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Quickstart Guide

Quickstart Guide

Venue Guide

Venue Guide

Sponsorship Guide

Sponsorship Guide

Outreach Guide

Outreach Guide

Logistics

Logistics

Day Of

Day Of

Find a Venue

Without a venue, you don't have an event. You need a venue. Lock in!

Ray

1. WHAT EVEN IS A VENUE?

This may sound silly, but you need to decide what criteria you need your venue to have. You'll also need to bring food and snacks into the venue, so you may need to check whether that's possible.

Features we require/recommend:

  • A closed-off area so only participants are able to enter and leave at the right times
  • A tv, projector, and/or speakers for workshops and opening/closing ceremonies
  • A big open space with tables for people to hang out and work

One more thing: think about vibes. The event space should kind of "align" with the branding - maybe cozy, or sunny, or just a really social place to chat!

2. PICKING THE VENUE

My favourite way to find cool places is literally just google maps. A good starting place is searching for the following types of locations in your event area, but don't feel like you can't try castles, museums, or any other event spaces…

Space Type

Why it works

Tip

Makerspaces

Already designed to be fun to code in! Plus the working culture often encourages young people and non-profits in tech.

Make your email subject line OUTRAGEOUS. "80 teens in [makerspace name]?!" got me 5/5 replies, two of them were yeses.

Community / youth centres

Obviously they'll support charity events, and they tend to be cozy and comfortable for teens to enjoy.

Frame it as how it can help the local community and reduce inequality in your local area. Bonus points for local "inside jokes" ;)

Schools / colleges / universities

Planned for teenagers to learn and collaborate. Try to find a private school because they are usually nicer ;)

Flattery tends to work here, ask to use their "astounding facilities" for an educational event.

Libraries

Super cozy and cute, just make sure you have a large enough room and remember that your event will NOT be silent.

Similarly to community centres, focus on the local impact.

Start-up offices

Free snacks, ping pong tables, open desks - what else do you need? Growing businesses love advertising themselves.

Customize specifically to the person you're messaging, often start-up employees will have details on LinkedIn.

3. EMAILING

Once you have your mega-list of spaces, you need to reach out to them. A lot of the times people underestimate how important what you say is, so here's how to do it right:

Step One: Finding someone to contact

Try not to use generic email addresses (ex: info@xyz). Look for managers, CEOs, PR leads, etc. Going through website portals is very finicky. Don't assume you'll get to actual people directly, assume your message will go into the void.

Tools:

  • LinkedIn: build rapport to eventually work up to venue offers
  • Apollo.io: find email addresses of the people you find on LinkedIn
  • RocketReach.co: another tool to find emails

Step Two: Writing the email

DON'T ❌

DO ✅

  • Use ChatGPT to write the WHOLE thing (maybe use it to correct spelling)
  • Be overly professional - you'll seem spammy and/or scammy
  • Mass email - people can tell, and it gets you NOWHERE
  • KILL YOUR WORDS - be concise, get to the point
  • CUSTOMISE to the exact recipient - research who you're emailing
  • Write how you would to a teacher or grandparent

Ten customized emails is a million times better than a thousand mass emails. If you can, go to a workshop about writing effective emails & get feedback before sending! We'll hold a couple to get you guys started.

Shark

Checkout the email templates provided in the Resources Tab

4. NEXT STEPS

If you get a "yes!" …now what?

Be nice to them, maybe they'll host another event in the future!

If you get a "sorry we can't…"

Ask for monetary donations, food, supplies, or mentors. They answered, which means congrats! They care!

If you get ghosted: follow. up.

  • Follow-up every 3-5 business days! Reach out to another employee! Call them!
  • Email their *shivers* general email.
  • Being relentless is what gets you a good venue. (BUT spamming can result in being blacklisted!)

5. NICHE ADVICE

GAMBLER MINDSET! Think of the meme of that miner giving up digging just before finding the diamonds. Don't be like him, email just one more venue 🥺

Add some of your own voice into the email - as you can see I use loads of exclamation marks, as long as you aren't unprofessional, you ARE allowed to show your excitement!