Whether you’re a YesTribe Leader or simply a proactive member of a group who wants to bring people together, this guide is for you.

Although the word ‘event’ might feel like a big deal, it covers everything from a big festival to a meet in a cafe to a Sunday hike with a handful (or less) of people. So don’t worry! Organising a gathering doesn’t have to be a big effort, and ultimately it’s super rewarding being the person to bring others together. They’ll be thankful too.

Remember, the YesTribe’s central aim is to create accessible and affordable opportunities for people to meet offline, so these community events should be free with no fee going to the organiser. If there’s a cost associated with the activity, like hiring a kayak or a venue, then please discuss with your regional tribe leader before creating the event, we might be able to help.

Remember too that our events are about talking, stories and sharing ideas. While organising a group to attend an existing event - like a festival, gig or sports match - is great, please try to prioritise YesTribe-specific events.

Organisation

1) Here are the basics:

  • Location/ Venue (What3Words is a great app to give precise locations)

  • Time

  • Meeting Place

  • Any costs (try to keep these zero to low)

  • Kit recommendations

  • Capacity (are you limited to how many can attend)

2) Once all the above is organised, create a Facebook event as an online hub for the event, attendance and information. Think about making the event as easy and accessible as possible, which means sharing as much detail as you can. This will help people to easily decide whether they can make it, and will save you having to answer the same question on repeat.

Sharing

Now the hard work is done, it’s time to ensure people know about the event. Once event is created click ‘Add to page’ and select ‘SayYesMore’. If you can’t do this, post the event on the Team Group and/or send to your team leader.

If you don’t see the ‘Add to Page’ option on your event, your privacy settings may be extremely tight, meaning fewer people will see your event.

1) Post regular updates on your Facebook event wall, sharing things like the weather, any updates, maps, whatever you think will offer people encouragement, more reason to come/ less reason to drop out.

2) Share the event on the nearest regional YesTribes (see this tab to find all the regional groups) and on the main YesTribe. All you need to do is copy the url of the event and paste it into a post, it'll expand into a visual link and automatically add itself to that group's events tab as well. Write a couple of lines about why you're excited about it, that'll add some personality and encourage more interest. DO NOT just share the link without writing a description, it won’t be seen by as many people.

3) Ask the social media team to share the event on Instagram, the SayYesMore newsletter and on the main SayYesMore Facebook page

4) If you have a solid venue, ensure you have access and they know what you need for the event.

5) If people are likely to be travelling for the event, start a carpooling thread on the Facebook event, encourage people to work together to get there

6) As a Tribe Leader, make sure that you’ve shared your event with the SayYesMore team so it appears on the SayYesMore calendar and on the top announcement post on the main YesTribe.

7) Especially if you’re organising a bigger event like YesStories and want to impress a venue so they’ll have you back, let us know if your event needs a push with promotion. We can do a few things, including sharing more across the network and, if your event needs some income to pay a venue, we may have some Facebook ad credits to boost and advertise.

Event time!

Once everyone is together, bear in mind that some people might be new to the YesTribe and others may not know anyone else in the group.

As a leader it’s up to you to put everyone at ease, and the best way to do this is to make them feel welcome, seen and heard.

  • Start with a Circle: get everyone around, give a reply quick introduction to what will be happening next, and ask everyone to quickly, in about 20 seconds max, give their name, where they came from, why they’re here and a quirky fact, like the coolest thing that happened to them this week, or a fact that nobody else would know about them

  • Make sure everyone knows that you (and anyone else on your team) are there for any questions at any time.

  • Take photos and film. And if this is tricky, try to get at least one family photo of everyone present

  • Most of all, encourage people to have fun.

After the event

Send at least one photo (ideally a family photo) back to the team by posting on the Team Facebook group, and include a couple of lines about how it went, how many turned up, and any other cool stories. This helps us keep a record of all the YesTribe events happening, and also to share these on social media.

Don't delete your Facebook event after it happened. It’ll live happily in the ‘past events’ section on the SayYesMore FB page.

Ideas for events

We have a number of different event types, check them out here.

Wherever you are in the world, why not get a group together to watch the live stream of London’s YesStories?

Venue Tips

Lots of pubs or cafes have a function room or event space. You might have to hustle but don’t be afraid to ask for the space for free, especially if you’re bringing in a crowd of people who will buy drinks and/or food. For small groups you could just reserve a table in a cafe? If you want to put on a presentation search for a space with a projector + screen OR flat screen TV with a HDMI connection. Don’t be afraid to think out of the box, in the past regional tribes have engaged local venues like canoe centres and bike shops as venues.