Meet and Greet hosts making introductions?

[cpleply 15]

Wondering what others think about the role of a host at a meet and greet. It seems many of them are organized so people that already know each other can all get together again. It really starts to feel like high school all over again with the cliques. We are not newbies and we know it is on us to put ourselves out there but not everybody feels comfortable walking into a new social setting like that. In our opinion, if you have organized the event, you should know who the new people are beforehand and seek them out.

[AskMeOk 148]

I would agree and I think the host(ess) has a responsibility to do the introductions. We get to know people before they come to our house parties, then we can steer them towards folks that we feel they would be comfortable with.

[funcoupledayton 2,708]

We have hosted a meet and greet every month for about the past 4 years. I agree partially with what you are saying.

 

We stand at the door for the first hour to greet everyone and run an icebreaker game. If new people come on time and don't run past us, then we are welcoming to them. Some people self sabotage and refuse to make eye contact or say hello to us or they come after the game is over. Then they sit alone and complain they didn't meet anyone.

 

After the first hour we do our own thing. We don't make any money from hosting and it is quite time consuming to organize and promote. We feel like the extent of our responsibility is organize, provide a safe, comfortable venue and encourage people to meet. So after the first hour we generally we hang out and dance and kiss on our regular friends. If we notice new people floundering we will talk to them and introduce them to people. I also have a few helpers and I will send them over to help new people.

 

At our meet and greets we definitely have a large group of "regulars". I would say we have at least 5 new couples every month, 15-20 regular couples (almost every month) and 20-25 occasional couples. We also have a handful of single guys and girls. I have everyone open face pics to me and they rsvp, so I do try to remember the new ones to be able to recognize them. That is variable though, some pics are really outdated or blurry. Plus, I'm trying to remember all our regulars and drink enough to be outgoing.

 

With our group we generally get good feedback from new people and they become regulars or occasionals. We do sometimes get complaints, but you can't please everyone, and sometimes there are good reasons that people don't fit in well.

 

I would suggest if you don't like the way a meet and greet is run, offer in a kind way to help. Maybe you can be a greeter and reach out to other new people. If they don't do an icebreaker, maybe offer to run one.

 

You could also start a newbie group and have your own thing. It's probably best not to host the same night as the regular meet and greet.

 

I'd like to hear more specifics about the group you went to. What happened that made you feel the organizers were not open to new people and that there were cliques?

[cpleply 15]

I'd like to hear more specifics about the group you went to. What happened that made you feel the organizers were not open to new people and that there were cliques?

 

The meets we are talking about are at local bars / restaurants.........not a take over, the organizers usually let the bar know a group is coming. We can spot the couples coming in that are there because of the M&G, they then break off into their own groups. Its tough to break into a group already formed, like high school. I didnt say they were not interested in meeting new people, I am saying they need to be aware that new people are there and they organized the event. The last one we went to, we never saw the host and hostess......they were probably sitting at a table with friends.

 

Again, we dont put all the blame on the host, we know we should do a better job of meeting people. We just think that if you want the title of "event host" on your profile, you should actually earn it.

[Caliente08 15]

We went to our first meet and greet this weekend. I sent the host a note beforehand asking her to look out for us because we are new, don't know anyone. The hosts never introduced themselves, we met some people who were welcoming, but we expected the hostess to at least say hi to us. Is that too much to expect?

[AskMeOk 148]

No... that was, by far, a reasonable expectation. In my book, they were just outrageously rude..... we just met a couple that accomplished much they same feat and are, now, indelibly penned into our fecal roster. I hope you met some nice people there and move on past this couple....

[funcoupledayton 2,708]

We went to our first meet and greet this weekend. I sent the host a note beforehand asking her to look out for us because we are new, don't know anyone. The hosts never introduced themselves, we met some people who were welcoming, but we expected the hostess to at least say hi to us. Is that too much to expect?

 

My opinion as a long-time monthly meet and greet host.

 

I think it is too much to expect. You are one couple out of many attending their gathering. At our meet and greets we may have 10 to 20 new couples. If they don't make a point to introduce themselves they might get missed. I have a very organized, polished system, but many people hosting are just starting out or not as organized. This is not a paid job and is pretty time consuming to run.

 

Did they reply back agreeing? Maybe they didn't even get your email? I get a ton of messages the week of meet and greet.

 

Did you arrive on time?

 

Did you ask the people you met or the bartender to introduce you to the hosts?

 

I know that as hosts we do our best to meet everyone, we greet at the entrance, but after 9pm when our game is done, we go socialize. We also won't introduce ourselves to anyone who doesn't walk up to us. We host in a public bar. If I'm not sure I can recognize someone from their face pics, I won't approach them.

 

Personally, I think it is your responsibility to seek out the hosts if they are not stationed at a specific place. Introduce yourself and thank them for putting the event together.

[GoldCoCouple 4,068]

Did you say hi to the hostess? If they don't know that you are the one who sent the email, then they can't try and help. If you did, then that was very rude on their part for not helping out with at least giving you a tour and making you feel more comfortable. But if you didn't let them know who you were, then this is on you... Sorry about your poor experience and hope that you give it a second chance.