So, no big surprise here.  This post is about an event– an online to offline event.  A TweetUp – which, as everyone who’s met me knows, is something that I am passionate about – after all, I am the co-founder of BostonTweetUp.  But not just any TweetUp, this one was different.  On Tuesday evening, hundreds (900 registered) of young VCs, entrepreneurs, and general technology enthusiasts gathered at Scholars and spilled over to another bar, Four Green Fields, in downtown Boston.  This was not your normal TweetUp- it was a full out riot – A #RubyRiot.

(via @VICTORIAeSONG)

Bear in mind, the weather has not been so great in Boston – it was cold AND raining, yet people still waited in line to attend the event.

(via @joshhemsley)

So, what  is a #RubyRiot?  According to the creators, CEOs Matt Lauzon (@mattlauzon), of  Gemvara (@gemvara),  Cort Johnson (@cortlandt), of BloggerOffer (@BloggerOffer), and  John Clark (@ajohnclark) of MessageAMP (@messageAMP):

#RubyRiot is an event for people who want to make
great connections and celebrate innovation in Boston.

The goal – “to bring people from all walks of life together – students, CEOs, investors, and politicians.”  Basically, you scratch my back, I’ll scratch yours.  If you want to meet someone, and I know that someone, I will set up the meeting and vice versa.  I especially enjoyed the tongue-in-cheek invite: “You are cordially invited to a riot” – an obvious juxtaposition of civility and pandemonium.

So how did this work?  Below is a screenshot of the sign-up

And, just to get a better idea of the nature of the event, here are a few of the requests that came through on the event site:

I want to be introduced to…

  • developers/advisors
  • passionate people
  • the next big thing
  • a startup who needs help with their marketing
  • angel investors
  • badass startup entrepreneurs
  • interns
  • techie sports fans
  • a startup partner
  • jewelry designers
  • rioters

So, why was #RubyRiot such a hit amongst Bostonian Tweeps?  I attribute the success to three main selling points.

1. The concept was Simple. Pay it forward.  Need someone? Ask.  Know someone? Make it happen.

(via @MattGiffune)

2. The hashtag was Mysterious. Mystery and buzz go hand in hand.  Just the question “what does #RubyRiot mean” made people check out the site and register for the event. (via @dkarmano, @gnosisarts, @ezra802, @adam_e)

3. The event had a Community Focus.  The altruist in us all wants to help our fellow man (or fellow Tweeps).

(via@andrewrosenthal)

As a TweetUp organizer, I have always felt that although events are generally measured in what happens during the success highly depends on what is done before, even months/years before event.  I have identified several key success factors, many of which added to #RubyRiot’s success:

  • Name – Mysterious, generated buzz
  • Location – held at a new location, near the T, parking, close to businesses for afterwork crowd
  • Day (of week) – little competition “
  • Hosts – three well-known members of the Boston social scene
  • Weather – this may have actually detracted from the event – as I mentioned, 900 registrants, but several hundred less attended
  • Competition (the day / week / months ) – again, Tuesday evening and more importantly there have very little big networking events in the past few weeks.
  • Theme – here, community focus, give to get, etc
  • Marketing / Promo / Word of Mouth – again, buzz factor

Lastly and more importantly #RubyRiot might seem like an anomy however it is just another example of the growing trend in Boston of Big Networking Tweetups.

Almost on the 2 year anniversary of Boston’s first major tweetup, #RoofUp, put together by the then Northeastern College Student Sarah Merian (@SaraMerian), and a few months after the 2nd Annual #MegaTweetUp, #RubyRiot provide another example of how in this Online obsessed world Face-to-Face networking is not going anywhere soon.

The Question is not If #RubyRiot can be done again, it’s when will it be done again and who will put it together?

-Joselin Mane,  451 Marketing Social Media Strategist