One of our privileges at Glow is that we spend a lot of time with podcasters who find fun, thoughtful ways to engage their audiences. In light of the current time, we wanted to highlight one in particular that made us smile: a virtual happy hour.
Last Thursday, one of the podcasts we work with threw a virtual happy hour for all their listeners. The hosts of the technology podcast Acquired hung out with over 100 members of their community in a virtual room, got their collective minds off Coronavirus, and traded stories about crazy startup pivots.
If you’re interested in running a virtual happy hour to bring your community together, take a look below at how this podcast organized their 100+ person virtual happy hour in less 24 hours. For guidance on the technical set-up, check out our how-to guide. We’re also more than happy to answer any questions on how to do this, whether or not you’re using Glow. Email us with questions.
Our hope is to help shine the light on small ways we can bring communities together, and we were inspired by this one.
How Acquired organized and hosted a 100+ person virtual happy hour for their listeners in less than 24 hours:
Organizing and getting the word out:
- Quick organizing: Acquired announced the virtual meetup to all of its listeners the evening before the event, and then again 15 minutes before the happy hour started.
- Promotion on the podcast: They dropped a one-minute episode in their regular feed to announce the virtual hang out, with a link to join the call in their shownotes.
- Promotion through social media: They announced on Twitter, and their community Slack channel where many of their audience follows them.
Executing:
- Technology: They chose to host the meetup on Zoom. You can host up to 100 people for 40 minutes on Zoom for free. Or, if you want to host people for longer, you can choose a $15/month plan
- Agenda: The hosts welcomed their guests and had a loose agenda for the call, but ended up letting the conversation wander. The most fun moments were when members of the audience shared their own stories.
- Community: 100+ listeners joined for an hour-long conversation with the hosts and other listeners. They loved the chance to be a part of the conversation and tune out the rest of the world, for just a few minutes.
