# Starting a new (Rust) meetup

First off:
There is no formal procedure for creating a Rust meetup or event.

If you take the initiative and start a meetup we are happy to promote it
in the Rust channels (on users.rust-lang.org, on the community calendar,
in the [This Week in Rust newsletter](https://this-week-in-rust.org/), ...).

## First meeting

You can start with just announcing a date, time and place and meet for
discussions, hack sessions or small talks.

If you already know people in your area interested in Rust you have your first group of people already!
Get them together and discuss your ideas about the kind of meetup you want to have.

For a first meeting a cafe, bar or community center might be enough.
Or maybe a friendly company is able to offer you their spaces.

## Content

This really is up to you. Also see [Format](#Format) below.

To find speakers you will need to do some outreach.
Is there an interesting project you would like to hear about?
Ask in that project's channels if someone would be up for it.
Is there someone interesting you'd like to hear? Ask them!

After the first meeting encourage people from the audience to present their ideas and projects, even if unfinished or very early stages.

Or prepare something yourself to get a discussion started.
Pick a particular crate and do a deep-dive, pick a topic area and explore available projects.

## Format

The "classic" format for a meetup is 2-3 talks (20-30 min each) in the evening,
once or twice a month maybe.
Plan with enough break time in between so people can get to know each other and talk about the topics.

Other possible formats:

* A Hack'n'Learn: Really great to get started. Just get people together and start learning the language or project or come up with new ideas.
Requires minimal preparation most of the time.
But especially initially it can pay off to prepare a topic so you don't get stuck.
At some point people might just drop by and work on their projects and will ask for contributors.
* Lightning Talks: Shorter 5-10 min talks. It's fine if people use this to promote their project or unfinished idea. You can have 5-6 in quick succession before taking a break.
* [your idea here]

## Time

As said before most meetups are often in the (early) evening, once or twice a month, sometimes even as often as every week.
All of that can vary based on your audience and your own availability.

## Help

Get co-organizers early.
No matter which format you choose a successful meetup requires some effort.
With a monthly meetup and 2 organizers you can take turns in organizing, outreach and preparation.
With more organizers the workload decreases further.

## Money

Meetups can be run for (nearly) no money at all.

### Venue

See if there's companies in town that are eager to help and provide their spaces.
Their benefit: community involvement, a little bit of promotion.

Or look for community rooms/centers or other city-provided spaces.
Talk to other meetup organizers in town.

### Food and drinks

Drinks are a nice to have. But it does not need to be _free_.
(Non-alocoholic) Drinks for a small fee are fine.
Depending on the venue this might be provided already.

Food is _not_ required.
It can be a nice-to-have.
With a small group you might just be able to order and everyone pays their fair share.
With a bigger group you will need to look for a sponsor. This again might be the friendly companies in town.

## Code of Conduct

When bringing people together you will have to think about the people.
That requires you to lay out some ground rules for your event.
A good code of conduct can help there. Be prepared to enforce it!