***READ THIS BEFORE POSTING*** About This Page:

[Chrissi]

Greetings and salutations, Backyard visitors!

Posting your first event or meet can seem intimidating. I'd like to open this discussion up to PassPorters who have hosted events in the past to make suggestions about what they think makes a good meet and how to figure out the who, what, where, and why of it all.

First, before you post a suggestion for a meet, check the Checking Itineraries: Adventure Dates and Plans forum to see who's traveling when you are. (Post your travel info there if you haven't yet!) Send them PMs to see if they're interested in a meet and, later, you can invite them to come to the Backyard to see your event invite. Checking Itineraries is the place for monthly roll call threads. Please do not post these in the Backyard forum. Posting the same thing in two places puts strain on our servers!

Second, check the Backyard forum to make sure there's nothing planned for the time and date you choose.

Third, when you post your meet, suggest a time, date and location. This provides a starting point. If another time/date/location works better for more people, it can be worked out in the thread. If the time and date you post are the only time you're available, make it known in your original post that those details are firm for the event you're hosting.

These are guidelines to make it easier for you to plan and host an event. The guidelines are slightly different for December Gatherings/MouseFest. We have public/MouseFest events that are open to everyone that go on our MouseFest master schedule and the MouseFest.org master schedule (these you'll have to PM to me to add to the schedule and submit to MouseFest.org to be posted on their site). We also have PassPorter/semi-private events. These do not go on the MouseFest.org schedule and can be posted in MouseFest Corner for PassPorters to view. To add it to our master MouseFest/Gatherings schedule, just drop me a PM asking me to include your info on our master schedule.

Members, Guides, Event Hosts...what advice would you give to members looking to suggest or host their first meet?