I’ve received a few emails from folks asking about my motivation for starting the DC Flacks happy hour, how I organize it, get folks to show up each month, and if they can copy the format in their town. Well, sure! And I’m happy to help! Here’s how DC Flacks came to be (feel free to plagiarize as much or as little as you want):

I like talking to strangers. Dave and I moved to DC last May. I was new to this city and needed a way to meet my fellow public relations and public affairs pros. So, I declared a happy hour and folks actually showed up. At first, there were just a handful of us. Then Twitter word-of-mouth took over; we had 40 folks in January and nearly 60 in February. Out of my purely selfish desire to meet new folks, DC Flacks was born. If you like talking to strangers, you’re gonna do great as a ___ Flacks host/hostess.

I heart Meetup.com. I had accompanied Dave on various adventures of the Nashville Photography Meetup that he founded back in 2006, so I was familiar with the concept. You don’t have to use Meetup to organize your happy hour, of course, but if you want to, here’s how: Read More…