Mastering the art of meetups 🤓 Joe Robinson, Designers + Geeks

Get Together

“I'm fairly introverted which I find a lot of people are surprised by given the number of events that I've run over the years. I don't actually like attending events where I don't have a fairly structured role to play. I think to some extent being the organizer of the event gave me a role and job responsibilities. It helped me as an introvert feel more comfortable.” - Joe Robinson

By day, Joe Robinson is the Co-Founder of Hummingbird, a new service focused on fighting financial crime. But today we’re talking to him about his side project, a community he sparked called Designers + Geeks.

Joe started Designers + Geeks for people who, like him, love design, art, and technology. For the past decade, they’ve been featuring monthly speakers on niche topics—designing for all human senses, designing for dyslexia, designing for accessibility, designing for stigma—bringing people together in cities like San Francisco and New York.

This was not Joe’s first time around the block with community building. He founded Live Music SF and led Silicon Valley NewTech, a sister event to New York Tech and the first ever series on Meetup. Joe calls himself an introvert, which is surprising given he has hosted hundreds of meetups in his life. But Joe shares how being a leader in this situation has given him a structured role to play has made him more comfortable in this setting.

We dive in with Joe about how his introversion has helped him create meetups that are a comfortable experience for all.

Highlights, inspiration, & key learnings:

• Serial community builder. How Joe launched and led a number of local meetups as passion projects.
• The first gathering. What Joe did when only two people showed up to his first meetup.
• The introverted community leader. There is not one personality type that suits a community organizer.
• IRL vs. online. Establishing ritual, setting expectations, and running a meetup like clockwork.
• Paid vs. free events. Generating buy-in from members.
• Venue partnership. Creating a relationship that is mutually beneficial.

👋🏻Say hi to Joe and learn more about Designers + Geeks

📄See the full transcript

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