how to run an effective community meetup for e-⁠residents

EERICA’s local meetup guide provides tips and support for e-⁠residents to organize effective community events wherever you are.

The Estonian e-residents International Chamber Association (better known as EERICA) is a non-profit organisation (a registered MTÜ in Estonia) that unites e-⁠resident entrepreneurs across the world, independently represents their interests, and helps them do more business with Estonia and with each other. EERICA is a decentralized organization with membership and a secretariat spanning the globe, and so most of our activities take place online. Indeed, this is something we have in common with so many e-⁠residents running location-independent businesses. 

Despite our largely digital identities as e-⁠residents, there’s something really special about in-person meetups. And if you’ve ever been to a meetup of e-⁠residents, you know what we’re talking about! 

This is why EERICA recently launched our Local Meetup Guide. The aim is to make it as easy as possible for you to run a meetup wherever you live or visit. It may sound intimidating to host one for the first time, but if you’re an EERICA member, you have a community of helpful members to back you up. And if not, it’s easy and cheap (€5) to join!

The EERICA Local Meetup Guide sets out key things to think about when organizing an e-⁠resident community event - from event format to promotion, and potential assistance. In this article, I’ll introduce the guide and some of my top tips and strategies on how to run an effective meetup.

EERICA Local Meetup Guide - Top tips for a tip-top event

Event Format

Most of our local meetups are extremely informal, and there are multiple formats to choose from.

The most informal event is to make a reservation for around a dozen people at a bar and see who shows up. This works surprisingly well. Just schedule ~2 hours and a group will show up!

If you are able to work remotely or take an afternoon off, another great option is to have an informal coffee/tea before dinner and drinks. I like this format because it avoids having to plan for dinner with an unknown number of guests. 

A third idea is to plan an activity together! A relaxing activity like a cruise, beer tasting, or a hike can be a great way to get people together. Use your imagination.

And of course, if you are interested in organizing a more formal event, several EERICA members have had good success running events at coworking centers, business hubs, and at Estonian embassies. So get in touch - details below!

Once you’ve decided on the format of your event, select your event venue, name your date and time, and outline a rough schedule, including lots of time for networking and conversation.

Promoting the event

EERICA can help you promote your event and ensure its success! But you need to get the word out in advance. We’d recommend letting the EERICA community know as soon as you have plans finalized so that we can get the word out. Note that many communications only go out monthly, so be sure to account for this. See the Local Meetup Guide for your main promotional responsibilities in this regard!

Members of EERICA can use our logo to promote your event on your platform of choice or for any visual assets - it’s downloadable in multiple formats in the guide.

Figure out a way to promote the event in your channels and handle registration so you can limit the size and/or plan accordingly. Use whatever makes the most sense for your area. We’ve seen Facebook events, Eventbrite, and Meetup.com work for members in the past.

Conversation starters

Whatever your event, as the host it’s a good idea to give a short welcome to the participants. Nothing long or formal, but at the very least your name and what you do, and outlining the meetup schedule. I’ve found that offering an anecdote about my e-⁠Residency experience or offering some news about the programme or EERICA is often a great conversation starter. 

In any case, you don’t need to stress out about having to start conversations. Even if you’re not a natural conversation starter, once you get a few people around a table (especially e-⁠resident entrepreneurs!) conversations will happen naturally. You just need to be there to give everyone a reason to show up!

Assistance available

If your event costs money to host, EERICA has some funds set aside to help.

We can currently offer assistance up to €150 per event, but make sure to check with the treasurer (email to treasurer@eerica.ee) to get approval in advance before booking anything.

Author and Contacts

This article introducing the EERICA Local Meetup Guide was contributed by e-⁠Residency Community Leader and EERICA Board Member Ian Wagner.

Ian has been an e-resident since 2016 and is a co-founder of Funktional, Stadia Maps and Emerald Foundry. If you have any questions about running an e-resident local meetup, feel free to ask Ian on Discord, or send an email to ian.wagner@eerica.ee.