Planning
Cadence
RubyMX runs monthly, usually on the last Thursday of the month. That date can shift by a week or move to a different weekday depending on sponsor availability, but the minimum gap between events is four weeks. That’s enough time to prepare without losing momentum.
Consistency matters more than frequency. Skipping an edition for personal reasons is fine, but a predictable schedule makes it easier for attendees to plan around you.
Event format
A typical RubyMX event starts at 7 PM and runs about two hours, followed by informal networking:
| Time | Segment |
|---|---|
| 7:00 PM | Registration and mingling |
| 7:30 PM | Welcome |
| 7:40 PM | Talk 1 (community member, ~20 min) |
| 8:00 PM | Talk 2 (~20 min) |
| 8:20 PM | Sponsor message (~10 min) |
| 8:30 PM | Closing talk (~30 min) |
| 9:00 PM | Networking |
The registration window doubles as warm-up time: attendees arrive, grab a drink, and meet each other before anything formal starts. Don’t rush it.
Talks follow a consistent structure: the first is from a community member, the second from a representative of the sponsor company, and the closing talk tends to be longer. When coordinating with the sponsor’s speaker, share what kinds of topics your audience responds to. Not every company knows what a tech meetup crowd wants to hear.
There’s no theme for a regular edition. Themes work well for joint events with other communities, but for a monthly meetup, a loose lineup is easier to fill consistently.
Planning timeline
The best time to plan the next event is at the end of the current one. By the time the talks are over, you usually know who’s interested in hosting. Confirm the sponsor, venue, and date on the spot if you can, then announce it to the room.
From there, the order matters:
- Find your community speaker from the speaker pool (see the Speakers section).
- Coordinate with the sponsor to find their speaker.
- Once the first speaker is confirmed, announce the event online and open tickets on Eventbrite.
- Once the second speaker is confirmed, finalize the announcement and, if you are going to stream the talk, see the Recording and Streaming section.
- A couple of days before the event, do a final push: remind your audience and promote the stream.
RubyMX uses one rotating sponsor per event. A single fixed sponsor would be simpler, but the rotating model has a practical advantage: companies are more willing to commit to a one-off sponsorship. If the event goes well, they come back.