Hi i've kind of decided one way to get established on this scene would be to organise a Munch. But i have a few questions regarding the logistics, which hopefully previous organisers will be able to help me on.
Here goes
1) What size venue is required, i believe the NW munch was 200 people, would it be ok to organize a smaller venue or is bigger better in this case
2) Do you tell the venue owner what sort of meeting it is or is it non of their business, i wouldn't want to organise an event then have the owner close it down because they didn't agree with the clientele (i believe the croydon munch was over several venues)
3) Is it ok to charge for expenses such as catering, DJ etcetera or does it have to be completely free? Whilst i understand that everyone wants a freebie, food and dj's don't come free.
4) Could it be run as a pub crawl type event, where we just met in a certain town and went from one bar to another without warning the bar owners. This way people would be able to get food etc as they felt fit at each venue.
5) What percentage of drop out is there? if i had a venue for 200 people do i invite 200, 220, 250, 300, 180 becase uninviteds turn up? I would like my venue to be as full as it allowed, would hate to invite 200 people and have 20 turn up!!!
6) Do you arrange stuff to happen at the munch or is it just a relaxed meet people affair, are people announced as they enter or just go in and mingle. are competitions / get to know you games organised or is it very relaxed?
7) Is an exclusive venue best or is it ok to have the it in the meeting room of a bar where you enter via a public area. Don't know how people would feel entering a public bar to enter the private bit
8) Door staff, how do you police the door, volunteers from swinging heaven or door staff from the venue. Do you issue tickets to swinging heaven members or just have a guest list
Thanks in advance for any replies received. I'm sure if this is to become reality many more questions will be posted in the coming weeks. I have contacts in the pub trade having managed a pub for a year and have already been offered a venue but just wondered what the logistics involved were, cheers for your help, Marcus
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General enquiry re organising a Munch
Thanks whoever moved this, i asked 2 helpers which forum it would be best in and each gave a different forum, lol. So i took the plunge, hopefully it will get me some answers and get this munch rolling!
One last question for now, how much time does a munch take to organise, i can probably dedicate an hour a day, did the recent munches take longer than that? was the NW munch a full time job? Thamls in advance for your help and guidance
One last question for now, how much time does a munch take to organise, i can probably dedicate an hour a day, did the recent munches take longer than that? was the NW munch a full time job? Thamls in advance for your help and guidance
Quote by McGuinness
Hi i've kind of decided one way to get established on this scene would be to organise a Munch.
While your ambition to organise a munch is most laudable, you might find the task a lot easier if you become a bit better established, or at least better known, first.
The image of a cart before a horse pops into my mind for some reason.
I am a quite new to SH too. I imagine that if I announced my intention to host a munch many people here would regard the proposal with caution. They would like to know a bit more about me first
There are several ways of becoming known here, the most obvious being through participating in the various forums (I'm still not sure if I should use the word "fora" for the plural here).
Then, of course, there is Chat.
Once you've become known, you may find yourself being invited to various events, such as Munches.
And where better place to find out about munches than at a munch !
You'll find a lot answers to many of the questions you've posed there.
I really hope that I've not sounded patronising in this reply brecause I've stated what appears to be the obvious. That is honestly not my intention. I hope you find this contibution helpful. And I also hope that when you do become more established that you still have the desire to organise a munch. With your connections and enthusiasm I'm sure it will be great success.
I agree with Riff Raff you can be a bit too and my other half Clare are organising one in Notts (information in the lets meet up section),but we were a bit worried at first if we would get many replies,even though Clare is a popular poster on here.
It's not as easy as you first imagine either as were learning,but hopefully the rewards are worth it (most of the other munches being quite a distance from us).If you really want to organise one,get yourself known a bit and then go for it.
It's not as easy as you first imagine either as were learning,but hopefully the rewards are worth it (most of the other munches being quite a distance from us).If you really want to organise one,get yourself known a bit and then go for it.
Sex God
I've been on this site forever and I wouldn't have the first clue how to organise a munch...... hats off to SteveG and Vicky_UK for the huge success of the NW Munch, but I really do think that not everyone is built for that sort of organisation! I have problems enough organising a shopping list 
Quote by McGuinness
Hi i've kind of decided one way to get established on this scene would be to organise a Munch. But i have a few questions regarding the logistics, which hopefully previous organisers will be able to help me on.
Here goes
1) What size venue is required, i believe the NW munch was 200 people, would it be ok to organize a smaller venue or is bigger better in this case
The question is a bit chicken and egg because a lot depends on where you're based. Only two couples turned up for the SW munch, I think the Croydon munch was 10-20 people, the last London munch was 20+ people, the Edinburgh munch was about 30 people, the Mids munch dropped to about 50-60 people because of the Collymore antics, the motel munch I think had 80+ people but not all from Swinging Heaven and the NW munches has been anyhwere between 70 and 200 people. The Nottingham and NE munches look like being big ones. Where are you based?
2) Do you tell the venue owner what sort of meeting it is or is it non of their business, i wouldn't want to organise an event then have the owner close it down because they didn't agree with the clientele (i believe the croydon munch was over several venues)
You need to be as up front about who's attending as possible. Fortunately the owner of the pubs used for the NW munch is swinger friendly and it hasn't been a problem. The biggest problem we have is that the owner of a local club keeps trying to stick his nose in where it's not wanted. If you think being totally honest about it being a site for swingers is going to cause a problem then I would at least tell them that it was a meet for people from an internet site related to adult dating and that some people might be dressed and behave accordingly. Who wants to attend a munch where you get the feeling that you're not wanted as soon as you walk through the door?
3) Is it ok to charge for expenses such as catering, DJ etcetera or does it have to be completely free? Whilst i understand that everyone wants a freebie, food and dj's don't come free.
As long as you're up front and honest about what the costs are and what they're being levied for it shouldn't be a problem. It's up to the individuals if they want to pay or not. Having said that if we get a whiff that the organiser is going to gain financially in any way then the post will be pulled.
4) Could it be run as a pub crawl type event, where we just met in a certain town and went from one bar to another without warning the bar owners. This way people would be able to get food etc as they felt fit at each venue.
That's how the Croydon munch was organised. I think they started off ten pin bowling before visiting a few pubs and grabbing something to eat along the way. I wouldn't recommend it if the numbers are too large though.
5) What percentage of drop out is there? if i had a venue for 200 people do i invite 200, 220, 250, 300, 180 becase uninviteds turn up? I would like my venue to be as full as it allowed, would hate to invite 200 people and have 20 turn up!!!
You will get shrinkage, no doubt about it. One thing I have found on this site though is that once you get to know and trust people then if they say they're gonna go/be somewhere then it's usually a genuine reason if they can't make it. It works both ways though, it helps if they know and trust you as well.
6) Do you arrange stuff to happen at the munch or is it just a relaxed meet people affair, are people announced as they enter or just go in and mingle. are competitions / get to know you games organised or is it very relaxed?
They're all different and it depends how many are going. In general they're a relaxed meet people affair. There's no point organising a disco for six people.
7) Is an exclusive venue best or is it ok to have the it in the meeting room of a bar where you enter via a public area. Don't know how people would feel entering a public bar to enter the private bit.
If there's enough people then I'd recommend an exclusive venue. A separate function room with a baris ideal.
8) Door staff, how do you police the door, volunteers from swinging heaven or door staff from the venue. Do you issue tickets to swinging heaven members or just have a guest list.
Again it depends on how many are going and what the venue is.
Thanks in advance for any replies received. I'm sure if this is to become reality many more questions will be posted in the coming weeks. I have contacts in the pub trade having managed a pub for a year and have already been offered a venue but just wondered what the logistics involved were, cheers for your help, Marcus
Quote by McGuinness
Thanks whoever moved this, i asked 2 helpers which forum it would be best in and each gave a different forum, lol. So i took the plunge, hopefully it will get me some answers and get this munch rolling!
One last question for now, how much time does a munch take to organise, i can probably dedicate an hour a day, did the recent munches take longer than that? was the NW munch a full time job? Thamls in advance for your help and guidance
No it isn't a full time job but be prepared to put a lot of time and effort into it.
Steve
Organising a munch is a lot more complicated than it looks and its not something weve undertaken lightly.
But we have renewed need to make ours a good one after thw NW munch being so damn good,so were gonna work our asses off to make it as good as possible!!
But i wouldnt have dreamed about undertaking such a responsibility when we first joined,people need to get to know you and see that your up to taking something like this also helps for you to get to know the way the site works and the people on here too!!
But we have renewed need to make ours a good one after thw NW munch being so damn good,so were gonna work our asses off to make it as good as possible!!
But i wouldnt have dreamed about undertaking such a responsibility when we first joined,people need to get to know you and see that your up to taking something like this also helps for you to get to know the way the site works and the people on here too!!
Having been to the Croyden munch, and organised a Mini munch down Portsmouth way, munches take a lot more organising than you think. As mentioned the Portsmouth mini munch was based on the format Croyden munch (Which was a multi venue event). We went to a pub, and we didn't mention who we were, we were just another table of social drinkers on a night out 
We had 3 couples attend and a few single guys, so not even in the same league as the NW munch but it was fun. However even for that small number of people there was a lot of chasing around, PM back and forth, and nightly checks on SH regarding the munch. So I cant even imagine how much extra work went into the NW Munch (Hats off to organisers)
Hopefully I will be helping with the Portsmouth Munch II, the return in the next few months. Like Steve said it all comes down to numbers attending, and you will get a lot of drop outs. A large event like the NW Munch is no doubt a major undertaking, but don't underestimate the leg work in even a small munch. You will need to scope out venues, plan the night, put it up with plenty of notice and deal with all the responses. I agree with the earlier posters, I would find your feet a bit more and attend a couple of munches first, then by all means go for it.
We had 3 couples attend and a few single guys, so not even in the same league as the NW munch but it was fun. However even for that small number of people there was a lot of chasing around, PM back and forth, and nightly checks on SH regarding the munch. So I cant even imagine how much extra work went into the NW Munch (Hats off to organisers)
Hopefully I will be helping with the Portsmouth Munch II, the return in the next few months. Like Steve said it all comes down to numbers attending, and you will get a lot of drop outs. A large event like the NW Munch is no doubt a major undertaking, but don't underestimate the leg work in even a small munch. You will need to scope out venues, plan the night, put it up with plenty of notice and deal with all the responses. I agree with the earlier posters, I would find your feet a bit more and attend a couple of munches first, then by all means go for it.
McGuinness wrote:
I've kept quiet until now, hoping to hear more from you about yourself, as most of your 19 posts have been purely about meeting up or munches. I agree very much with the others in here who are urging you to get to know people in here first, I don't know quite what you mean by getting "established on this scene", and I hope I'm misunderstanding you, but the words "vanity project" spring to my mind. For a start, we have munches coming up in London, Nottingham, Newcastle, probably Scotland, as well as other gatherings in Lancashire (for bi/bicurious fems) and in the Midlands (medieval banquet), so the country seems well covered. I'm sure Jah2uk and one or two others would jump for joy if you announced you were organising a munch in South Wales, but don't go hiring Cardiff Arms Park, a fish and chip shop would probably be big enough. You do not even say where you are located, though it seems to be the London area. Maybe you do have good organising skills which could be put to good use in organising a munch, it's very good of you to offer, but I suggest it's far better if for the time being you just pulled up a chair and socialised with the friendly folks here in the cafe.
Mike.
Hi i've kind of decided one way to get established on this scene would be to organise a Munch.
I've kept quiet until now, hoping to hear more from you about yourself, as most of your 19 posts have been purely about meeting up or munches. I agree very much with the others in here who are urging you to get to know people in here first, I don't know quite what you mean by getting "established on this scene", and I hope I'm misunderstanding you, but the words "vanity project" spring to my mind. For a start, we have munches coming up in London, Nottingham, Newcastle, probably Scotland, as well as other gatherings in Lancashire (for bi/bicurious fems) and in the Midlands (medieval banquet), so the country seems well covered. I'm sure Jah2uk and one or two others would jump for joy if you announced you were organising a munch in South Wales, but don't go hiring Cardiff Arms Park, a fish and chip shop would probably be big enough. You do not even say where you are located, though it seems to be the London area. Maybe you do have good organising skills which could be put to good use in organising a munch, it's very good of you to offer, but I suggest it's far better if for the time being you just pulled up a chair and socialised with the friendly folks here in the cafe.
Mike.
