As the world starts opening up, some cities have started organising offline salons again.
The plan is to slowly, but surely go back to how we used to run these before the pandemic in London, the Bay Area, Atlanta, Oxford, Mumbai, Berlin, Los Angeles, Brussels…
In a recent IRL salon hosted by Vivek and Katrina Dela Cruz in Los Angeles, Interintellects got to gather outside and discuss the idea of “Third Places”—spaces that are not home or work, but in which we feel like we could run into a friend and feel a sense of belonging.
IRL salons can be casual meetups or a space for the sort of focused, lively discussions you know from online salons. As host, though, you must communicate such expectations upfront!
Basic Rules
- Offline salons are for now members-only—and so free events. Allowing for plus ones is up to the host’s discretion.
- Hosts for IRL events must send us the physical location—plus other details (e.g., bring blankets, refreshments, etc.)—at least three days before the salon. We will then notify those who RSVP at this stage plus a reminder day-of. If we do not have this information at least three days in advance of the scheduled salon, we will cancel the event.
- It is the host’s responsibility to ensure utmost respect for local COVID measures (number of attendees, indoor vs outdoor, masks, asking for test results, asking for attendees to have been vaccinated, etc.), to be clearly indicated in your salon description on our website with links to official resources.
- Preference for outdoor locations, with parks, pub terraces, people’s gardens, and rooftops as current favourites.
- Platform format followed: bookings, pictures, summary, potential Scribe present, follow-up channel on Discord.
Some of our past IRL meetups around the world:
As for locations, we’re working on longterm partnerships with spaces in the most active cities, but in general, the location of offline salons fall under the host’s responsibility – to choose, book, confirm the space and give clear directions in their event description. Hosts can request a private Discord channel for their offline attendees for better communication.
Interintellect doesn’t pay for deposits or rental fees to venues outside our own network; hosts may do this at their own discretion. As our offline events are currently members-only, hosts should not seek to charge their attendees any contribution to deposits or rental fees.
The ideal place for an ii gathering is a garden or, where it has become possible again, a nice living room. But some of you will choose rooftops and terraces, parks and café lounges. A good thing about the art of conversation is that it can unfold almost anywhere.
As for refreshments, if the salon is in your home, you will be asked to provide these. Please be mindful of possible dietary restrictions. In cafés or bars, people will naturally order for themselves, and in the case of parks, attendees will of course bring their own snacks and drinks. In exceptional cases, e.g., a student fellow hosts at home and can’t afford refreshments, Interintellect can provide extra support.
Important: We reserve the right to ask you to list a planned IRL event online if reliable news sources report of a surge in COVID cases. We also reserve the right to move your event online if between listing it and the planned date the public health situation in your geography has changed. You can also do this, at any time. All this should be explained in the event description where people book.
Feedback and notes about this are most welcome: I have opened a Discord channel called #irl_salons, come look it up!
Join the experiment!
In New York City, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Austin – and London – you can now host hybrid (online + offline) salons!