After 6 years associated with the Canberra IA Cocktail Hour group, and eighteen months or more in the co-coordinator’s seat, I thought it was time I wrote about running a successful IA Cocktail Hour program.
“Success” is a loaded word - for me, it means 8-12 people turning up once a month and all feeling that it was worthwhile. Whatever success we’ve had as a group comes down to a few key points:
- interest,
- coordination, and
- networking.
Interest
I know it sounds trite, but without sufficient interest, there can be no Cocktail Hours. That said, the level of enthusiasm does not have to be universal across the group - if you have two or three people that really want to see it happen, then they will inspire others.
What you’re looking for are the people who care enough to engage with others - people who are already coordinating events, who know a lot of people, who want to make a difference.
Coordination
Coordination is also vital - but I’d have to say that there is a perfect middle ground between being totally organised and completely relaxed. In Canberra I think it is fairly safe to say that we tend more to relaxation than organisation because everyone is very busy here - yet thanks to the magnificent efforts of a few brave souls, we keep going.
Items that require coordination are:
- Venue,
- Sponsorship,
- Notifications, and
- Lining speakers up.
We tend to rotate between venues here - Cocktail Hours are hosted at the SMS office at the Airport, Stamford office at Fyshwick, and Eureka Strategic Research in Dickson. Our overheads (i.e. necessity for sponsorship) are low, in that the hosting organisation supplies beverages and nibbles. We haven’t had a dearth of speakers either - for which we are grateful - because we seem blessed with an abundance of IA/UX/UCD talent.
Networking
Networking is really important, especially when you’re getting started. Networking opportunities include:
- laterally with other Cocktail Hours and IA Peers groups - Eric Scheid coordinates the Sydney IA Peers group.
- vertically with potential sponsors/hosts.
- horizontally with other web-related groups and events such as WSG, WIPA, and WebBlast.
The process
If the Canberra group had to start from scratch and do it all again, this is one possible scenario process:
- Get the interested people together and get them excited about it.
- Talk to potential sponsors - chances are, the interested people work for the best potential sponsors (that is, they are probably employing IAs now, and probably looking to employ more if it is anything like the Canberra market at the moment).
- Set a date and advertise the heck out of it.
- Discuss the future of the group at the first meeting and line up six months worth of speakers.
- Wash, rinse, repeat (in other words, just keep doing it).
That is about all there is to it - a little perspiration, a lot of love, and a few glasses of wine. Try it, you’ll probably enjoy it too 
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