um, I think we had some, uh, like lenders come in, some real estate agents, stagers, just a bunch of different, um, a really good one was a J like host adjacent, um, businesses

Sarah Karakaian: Experience Columbus [00:13:00] came one. Yeah. So any,

Annette Grant: if you have a group, they love to come in and chat. So this is where also, um, this is that by product. of that networking that we are talking about Um, it’s so fun to be able to invite people to this event that you’re hosting. So if there’s someone in your community that you’ve been wanting to rub elbows with, create that relationship, this is an awesome, um, opportunity to create that invitation for them.

And what’s really could be really cool is, um, some of our meetups, which were Amazing where you could have multiple, you could actually have multiple speakers and have a panel. Mm-hmm . And so we’ve, we’ve done panels where there would be like multiple hosts and they would kind of tell their different stories, uh, the way that they host.

So a panel’s a fun way to bring in extra speakers also.

Sarah Karakaian: And as you’re planning it out, it can be the chicken or the egg, right? You can have the person that you would love to have come speak, and then they. Determine the theme of that [00:14:00] meetup that month, if you do this monthly, or maybe there’s like everyone keeps in my area is talking about, um, pricing and so I want to get someone who is a pricing expert, right? Or again, you could be that expert and you brush up on your pricing skills and you present, but it can go either way where there’s a topic. And so you need to find a speaker or the speaker you love and they kind of dictate the topic, but having some sort of topic or theme can really bring people out if it’s just to hang out.

It might not get the people who are more wallflowers like myself. I want to know that if I’m coming out for a meetup that I’m going to take something away specifically. I always end up taking away a great relationship, a person I met. But that’s not top of mind for me. Like, I want to be able to learn something.

And so when you’re shouting it out on your Instagram or your TikTok or your Facebook on

meetup. com, you can say what the actual theme is, topic is. Yeah.

Annette Grant: Step three, now it’s time to promote your meetup. This is the fun part. So exciting. Please do not [00:15:00] underestimate, we are specifically calling it a meetup.

Because we harnessed the power of meetup. com to help us promote our meetups. And I’m telling you, if you’ve never, if you haven’t, go on meetup. com after this video, create an account. You will see there are so many things going on in your community. And what’s really cool with meetup. com is you’ve like, Check some boxes of things that you’re interested in.

And so they will actually push out your event for you. And it’s built in like people can RSVP, they can ask you questions. You can put your location. I mean, I think you could even sell tickets if you really wanted to, but this is free. We promote free meetup, but again, there is some cost involved with being on the platform, but this platform.

Meetup really does help you promote it, so we don’t want you to skip that step.

Sarah Karakaian: Well, and I don’t know if you just said this in another way, but Meetup comes with a lot of people who already belong to the software. So when you create a [00:16:00] Meetup and you give it a title, they will push it out to your community.

And so it’s a great way to have like this big email list of people to connect with without having a big email list. Did you kind of say that? Yeah. That’s, that was really powerful for us, uh, finding like people that were not already a part of like our Facebook network or our, All personal Instagram networks.

Because you could have, um, you know, you could check some boxes too, like, yes, it’s short term rental, but real estate, like, there’s some other, um, people, there are interests, uh, that people will see about your meetup. So it, it, and it’s really easy to use. I do want to tell you that too.

Alright, next let’s move into promoting your meetup.

Outside of meetup. com. And there are other platforms that you can use, but we used and loved meetup. com, but I would, just so you can stay organized, get together a little plan for yourself of working backwards, like whatever, you know, today’s date is. And then when your meetup is figure out when you’re going to promote.

Your meetup via [00:17:00] various social channels. And maybe you have people helping you plan this meetup and this way, you can kind of give them a schedule of when you’d like them to post on their Facebook or their Instagram or their tech talk, or maybe they are LinkedIn. Don’t forget LinkedIn. Oh, LinkedIn. I was going to say, maybe they’re already a professional in the space.

Like they’re a realtor or a mortgage lender, or they’re something to do with real estate or hospitality, and they might have. An email list of people who might be interested in coming, but put together a promotional plan calendar of when you’ll be shouting out the whole point of this is to get people to come.

And so to get people to come, you have to remind them to come and you think you’re, I’m telling you, Annette and I know this quite well at this point in our careers, you think you’re talking about it a lot, you’re not, but you’re not talk about it more, talk about it more, say it more times, ask people to share, ask people to share it for you.

It’ll make your meetup a huge success, and the more you treat it like [00:18:00] an event, like you would a birthday party that you’re planning or a wedding that you’re planning, I mean, it doesn’t have to be that aggressive, but just putting a little bit of thought into the timing of promoting the event will make it more successful.

Yeah,

Annette Grant: so have that calendar for yourself. Um, we can also share, we did put a little bit of money behind paid ads. We did. We wanted to see where that took us, so we even went that far again. paid for that out of our own pockets. And then also, if you do have those speakers, this is a great opportunity to request that the speakers also invite their network and you could do some fun social posts with like their face, what they’re going to be talking about, and then they can repost that.

So make sure to include, uh, like Sarah said, if you can get some partners to help you run the meetup and then also the speakers to promote it to

Securing Sponsors and Event Preparation

Annette Grant: step four. Securing sponsors. Let’s do this. If you can get some folks to actually sponsor the meetup, then you’re not having to pay for the meetup. com fees.

You’re not having to pay for the pizza and the soda like Sarah and I did. So this is a part where. You [00:19:00] will be so, um, excited and having this offer that you can offer to, let’s think about it, maybe some cleaning companies, realtors, broker, mortgage brokers, there are, maybe there are some people that do, um, social media in your town, like asking those people, and the sponsor is like, it doesn’t have to be these like giant five figure, uh, contracts.

It can be like, Do you want to sponsor the pizza? Do you want to sponsor? Um, we had a brewery that would like sponsor the, the beverages. So you, it doesn’t even have to be actually monetary. Like we had a sponsor that sponsored the space and we would give their venue a shout out. So this is where you can get creative and think about a couple of things here.

It’s not just monetarily helping you compensate any of the fees that you might, um, A crew, but also this is another way to network. It is. So even if you get some no’s, who are those people that you want to do business with in your community that you’ve been wanting to reach out to now you’re making them an offer.

If they want to say then they can say, you know, [00:20:00] but now you’ve had contact with them. They know about your meetup. They know that you’re trying to be involved in your community. So I would challenge you when meetup, just get a list. Um, potential sponsors and just do a little sponsor kit. Tell them about your meetup, how many people are going to be there and make some offers.

Sarah Karakaian: Step five, let’s actually prep for the event. So to recap, we’ve got our location, we’ve got our dates, we’ve got some speaker ideas. They’ve said yes. Hopefully we’ve been marketing, we’re promoting, we are getting sponsors. And so now about a month before the event. Let’s find, let’s make sure the speaker is going to be there.

So just confirm with them.

Annette Grant: I laugh, but also just always be prepared for a speaker to not show. I mean life, life happens. Life does happen. So always have a backup plan there. We didn’t put that in our notes, but have a backup plan that you might be the speaker. Yes. [00:21:00]

Sarah Karakaian: When you have the speaker and they’ve confirmed, Ask them, are they planning on just, you know, mic in hand, which speaking of mic, do you need a mic for your venue?

How is everyone going to be able to hear the speaker? Does your venue have any audio visual components? Can they have a slide deck? Maybe they’re planning on having a slide deck, but you’re like, this is not, we’re not, we don’t have slide decks yet. Like we don’t have screens and TVs yet. And so letting them know that, so ask them how they plan on, and if they have any notes or an outline, if they can share it with you.

It’s kind of nice so that you know, they’re not going to go rogue on you.

Annette Grant: Or that they’ve actually planned out and thought out the education that they’re going to give.

Sarah Karakaian: Yes. You should take it seriously, even though this is a. A meetup, take it seriously that you are giving them an audience and you are the one, you’re the host, producing it.

And so you want to make sure the content the speaker is going to be speaking on is something you can get [00:22:00] behind. And relevant.

Annette Grant: Right. You don’t want to be like caught off guard that it’s their own agenda or something that you don’t support.

Sarah Karakaian: Right. So giving yourself about a month heads up for all of that work will give you time to figure things out.

Make adjustments. Make adjustments. And if they don’t have their slides ready, we still have a couple weeks on your side, right? Two weeks before, let’s call the venue and your sponsors and confirm the food and beverage. Uh, is it gonna be donated? Do you have to bring it from somewhere else and bring it in?

Is all that okay? Can you bring in outside food, uh, follow up with your speaker? Again, that can never hurt. Check in with your promotional calendar. Our posts being posted. Um, are people commenting? Uh, just check in with the whole. scene, your whole planning process, also

Annette Grant: food and beverage. Like. Again, this is not mandatory.

However, we are hosts. And so that was something that we wanted to provide it because [00:23:00] you also need to be cognizant of the time of your event. So our meetup. was 7 p. m., and so we understood that a lot of people are probably coming from work. They might not have time to, you know, stop for dinner. So we wanted to have a larger event, and that way, that food and beverage, we thought would pull in more people.

And again, our hosting hospitality background, we couldn’t have people come through the doors without food and beverage for them. But you choose your own adventure there.

Sarah Karakaian: And the last step in this step, last step in this step, is to prepare your own remarks. So you’re the host of the event. Yes, you have a speaker, but you need to make sure that you’re welcoming everyone.

Like get on stage, announce who you are, especially for your first one, the purpose of the meetup. Maybe this is where you say, Hey, I’m looking for help. Um, be specific with the help that you’re asking for and set the tone for the evening, what is going to happen and when, like, are you going to go speak up?

At the beginning of the meeting and then [00:24:00] go right into introducing your speaker and then goes into networking, um, reminding them to tip their bartenders and their service is always a good thing to say.

Annette Grant: This is your welcome message. It’s essentially your welcome message to all of your guests that are there.

And the thing, the biggest side effect of hosting a meetup. is if you are the host, everybody wants to talk to you. I’m telling you this. This is something that I was not prepared for. Everybody wants to know who you are. They want to come up. They want to shake your hand. They want to connect with you on LinkedIn.

They want to connect with you on social media. So going up and making yourself that. You know, that leader that you’re wanting to be, this is that intro and that closing, um, is so important because you’re gonna, you’re gonna want to close, do a, after the speaker speak, you’re also going to want to do a closing, maybe do a Q and a, but that closing message is thanking everybody for coming to the event, letting them know you should have the date for the next one, ready [00:25:00] to go.

Um, having them RSVP, but this part is where you get to shine and where you can make those connections.

Sarah Karakaian: Yeah. So. A week before. Make sure this is dialed in. You don’t want to be caught off guard unless you’re good at improvising, but even then you still want to have some bullet points and notes because when you get up there, you’re gonna have the excitement of all the people, the excitement of you getting your meetup off the ground without a hitch, hopefully, and, or even maybe something went wrong.

And so having some like notes is good to keep you on track. So you don’t forget things like. The next meetup date or any of their important,

Annette Grant: yeah, and have and letting them kind of know the timeline of the event of like, Hey, we’re going to have some opening remarks. We’re going to have the speaker speak for about 20 minutes. There’s going to be a Q and a, then we’re going to do networking after, you know, kind of just mapping out to the timeframe of the event is really helpful.

Running the Meetup: Day-of Tips

Annette Grant: Step six, running the meetup. Like today’s the day you are there. Step number one, I’m telling you, please, you have got to show up early. Yes. And like, and I’m talking like.[00:26:00]

Way early, probably about an hour early because you do need to do setup. And the reason I’m telling you have to show up early is you will have people that are going to show up early and you do not want to be caught off guard. Um, still setting up disheveled. Um, and those, those people that are there early, you want to make sure that you’re being able to network and welcome them right off the, out of the gate.

So you have to show up early and start your setup.

Sarah Karakaian: I’d have everything ready. 30 minutes before your go time. Even if you’re then just like milling around, milling around, perfecting things fine, because yeah, once someone says hello to you and you start networking, that’s it, your checklist is out the window, like it’s go time.

So I agree with that at least an hour early and then have everything ready by 30 minutes before. And if you can, you want to have.

Annette Grant: Even if you’re doing the meetup solo, you have got to enlist friends, family to help you that day because there are some critical things that you want to make sure that you’re doing.

You want to have a greeter at the front door. You are hosting this event. [00:27:00] You want to say hello to everyone, let them know they’re in the right spot, and Take attendance. If you will, you, you do want to see who, who RSVP, do you want to make sure whether it’s for an iPad, whether it’s a sign in sheet, you want to make sure you’re collecting the names of the emails of the people that actually attended the event, and we can share with you, we’ve always had a greeter at our event and some of them, like the room wasn’t right when you walked in the door, so you kind of need to like.

Hey, you go upstairs and to the left or, oh, you first like, here’s a, uh, the waiting area and then into the room. So you just want to make sure that that welcome part, that greeter is really making those people feel welcome and taken care of right when they walk in the door. Because you’ll start to see people are like, am I in the right spot?

They’ve never been here before. It’s just like a guest checking in. That’s a nerve wracking experience for them.

Sarah Karakaian: Also have someone there who can get some social media shots for you with their photos. Or, uh, video, b roll, stories, whatever you want to call it. It’s really great to [00:28:00] document the event in that way.

You, they can get the speaker saying a few things. You can give that to the speaker so they can have it for their social channels. Um, if you do have

Annette Grant: sponsors, like sponsors might have given you maybe some marketing materials or some signage. You want to make sure that that’s, In a place that everybody can see it.

I don’t know. Maybe they even wanted a table. So you have a table set up for them so they can chat with any of their potential leads.

Sarah Karakaian: Get ready. Cause it is your responsible to keep the energy high. If you have a personality type or that is going to be something that you either need to be very aware of or get someone else to help you be your hype person.

Either way, it really is on you to create that atmosphere. So whether there’s like maybe music happening during the beginning of the event, or, um, as you meet people, you’re like connecting people with each other. If you see someone sitting by themselves, go over, introduce yourself like that. It’s up to you to create that vibe.

Annette Grant: And there are a couple elements, um, [00:29:00] during the setup to you, if you do have audio visual, you do want to do a mic check. You do want to do a slide deck check. You just want to make sure that your AV is working ahead of time. And one like simple thing that we’ve done at a lot of our meetups is we did the old school name tags.

Oh yeah. It’s fun. Like, it’s just like you’re at a meetup. You’re there to meet people, make it easier for people to introduce themselves and to remember each other’s names. Those are very small investment. You got to get some Sharpie markers and some, hello, my name is tags. Those are my favorites. We love to supply those two.

Post-Event Follow-Up and Growth

Annette Grant: Step seven, follow up and growth. You’ve now had an amazing event. It was awesome. People cannot wait for the next one. So you’ve got to keep the momentum going again. It’s just like having. You can’t just let them like check out and never talk to them again. You’ve got their information. You want to ask them for reviews.

So you’re going to, you are going to follow up with them, send out an email, thanking them for coming to the event. Ask them for feedback, ask them for a [00:30:00] review. them to post on their social about it, ask them, um, if they know anybody that potentially wants to speak next time,

Sarah Karakaian: you could also post a recap of the event on your social channels.

LinkedIn is a great place to do that. You can also post information to meetup. com. Don’t forget about the software you’re using to promote it. Cause it’ll help you promote it month after month. Um, but also if you’re, if you’re more of a TikToker or an Instagram or whatever your choices. Recap it, tag the speaker, tag the sponsors.

It’s cool if you show photos and video of the event, how awesome it was, share the next date. Um, but long term strategy is building on the momentum of the previous one. And taking note of things that didn’t go quite to plan or that you think you can tighten up so that you get better with every meetup.

Annette Grant: And we can share, um, you might be thinking, how often? Should we be [00:31:00] hosting a meetup? This is where you really need to know thyself. When I first started doing meetups, I was doing them monthly and. I, the months would fly by. I felt like we would just like close the door on the meetup and we’d be like welcoming because it is work.

It’s a lot of work, but it’s worth it. So we chose, um, to do them quarterly. Did we? Yeah. But also, cause the quarter goes fast too. You could maybe do them every other month. Uh, again, you just have to like know yourself, know, like if you have a team of people, it might be easier, but, um, this is something that you also want to get the.

Your group so they understand when the next one’s coming around. So, you know, maybe it’s the third Thursday Yes, of the third month. So they cut you just kind of have like this regular thing I know Sarah’s husband hosts a meetup. He is aggressive He does a monthly and it’s like the first Tuesday of every month.

So everybody just kind of knows Oh, that’s when the meetup is so if you can get on a normal cadence again, [00:32:00] whether it’s monthly every other month quarterly Just helping people know when that meetup is, they can plan ahead for it.

Sarah Karakaian: It’s exciting though, because you mentioned my husband’s meetup, Nick, and people who attend it have been attending it for years.

I mean, years. We, I think his meetup started in 2018 and there are still people who haven’t missed a meetup. So it really becomes, uh, a thread in the fabric of your community. Like I’m being a little dramatic there, but it really does like, and that is the power of you stepping up. And making the decision that you’re going to get these like minded people together and you’re going to host a really great event.

You’re going to have a great atmosphere where people feel supported and seen and heard and we can all talk about the nerdy things we like talking about, like hosting.

Annette Grant: And I want, I do want to reiterate because it just came to my head, like the, we can’t even get into it on this video, but the relationships that you are going to build, like I have.

business partners that I, um, have real estate deals with that [00:33:00] I’ve met at meetups, you know, Sarah and I, it wasn’t an actual meetup, but it was a city council meeting, you know, but there are like, there is an energy when you can meet people live in person, uh, that you just can’t get anywhere else. And I’m telling you, taking that time out of your schedule and being the host will make you the, a leader, a leader in your community.

And then the leader. Uh, Airbnbs in your community. So do this.

Conclusion and Encouragement

Annette Grant: And what’s great is you’re volunteering. So give it a try. Um, test it like Sarah and I, we did it until COVID and then, you know, we, we didn’t bring it back, but we loved that time that we did do it. You know, you’re not beholden to it. So give it a shot.

Let us know. We’re excited for you to be the leader in your community.

Sarah Karakaian: So I can’t wait to hear how all of you get inspired. If you end up starting a meetup of your own, will you please email us? Hi, thanks for visiting. com. We’d love to, maybe we could promote your meetup on [00:34:00] our Instagram stories or tell us how it went. We just want to support you. We want to support you because our communities need to know that short term rental hosts are incredible humans.

We care about our neighborhoods. We care about our community. And there are just so many opportunities that you don’t even know what’s going to come out of these meetups right away. Like, you’ll have fun that night, you’ll be reeling from it the next week, but then you’ll be surprised. I mean, a year or two will go by and something incredible will happen as a result of your efforts of getting people together.

So that’s exciting. And with that, I am Sarah Karakaian

Annette Grant: I’m Annette Grant and together we are Thanks for visiting. [00:35:00]