Meeten en Drinken

Intro
Appsterdam begins with Meeten en Drinken. Every week we descend upon a bar, making into a nerd bar, providing App Makers and their partners a regular excuse to leave the house and socialize with their peers. Given the overarching goal to bring people together, Meeten en Drinken forms the core of the Appsterdam movement.

Description
The origin of Meeten en Drinken is part of the story of Appsterdam, as the founding members gathered each Wednesday night at Cafe Bax to organize the first initiatives that would form the Summer of Appsterdam. Formal functions were later moved to their own meetings, leaving the event to open fellowship.
Together with midweek daytime lectures and weekend family events, Appsterdam Meeten en Drinken forms an overall networking strategy that ensures there are a social opportunities for all App Makers regardless of scheduling constraints. As opposed to other local meetups, Appsterdam events are open to everyone interested in apps, regardless of technical expertise.
Like the lectures, but unlike the weekend events, Meeten en Drinken happens at the same time and place, ensuring people always know where in space and time to find other App makers. Embassy cities, most notably Delft, have experimented with different frequencies, but the basic idea remains the same.


Benefits
There are several benefits to bringing App Makers together to foster conversations. It is fundamental to making plans for more complex initiatives. It helps people to form the personal and professional relationships necessary to build support structures for success. It also helps foster a collaborative community that eschews dehumanizing legal disputes and market disruptions.


Costs
As a core initiative, Appsterdam Meeten en Drinken is a grassroots gathering with all participants covering their own expenses. There is an ongoing issue with Bax opening tabs, which are then dropped by attendees, and picked up by those unlucky enough to stay until the end. We continue to work with Bax to require attendees to pay up front.

Staffing
Appsterdam Meeten en Drinken basically runs itself, but in general falls under the purview of the Chief Community Officer.

Friends of Appsterdam