Getting Started

Things to remember

• Failure is an option -- albeit an unlikely one. It's important to embrace this; if you accept that you're participating in a big experiment, the pressure will lessen and you'll enjoy planning your event!
• The less planning you do, oftentimes the better the event is.
• Distribute as much ownership of the event as possible. While central planners and catalyzers are necessary to push things forward, the more people you can spread the responsibility to, the better -- for you, for the event and for the other participants!
• Join the Entrepreneur Camp discussion board and ask all the questions you might have there (also feel free to look at past discussion threads). That way the replies are all in a public place where everyone else can see the answers.

   

Adding your event to the wiki

• First, review using the Entrepreneur Camp Wiki, then...
• Create an account with PBWiki if you haven't already done so, and log in.
• Create a set of new pages for your Entrepreneur Camp:
  1. Click on the "Create a page" link
  2. Make sure you put your page in the "New Cities" folder (eventually an administrator will create a folder for your city)
  3. Update each new page with your relevant city information (don't forget to update the hyperlinks)
• Add a link to your main city page to the Front Page
• Email us to announce your Entrepreneur Camp on the Entrepreneur Camp Twitter account.

Set up communications

• Set up some type of mailing list / discussion board for each city planning team and make sure you to add a link to it on your city's home page.
• Blog, Email, IRC, wiki and document everything! Seriously, the more transparent and communicative you are about your Entrepreneur Camp, the more successful you'll be.
• Set up your own Twitter and Facebook accounts to help get the word out to your relevant audience!

Next Steps

Find a venue

• This is definitely the hardest part of the process. Venue donations are ideal!
• Ideal venue will have at least 4 rooms  to be used for sessions and one large room for introductions / meals / socializing / etc.

Pick a date

• Once you've got a place picked out, figure out when you want your event to happen. Planning time for an Entrepreneur Camp can range from 3-9 weeks depending on the number of volunteers and amount of free time they have.
• You also need to pick the timing of your event. Most camps traditionally start in the morning and end in the early afternoon, with a social gathering or happy-hour afterwards.

Spread the word

• For the time being, please send any requests to our email account or message us on twitter about your event.
• Set up an presence for your event on Facebook, Upcoming, LinkedIn, Twitter, and any other local event calendar websites.

Costs

Create a budget

• Create a budget to organize all your costs and make sure someone is responsible for each item on the budget.

Sponsors

• Sponsor participation: Try to focus on (local) sponsors who can actually attend and participate in some way.
• Level playing field: Treat ALL sponsors equally, no matter the size of their contribution.
  • Don't give sponsors that contribute more money any "benefits" over sponsors who make smaller contributions.
  • This is great because it means that no one "owns" Entrepreneur Camp, and we get to keep the great community vibe.
  • Another reason this is a good idea: The little guys (startups, individuals) can contribute on a level playing field with the big guys (LinkedIn, Facebook, Plaxo etc.).
• Diversity: Many small sponsors are better than a few big ones.
• Encourage in-kind donations: Request that sponsors order food and other food stuff directly, minimizing the organizer's duties and responsibilities as well as the amount of money they touch.
• Transparency: List all incoming donations (cash and in-kind) as well as all outgoing costs on the wiki.

Ticket "Sales"

• EventBrite has been a successful way to make tickets available to participants, as well as to collect payment from sponsors. Email us to gain access to the Entrepreneur Camp Eventbrite account.
• Unless special events during a specific camp call for, general admission to the event should be free. 

Resources

Entrepreneur Camp Logo

Everything else

• The rest you make up yourself. It's not meant to be complicated, so if you find yourself stressing, step back, realize that you're doing it for you and your community and that it's supposed to be fun! Stress probably means you're overthinking it and need to simplify.
• Check out the Entrepreneur Camp Discussion Board to get community support.