Here's an outline for folks MCing or otherwise helping run VanJS on the day of the event.
You’ll want a bit of time to greet the speakers, help set up chairs, test the A/V by putting up a welcome slide, and potentially troubleshoot any pre-show A/V problems you encounter.
Every space has a different AV setup, and you’ll want time to evaluate if you haven’t managed the AV before in the space you’ll be in. The VFS Cafe has a switch to the left of the stage where you can toggle between the default “cable box” which plays music videos, and the HDMI for the laptop. There are also volume sliders to turn on and off the cable box music and any microphones on stage.
In any given space, the only thing you can (usually) rely on is video. If a speaker needs wifi, audio, or anything else to make their presentation work, you’ll want to figure that out early so it can be tested and sort out if there are any obstacles. The VFS spaces have been working to add guest wifi but it hasn’t worked yet (as of January 2019) so usually we use tethering for speakers who need wifi.
It’s nice to have some music going on in the background when there are no speakers on stage, since then people feel more comfortable starting a conversation and it lets you call attention to the MC and speaker by fading out the music.
You can use common sense for laying out chairs in a space where they’re not fixed to the floor: basically space them fairly evenly so folks can see, and allow for aisles periodically so nobody needs to excuse themselves past 15 folks to get out (otherwise you’ll get a lot more empty seats).
There’s no set way to MC a meetup, but here’s a template you can use to MC VanJS, or any meetup.
- Around when the official start time is (or up to 5 minutes past if people are arriving), fade out the music and the MC introduces themselves and welcomes people to the event.
- Thank the sponsor for the space and if there is any key news about the meetup group then you can say so here.
- For each speaker, it’s important to make sure they’re ready to go before introing them (otherwise they can end up in awkward silence as they struggle to get their slides up).
- It’s nice to give each speaker a tiny intro blurb about the person or topic, for example, “Our first speaker is one of the world’s foremost experts in HTML7, which is why I’m really excited to welcome her here today. Everybody please put your hands together for Angelina Fabbro.” At the minimum it’s nice to end with the speaker’s name and encourage folks to applaud, so it’s clear the stage is handed off.
- After each talk thank the speaker. Between talks tell people there will be a short break to switch over and let people stretch, 5 minutes usually feels reasonable.
- After the second talk thank everybody, encourage them to propose a talk on our GitHub, and tell them where the drinks afterwards are hosted.