Anyone can host a Scratch Educator Meetup, regardless of their level of Scratch 'expertise'. When creating your organizing team, we have two requests. First, because meetups take a fair amount of work, we ask that each team has at least two organizers—and we strongly recommend three. Second, meetups are teacher-centered events. To honor this, we also ask that each team includes at least one teacher organizer.

​There are many details to keep track of as a meetup organizer. Having three people lightens the amount of work for each organizer and creates a more joyful experience for all. For example, one person might enjoy spending time promoting the meetup and reaching out to potential collaborators, while another may be more drawn to setting up the event space, and another, finding food. With three organizers, it is easy to assign each person a meaningful and manageable set of tasks.

We estimate that collectively, organizers will put in between 10–15 hours per meetup. The bulk of your time (5–10 hours) will be spent preparing for the event: reaching out to sponsors for food, securing a location, promoting the event, and sending an email reminder to participants. 2–3 hours will be spent hosting the event, and 1–2 hours will be allocated to cleaning up and debriefing the event.

Typically, organizers will host between 4–8 Meetups throughout the academic year. When it comes to turnout, consistency is key. We've found that hosting quarterly meetups can really strike this balance. Because of this, organizers are asked to host at least four meetups throughout the year.

Our team has created a Meetup Organizer Guide to walk you through every step of the organizing process. Reading through this guide will provide you with all the scaffolding you need to get started.

Our team will create your page through our Meetup Pro account after we have spoken and decided on the format for your event. A meetup page under our Pro account costs $15 per site per month—a cost which we gladly cover.

We created the Scratch Educator Meetup Kit as a way to onboard new meetup locations with the materials you'll need to host your first few meetups. Kits include sticky notes, signs, name tags, ice-breakers and more. We will send out Meetup Kits after your first four meetups have been published to Meetup.com.

We are committed to making sure organizers are equipped with the tools necessary to successfully run a meetup. You can find a host of resources including promotional materials, email templates, stickers, contact forms, ice breakers, and more here.