How to List Your ii Event

Congratulations on listing your ii event!

  • First timer? Create your host account for free here.

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When submitting a new Salon listing on the website, please follow the guidelines below.

Let’s use Cameron Harwick’s debut Salon as an example. Here is a screenshot of the event listing:

On the submission page, there are nine fields to fill. We’ll cover each of them. You can use the table of contents to jump to a specific section.

1. Salon Title

Make your title memorable and not too long!

Note that the capitalisation of titles in English is its own thing. Please follow this guide.

2. Salon Description

Many things go in the Salon description: the intro sentence, the main text, the reading list, etc.

2.1. Intro sentence

Make this maximum two lines, clear, and bold. Include your name, that this is a Salon, Workshop Salon, series or not, etc. Make your name a hyperlink to your Twitter or website (later to your Host page…)

Example:

In his debut Interintellect Salon, Cameron Harwick will examine the mindsets of our ancestors, and whether we have anything in common with them.

2.2. Main text

Explain what the Salon will be about and why we should be interested. Make it obvious that your topic is personal but relevant to everyone — that it’s special and niche, but also something everyone has an opinion about and should know more about!

People come to the ii to have the conversations they can’t have anywhere else 🙂

Example:

The end of Cameron’s main text includes the famed “In this [Interintellect] Salon, …” formula which further helps the attendee understand what to expect at the Salon.

In this Salon, we’ll probe some of these different stories, and ask questions like:

  • What are the pitfalls of telling a story like this? Can it be told without veering into declinism or triumphalism?
  • Is it possible to answer the question from “within” a modern mindset? Can, or should, we try to “step outside”, and if so, how do we know when we’ve succeeded?
  • Can “stepping outside” like that change the way we relate to modern moral phenomena like authenticity or individualism? By stepping outside, do we give up the ability to evaluate any particular change as good or bad, healthy or unhealthy?
  • Given the staggering variety within both modern and premodern societies and minds, is it even possible to generalize this broadly?
  • Is there a straightforward path from premodern thinking to modern thinking, or might contact with modern Western thinking react in different and unfamiliar ways with recently modernizing or as-yet premodern peoples?

2.3. “Save the Dates”

This is a good idea if your Salon is part of a track or series. Here is one example of how a Host might choose to add the “Save the Dates” into her text.

2.4. Reading list

This is a very flexible category…

Some Hosts only read one poem during their Salon, while others ask you to read the Iliad first!

But the general rule for most normal Salons is to have 4 to 7 newspaper article length readings included which the audience can be reasonably expected to read, and which will help align your attendees coming from such different backgrounds and often meeting for the first time.

Include good media outlets, well-known Substackers, your own writing or writing by your fellow Interintellects — but also TED talks or other lectures, or accessible academic papers.

Example:

Cameron’s reading list looks like this:

” Good to read pre-Salon:

Some Hosts also add videos – in this case we tend to say “read or watch before the Salon”, or simply “check out….”.

3. Salon Time and Date

Pick the date, start time, and end time for the Salon. Usually, Salons are scheduled for three hours.

You should also pick your timezone. Visitors to your event’s page will see the start time in their own time zone, so you don’t need to add the start time in other zones as we used to do.

When in doubt, use World Time Buddy, where you can compare three time zones at the same time.

4. Salon Image 

Please choose a horizontal, rectangular image for your event’s header. The image should be less than 1 MB in size (the smaller the better, as long as it has sufficient resolution!), but also be wide enough to fill the space above the event text.

In general, the algorithms on Twitter, etc. tend to like bright, red/yellow, human face centred, figurative, non-nature, and non-pattern images. Bright and human-focused images will therefore be easier to promote and be more visible to people who may be interested.

Here are some good examples:

Some tips on where to find images:

We also have a folder where we’ve collected some nice pictures that would work well. Feel free to use a picture from it! If you do, please delete it from the folder so that it’s not reused. You are also encouraged to add new pictures to it.

If you search using Google Images, we recommend searching only for high-resolution images. Go: Tools > Size > Large.

5. Salon Categories

Choose at least one category to classify your event. The most common category is the classic “Salon.” Other types include Workshop Salons, Book Clubs, etc. Refer to the ii Event Type documentation for more information.

If your event is part of a series, you can additionally pick “Series.”

This is also where you can specify that your event is a Members-Only Event. Members-Only Events work differently from regular Salons — they are free and restricted to people with an active ii subscription. We will handle the details if you pick this category.

6. Salon Tags

Tags indicate the theme of your Salon. They often correspond to the Discord channels: philosophy, science, art, design, self-growth…

To help people understand what your Salon is about, pick at least one tag — but feel free to add as many as you’d like! Tags are predetermined by the ii team, but if you have a good idea for a tag that isn’t in the list, you can ask us to add it.

7. Host Details

Pick the Salon Hosts from the list. Usually this will be yourself, possibly with an additional co-host. If you or your co-host are not in the list, just enter a name in the box to create a new Host. Note that Hosts in this context are distinct from user accounts.

8. Additional Fields – Ticket Price

This is where you specify your ticket price. Based on this information, we will create a ticket product when reviewing the submission.

Interintellect tickets start at $10 and can be set anywhere above that by the Host.

If you feel that the value of a specific Salon, due to how niche the topic is, or because of a special guest, or because of your person, work, and knowledge, the tickets should run at $50, then that’s where you should sell. (If it doesn’t sell well, you can always lower it. Raising it is impossible, though.)

Based on our experience so far, people value more expensive tickets more: they are far more likely to show up, prepare and be a good attendee during the Salon. (This was the reason why we raised our ticket prices in November 2020, and both turn-up and returning-for-more numbers went up.) 

9. Terms of Submission

You need to agree with our terms to submit your event.

Altogether, we encourage you to experiment: with topics, time zones, start times, formats, series vs tracks, promotion, ticket pricing… The best way to get good at hosting amazing ii Salons is to host many amazing ii Salons, and learn, iterate, refine your specific style, voice, and persona.

Best of luck, and we’ve got your back!