Invitation & Follow up

Try to send out the invitation about 2-3 weeks in advance, asking people to attend, explaining the concept. The invite will include the topic, the provoking question, and pre-readings so people can start thinking in advance. Ask everyone to send a 2 line biography. People can write whatever they want some write funny, some write professional. Just leave it up to them. Do not send out a paperless post of generic email, invite everyone, one by one, through your personal email. It make it more intimate, is more likely to engender a response, and gives them space to ask questions about the content etc.

Send 1-2 reminder notes to people one week before and then again the night before. These notes are sent out to the entire group with everyone bcced. The night before send out the final reminder, the bios of everyone, and the location and time of the salon.

Finally, following up after the salon is key. The next day write a note to all the participants on cc so they can have one another’s emails. Thank them for attending and add one or two lines on what you took away from the evening.