Hosting an event

What you're doing

Most events are full of people who would get on well and never speak. They stay with the colleague they arrived with, or they hover by the coffee. Your job as host is to give everyone one good reason to talk to someone new.

Here is how it works. Guests scan a QR code and join in under a minute, without an app or an account. At each break you run a round. Everyone who has checked in is paired with one other guest, sent to a named spot in the room, and told why the two of them should meet, with a few ways to start. You choose when. We do the pairing.

One person at a time. Each round gives each guest one introduction. A guest who meets three people well over three breaks has a better evening than one handed a list of twenty names.

Who does what

Every event has at least one host. There are two roles:

• Organizer runs the guest list and the rounds.
• Admin does everything an organizer does and also chooses who hosts.

Bring in a co-host for anything bigger than a dinner. Whoever is on stage shouldn't also be the one pressing Run round.

If your event belongs to a community, that community's hosts can see it too. They see the guest list, who came and the round counts, and a community host who opens your pairs is told the view is logged.

The week before

Create the event

1. 1.Open your host console, go to Events and select Create event.
2. 2.Give it a name guests will recognize. Add the date, the place, and one line on what it's for. Guests see the name, the place and that line when they join. The date decides when check-in opens.
3. 3.If it runs past one evening, add when it ends in the event's Settings.

Make the join link and print the poster

On the event's page, select Create public join link. That gives you three ways in, all leading to the same place:

• a join link to put on a slide or in your event app,
• a QR poster to print, or a QR image for your slides,
• a six-character code for anyone whose camera won't scan. They type it at letsgetcoffee.app/get-started.

Name your meeting spots

Spots tell a pair where to find each other, which matters far more than it sounds in a crowded room. In your event's Settings, name three to five places people can't miss: "Coffee bar", "By the stage", "Window seats". You can add up to twelve.

Each new introduction is sent to the least busy spot, and either guest can move it. Put a small sign at each one if you can.

Upload your guest list (optional)

If you know who's coming, use Upload a list under Guests: paste one person per line (name, email, company, role) or upload a CSV, which can include a phone column. It comes with a sample file to fill in. A guest who types the email you listed finds their place on the list, with no account needed. Anyone who leaves it blank joins as a walk-in. Duplicates are skipped.

We use a phone number only to spot duplicates and link someone's record when they check in. We never message it, other guests don't see the number, and your guest list and download don't show it.

We email an invitation only to someone on your list who's already an active member of your community. Everyone else hears nothing from us, so share the link yourself.

Add the rest if it helps (optional)

• Programme, under Coffees: paste or upload your agenda. From five minutes before a break, Today prompts you to start a round. Mark a session Started when it runs late, and the prompt moves with it.
• Questions for guests, in Settings: up to five. Each one says whether you see totals only or the guest's name beside their answer, and guests read that before they answer. Answers show once three guests have answered, and they stay until you delete them.
• Materials, under Guests: up to 20 links or files of up to 25 MB, for everyone attending, or for speakers and team only.

As people arrive

Shortly before doors open, scan your own QR code and join as a guest. It takes a minute, and you'll be able to answer "what am I meant to do?" without guessing.

Check-in opens two hours before the start. It closes 12 hours after the start, or three hours after the end if that's later. To test it earlier, or to keep it open, turn on Check in any time in Settings. An event with no date is always open, and you can check anyone in from Guests at any time.

Put the QR code where people stand still: the registration desk, the queue for badges, the first slide on the screen. A code on a wall by the door gets walked past.

Scanning opens a short form. Guests give their name, an optional work email, and up to three interests. A company, a role and a LinkedIn link are optional too. Then they select Join the event and see "You're in!". Their page stays open and updates on its own, so ask them to keep it handy.

On another phone, typing their email doesn't open an attendance they already have. We email them a link instead, which works once and lasts an hour. If they've claimed their attendance into an account, they sign in to that account too.

Interests are how we choose who to introduce. If you have a theme, suggest it: "Pick what you're working on this year."

Running rounds at the breaks

When to run one

• At the start of each break, not the end. Pairs need 10 to 15 minutes to find each other and talk.
• Wait until most people have checked in. The first round is usually best at the first real break, not as doors open.
• Two or three rounds is a good evening. One per break is the rhythm.

How to run one

1. 1.Open your event and go to Coffees.
2. 2.Select Run a round, give it a name like "Lunch" or "Afternoon coffee" if you like, then select Run round. Everyone checked in right now is paired, and each person sees who to meet straight away.
3. 3.You'll see how many introductions were made, and how many people were left unpaired.
4. 4.The name is for you, so you can tell your rounds apart. Guests don't see it, and you can rename a round later.

What each guest sees

One person, where to meet them, why they were paired, and a few ways to start the conversation. The two of them also share a bright color. Show my color fills the screen with it and their first name, so they can spot each other across the room. Two people introduced at an earlier round are never paired again, so every round brings someone new.

A first name until both say they met. A guest sees the other person's first name, plus their company and role if they added them. The full name shows once both say they met. The one exception is a LinkedIn link, if a guest added one: the link can show their full name, and the join form says so.

Odd numbers and late arrivals

With an odd number, one person waits for the next round. The screen tells you how many. Find them and introduce them to someone yourself; it's the most valuable thing a host can do in that minute.

People who check in after a round are included in the next one.

Your job in the room

The software makes the introduction. You make it feel normal to act on it.

• Announce every round. People move when the host says so. A silent round reaches far fewer people.
• Stand near the busiest spot for the first two minutes. Tell people to hold up their color, and help pairs find each other.
• Do it yourself. If guests see the host meet their introduction, they follow.
• Don't hover. Once a pair is talking, leave them to it.
• Close with a moment. "Hands up if you met someone new tonight." People remember the evening by that.

Watching it happen

Your event's Today page shows four numbers as the evening goes: on the guest list, checked in, introduced and met. Each one opens the page behind it.

On the meeting spots card in Settings, a live count shows how many pairs are still finding each other at each spot, updated every few seconds. It shows counts only, never who.

Open any round to see who it seated together. How those conversations went stays between the two people. The met rate and spot counts are the only outcomes shown, and only as totals.

Guests can ask you for help from their page. Requests show on Today with the guest's first name, who they were introduced to and any note they wrote. You can answer On my way, Reply or Introduce someone new, then Done. Post to every card puts one line on every guest's page. We delete requests about 90 days after the event.

When it runs across days

• An event with an end stays live until that end. Members see its dates as a range, then "You've checked in" while it runs and "You went" after.
• Your attendance reads "came so far" while it runs. No-shows stay "Counted once it's over".
• Once it has begun, we send an invitation only to someone you add after it began, if they haven't answered or come. A one-day event that has begun sends none.
• An introduction made while it runs says "Meet during" the event, with no date.

After the event

Guests keep their people

From their event page, a guest can claim a profile and keep the people they met. It's their choice, and nothing happens if they don't.

See how it went

How it went shows how the event connected people: turnout, introductions made, how many pairs met, how many met someone from another company, and the topics people chose. Look at met first. An introduction that turned into a conversation is the result.

Under Guests, Download attendance (CSV) gives you each guest's name, email, company, role, how they were added, their reply and whether they came. It has no phone numbers.

Say thank you

Write your own short note. Name the moment, not the metrics: "Over three breaks, 140 of you met someone new." Invite replies.

Invite the guests you'd like to keep

If your event belongs to a community, attending doesn't make a guest a member. Only an invitation does, so nobody joins without saying yes. Invite the people you'd like to keep meeting from your community's People page.

What you can and can't see

Tell your guests this if they ask. It's the reason they'll scan the code at your next event too.

When something goes sideways

Host checklist

• Event created with date, place and purpose, and an end if it runs past one evening
• Join link created, poster printed, QR on the first slide
• 3 to 5 meeting spots named, with signs
• Guest list uploaded (if you have one)
• Co-host added and briefed
• Scanned the code yourself
• Breaks marked on your run sheet: run a round at the start of each
• Closing line ready