:)

Looking forward to SMB4! :)

Yes, think chairs are necessary, but it might work better to cluster them closer together. This time with the chairs so far apart, it was difficult to talk to anyone more than 2 seats away.

(2) Thoughts on color tagging to help identify individuals? How do we group the guests since the group is so diverse?

I liked this idea – clearly identified the different groups present. But the tags were small and I ended up not noticing them. Maybe the sticker itself that people write their names on can be colour coded?

(3) How to encourage guests to arrive on time? And how to encourage those who RSVP to eventually turn up for the event?

Personally find 10am on a Saturday a little too early.

(4) How can we improve future SMB sessions? (This is actually the most important question out of the four!)

Personally what I enjoy most is meeting people I’ve been reading/following online. To facilitate this, maybe a speed dating concept where people rotate groups after say 10 minutes? And rotate based on categories (like food – prata-lovers one corner, pasta-lovers another; hobbies – divers one place, shoppers another; favourite cities, etc) – helps connect people with similar interests. This might be too ‘structured’ though.

Btw, I LOL-ed seeing your pic of the empty room – you really were there early! I feel doubly bad for being late now, and will work on above point 3 for the next SMB… =)

maybe u might want to have the chairs near the wall giving space in the centre for interaction, but of copusre that means if u going to have a speech then u’ll need to re-arrange the seats

(2) Thoughts on color tagging to help identify individuals? How do we group the guests since the group is so diverse?

colour to mark speakers is fine if not other then that it would seem abit cliquish? [groups? erm something like dat?]

(3) How to encourage guests to arrive on time? And how to encourage those who RSVP to eventually turn up for the event?

~first 100 get a goodie bag LOL [singaporean style XD] hrm give added items for those who RSVPed XD

(4) How can we improve future SMB sessions? (This is actually the most important question out of the four!)

make people pay for the food XD and put it futher from the enterance? XD

hrm i might attend the next one just to gain some knowledge XD

Nice post! Glad to see that you guys liked the location. Some thoughts on your questions:

Chairs – A must! Especially for an event which is 3-hour long.

Colour tagging – Not useful, I forgot what the colours meant after a while. Was randomly chatting with people without really looking at the colours on their tags.

Punctuality – Perhaps early birds (say the first 30) get a freebie? I’ll say no to getting attendees to pay…for now. :P

Just my two-cents worth. Cheers!