So You Want to Plan an MCOC Meet-Up!
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Greetings, Summoner!
We’re excited to have you reading this, because it means you are interested in hosting your own meet-up for your fellow Summoners, to spread the love of MCOC in the real world. Thank you for your passion and dedication to The Contest!
Below you will find information to make your life easier and help you create the most fun and successful meet-up possible! Consider this guide your ‘Events 101’ intro class! It will cover off:
1. Venue selection
2. Event promotion
3. During the event
4. After the event
5. Code of Conduct for events
Read on, because we are so amped up to see what you can create with all of this!
We’re excited to have you reading this, because it means you are interested in hosting your own meet-up for your fellow Summoners, to spread the love of MCOC in the real world. Thank you for your passion and dedication to The Contest!
Below you will find information to make your life easier and help you create the most fun and successful meet-up possible! Consider this guide your ‘Events 101’ intro class! It will cover off:
1. Venue selection
2. Event promotion
3. During the event
4. After the event
5. Code of Conduct for events
Read on, because we are so amped up to see what you can create with all of this!
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Choosing a setting for your meetup is perhaps one of the most important choices to make! It will help set the tone of the meet-up, and possibly determine how many people show up. Some questions to ask yourself:
1. What kind of event do you want to host? Just a social hang-out, or an event where people gather to play the game together?Will your location have wifi that your fellow Summoners can access?
2. Do you want to host an all ages event (for ages 13+, as required by various regulatory boards in order to play MCOC), or do you want to host an event focused on adults only?
3. How many people do you want to show up? How many people do you think might show up?
4. Do you want to live stream your event? If so, what’s the lighting like at your venue? If wifi isn’t available, will the venue owner allow one person to have access to wifi (you) so that you CAN live stream?)
5. Will you try to get MCOC up on big screens? If so, does your venue have tvs? Do you have cables to sync gameplay from a device to television?
6. Will food and drinks be available at your venue? One of the best ways for strangers to bond with each other is over food or drinks, so it’s something to consider!
Based on these questions, and depending on your answer, it’s good to look for these things in a venue. Look for a location that...
1. is in a safe neighborhood, and accessible by public transit (where relevant) for those that do not own a car
2. is accessible by wheelchair
3. has good cell phone reception or will allow people to use the wifi
4. you can make a reservation with in advance. If the venue does not allow reservations, it’s probably not well suited to a meet-up
5. does not display profane, sexist, racist or bigoted signage or memorabilia
6. has decent lighting and a space for at least one group photo
7. has a bathroom (you might laugh but… you never know who needs reminding of this!)
If you build it, they will come! Buuuut…. You gotta tell them about it first, so they know to come. You’ve picked your date, you’ve confirmed with the venue, and you’re now ready to tell the world about the awesome meetup you’re organizing!
General tips:
1. Give people lots of notice! At least 2 weeks is often ideal
2. Yell it from the rooftops! Post it in many places as you can:
3. Post semi-frequently. Some Summoners may miss your first announcement, but see subsequent posts. Some Summoners may be immediately excited about your event, but forget once it gets closer to the date of your event. Don’t let them accidentally miss out!
4. Be sure to use images in your announcements. We’ve created some handy files that you can use, <link> or you can get extra creative and make your own!
Social Media Tips:
You can view a list of sample social media posts <here>, if you’re not sure where to start on this!
1. Be sure to use the hashtag #SummonerSociety so that Summoners and Kabam alike can see your posts!
2. Use images whenever possible, to draw attention to your posts and create further hype. We’ve created some image templates that you can find <here>
3. You can also create your own hashtag unique to your event, and have every Summoner that attends and shares photos on social media to use it. Be sure they use both! A good tip for hashtags is to make them as short as possible, and to make them super relevant. IE #SeattleMCOC or #ParisMCOCcrew along with #SummonerSociety
4. Use a ‘link shortener’ whenever you need to link something, so that you can save space on text. Bitly.com is a great one! Bonus: if you create a Bitly account it will even tell you how many people have clicked on your link!
5. Always make it incredibly easy for your fellow Summoners to find information about your event. Link to the places where you are promoting it. Include all necessary information. Don't make them do any legwork when trying to find out more about the awesome meet-up you're hosting!
First - bask in the glory that was your meet-up! Hopefully you had a great time and you’re feeling energized after meeting your fellow Summoners and talking all things MCOC. Then:
Post a thank-you to everyone that came!
Share your photos and videos online - on your social channels, here in the Events Forum and to any other channels you used to promote the event. This will be a great way for those that attended to reminisce, and will serve as encouragement to others to attend future events! We want to be able to see all the fun everyone had!
This might not sound like the most exciting part of an event, but a code of conduct is integral to ensuring that everyone feels happy, safe, and has a great time! As someone organizing a meet-up, it’s up to you to set the best example for other Summoners, and be a guiding light when it comes to ideal behavior. Our suggestions for what to adopt are as follows:
Event Code of Conduct
1. Event organizers cannot engage in nor encourage racist, sexist, ableist, bigoted behavior - whether in online discussions or in content they create. This includes making any comment that could be perceived as reflecting political, racist, sexist, religious, prejudice towards sexual orientation or other bias.
2. Event organizers must actively discourage such behavior both at their events, as well as in online discussions about their event.
3. Event organizers should never engage in the of harassment of other players, or targeted harassment against other player groups online (this includes targeted harassment of Kabam employees, other Content Creators, or fellow players)
4. Event organizers should actively discourage the harassment of others as well
5. Event organizers cannot encourage or provide instructions for hacking, cheating or any other terms of service violations
6. Event organizers cannot imply a formal working relationship or endorsement by Marvel or Kabam of their online content
7. Event organizers must clearly state in promotional materials that the event they are running is a ‘fan run’ event
Event organizers should not engage in or tacitly encourage illegal activities of any kind
8. Event organizers cannot disparage any person, business, place or group including Marvel, it’s employees or its competitors. Note that this differs from constructive criticism - which IS welcome and encouraged. We want to foster thoughtful critical feedback that helps fellow players and Kabam.
Event organizers must:
1. Choose a location that is safe and welcoming
2. Encourage a positive and all-inclusive environment
3. Clearly state they have no formal affiliation with Marvel or Kabam
4. Follow any and all laws related to their own geographical locations
5. Provide full disclosure to their audiences if they ever receive information or rewards for their event directly from Kabam