EXPLAINER: Hosting Events at Vibecamp

What kind of thing should I host?

A golden rule I've learned over the past few years of gathering people: host only the kinds of things you would want to attend. That way the process stays fun for you—and your guests, who will have a better time if you’re enjoying yourself! Don’t get too stuck trying to figure out what other people would want to go to (though putting out feelers on twitter or in the discord is a good way to assess interest and get feedback).

That said, there’s a wide range of options for an event like Vibecamp! In the past we’ve had such notable events as the Dating Show to Save the World, competitive makeout sessions (while being sprayed with a hose??), a petting zoo, trebuchet building (plus a melon launching exhibition from said trebuchet), body work, meditation, speed friending, many dance parties—the list is too long to capture everything here. Activity types range from last minute talks/workshops, to high-effort art, theater, or infrastructure projects that were given 100s of hours of prep. Every year, we offer grants on a rolling, first-come-first-serve basis to help support community projects—apply here. We'll shut down the form when funds are out.

View a snapshot of the activity schedule from the second Vibecamp in 2023 in this blast-from-the-past post to get an idea of what's taken place there before:

I know what I want to host, but I'm not sure where to host it

We're working on building out a living guide covering the event spaces within the Vibecamp venue - check it out here:

Great! I'm ready! uhh except where do I put all this info?

Head to my.vibe.camp (our attendee portal) log in, and click on the 'events' tab on the bottom nav bar

Click 'create event' on the top right

Fill out your event information, and you're good to go! We recommend tweeting and/or advertising your event in the Activities channel of the discord server - yes, in part because you'll be helping us market + build momentum for the event, but also because people will be more likely to attend activities at Vibecamp that they feel excited about.

A few things to keep in mind:

• anyone with a my.vibe.camp account can see your event, even if they do not have a ticket for vibecamp. Sometimes people screenshot them and put them elsewhere on the internet, and - you may be surprised to hear this - sometimes people on the internet can be uncharitable.
• If your event require A/V support, please reach out to christianpandtle@gmail.com to coordinate no later than June 5th!!

Advice from Mattias

Hi! I am Mattias A.K.A. @MattiasInSpace. Here is a picture of me responsibly pushing my limits!

My area of responsibility/interest at VibeCamp is new connections: forming the edges between nodes in our graph that want to exist but don’t yet, especially for relative newcomers without deep online links who’ve come IRL to take a chance on our community.

But i don’t do this on my own. Like the rest of the team, i am almost 100% reliant on YOU 🫵 the Vibecamp power user who is thinking about creating an event! Events are nucleation points for newbies to catch the general vibe as well as to find their perfect niche. The power of VibeCamp is in our calendar and all its events great and small. And the power of our calendar is you.

Vibecamp is an altar to freedom. No rules, no limits. No gods, no masters. Unfortunately (but also fortunately), Vibecamp must exist in the real world. We have to price in such forces as liability, reputation, and triggers left by other campers’ previously experienced trauma.

With that in mind, when creating an event, i humbly ask that you keep the below guidelines in mind to help us keep our altar clean and welcoming.

We call ‘em the four O’s.

1. Overcommunicate. Does your event feel like Type-2 Fun: something that takes guts to do but turns out to be a blast? If so, great—those are the most fun things! But don’t forget about Type-3 Fun: an experience that is difficult and scary and in the end not actually any fun at all. Remember that an easy way to turn potential Type-2 Fun into definite Type-3 is to shove someone in without informed consent. Attendees need to know what they’re getting into. If it’s happening in a public space, everyone needs to know what attendees are getting into because they need to decide whether they want to be nearby. (hint: this means put it in the description, ideally the title.) (hint 2: this goes double for nudity.) If your event has special risks or potential triggers, communicate those risks or triggers. When you’re done communicating those risks, communicate some more. This includes but is not limited to: nudity, risk of physical injury, games that play with social taboo or personal comfort zone. Remember: if you talk someone out of going, good. You’ve filtered down to the group that wants this type of fun.
2. Ownership. Event hosts take safety no less seriously than Vibecamp LLC itself does. If an event has special risks, you are expected to take precautions in proportion to those risks. If something goes seriously wrong, it is your responsibility to either handle it or get the attention of someone who is qualified to do so.
3. Optics. When writing an event description, we ask that you picture a screenshot of that event on social media with the caption: “IS THIS WHERE YOU’RE TAKING YOUR KIDS?!” Sadly, context collapse means any event writeup could become a “main character” representing all of Vibecamp. If you’re here, you probably already have some experience on how not to go viral for something you say online. Try to apply the same prudence to what you put on the calendar.
4. Ovoid fear. That’s right—whatever you want to see at Vibecamp, simply ovoid being too afraid to make it happen. If you are on the fence about the safety or practicality of your event, you can always put it up for discussion on the Vibecamp Discord. Whatever the problem is, we’ll solve it together. Remember: no wall is so high that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens cannot huck a melon over it.

A few past projects:

Of course too many to link, but while you're here, check out this coffee table book that a group of attendees made after the first Vibecamp in 2022!