Host an event with Room for More
Have something you'd like to bring people together for? A walk, a games night, or something else is a fine starting point. You can also try co-hosting first.
Martin approves each account before it can host or use AI planning, so he knows who is taking part. Once approved, the planning portal brings your idea, plans and follow-up into one private conversation with the Room for More AI assistant. It works under rules and oversight set by Martin, and replies may take time.
Sending an idea doesn't commit you to hosting, reserve a venue or publish an event. Those steps need their own agreement.
Already approved? Open event planning
Use the email address Martin knows. If you have team access but are waiting for hosting approval, sign in at the team page first.
Want to get started? Ask about hosting
Send Martin a few lines about your idea, or say you'd like to try co-hosting. Include your name and the email you use to sign in, so he can connect your idea to your account. You don't need a finished plan or previous hosting experience. Creating an account or joining the team doesn't approve hosting on its own.
Helping out: the guides
Room for More is run by people from the community. This is the guide library, not a course: I send only the few links a particular task needs. If you are coming to help at one evening, the one-page co-host guide is enough to start. If you are not sure where you fit, Ways to help is the two-minute map. Everything is readable without signing in and prints cleanly if you want a PDF.
You only need the guide for what you'd like to try. The hosting invitation above is the place to start if you'd like to talk about an idea.
Put your hand up to host
Pick a night if you already know which one. Leaving them all unticked is fine too. I will talk with you before any task or team access is added.
How it works, start to finish
- We talk about what you'd like to do. Not knowing yet is normal, and the roles overview below is written for exactly that.
- Once we agree a specific task, you get only the team Slack, portal and guide access that task needs. Some one-off help needs no new account at all.
- Your first task is small and clear: what needs doing, when we check in, and where it goes when it is done. If life gets in the way, you can pause. One task never quietly becomes a permanent job. Time-sensitive or guest-facing work also names who takes over if you cannot do it.
- If somebody else needs the result, put it in #finished-work. Event hosting closes out in the portal instead. Handing things over explains this when you need it.
- If it works for both of us, we can agree what you do next. More trust in one kind of work does not quietly give you responsibility or access somewhere else.
The one rule through all of it: ask me first before anything that spends money, agrees something with a venue or partner, publishes a fact that is not already on the current event page, makes a new promise in our name, shares somebody's private information, or changes who can access what. If your task is to promote an event, you can use facts already on its current event page without waiting.
If somebody may be unsafe, take reasonable protective action first and call the host or me. Do not wait for permission.
One for each job
Read only the one for what you're doing. The co-hosting guide is the lightest start for helping at a night; nobody is expected to read all eight.
- Co-hosting a night
Everything you need to come and be the second pair of hands at an evening. One page, and nothing to read before it.
- Hosting basics
The short version of running a night: arriving, warming up a room, wrapping up.
- Owning a night
Primary-host and backup-host responsibilities, including the lines around money and cancellations.
- Communications and marketing
The weekly upcoming-events rhythm, recaps, media route, and what you can put out without asking.
- Admin and partnerships
Chasing venues and partners: how to write to one, and the line that never moves whatever they say.
- Events and operations
Getting an event from idea to ready: the prep, the kit, and the planning board of what needs a name on it.
- Moderation and safety
Looking after the room and the group chats. You never need permission to protect somebody.
- Product and technology
Planned, not open yet: the GitHub contribution path after a separate contributor-safe workspace exists.
Shared guides
Useful across different jobs, but not a reading assignment. There are four here, about 20 minutes in total; use only what your task needs.
- Community code
The house rules for events and the chats. Hosts carry them, and anyone can read them.
- What we stand for
Why this exists, what we will not do, and how the money works. Worth it when you want the whole picture.
- Handing things over
Where finished work goes, what finished means, and a shape you can paste. Use it when another person needs the result.
- Ways to help
The five areas, how to start lightly, and why interest, access and responsibility stay separate.
Look these up when you need them
Detail and on-the-night lookups. Not homework, and not meant to be read start to finish.
- Host quick reference
One page to keep open on your phone on the night.
- Hosting, the long version
Everything Martin has picked up, in one place. Skim it, then come back to it.
- When something goes wrong
What to do at an event when it stops being fun: the shape of it, the numbers to call, and the backing you have.
If you're already helping
The team area has the rest: the weekly brief, what's coming up, and documents shared with your role. Same login as the rest of the site, and I add people to the team list by hand, so message me if it says you're not on it.