Fan Organized Events around the Acquired Live Show

Pulling off three fan organized events alongside the Acquired live show in New York City was a massive undertaking. We did a community run, a pre-show meetup at a local bar, and then a takeover of the Rockefeller Center Rink for the afterparty. Here’s a breakdown of what worked, what didn’t, and what we’ll do differently next time.

Planning & Communication: Don’t Wait

We made the rookie mistake of under‑planning and starting too late.

• If Acquired does another event in NYC and wants fans to organize these events, we will need to know further in advance.
• If you’re aiming for sponsors, start crafting your pitch well in advance. They will expect a PDF filled with clear attendee demographics to help justify the ROI. This also means you need to get people to sign up for events ASAP when they're announced.
• Your biggest enabler for demographics? LinkedIn links for every attendee. Without them (or work emails), data enrichment falls flat—even if you try ZoomInfo, Derick, or manual methods.

Team Structure: Keep It Lean and Mean

One major win: our team was small and sharp.

• A group of five people made everything scalable and manageable.
• Without them, this project would’ve been a logistical and creative headache.
• Check out a blog post by team member Monnica Farag for the Women of Acquired event she organized in parallel.

Logistics: Cover Every Angle

Every detail matters—especially what attendees assume without telling them.

• Age restrictions matter. We’d have been in trouble if under‑21 attendees showed up at restricted venues. Fortunately all of our events ended up allowing attendees of all ages, but we were scrambling to figure this out at the last minute.
• Food expectations are automatic. Any event around dinner time seems like “food time” — so plan to offer something, even just snacks. If you're not, make sure you explicitly say that food will not be available for purchase.
• Check local events calendars for clashes. We stumbled into an NYRR race—but lucked out when it didn’t impact our event.
• Don’t forget ticketing platform fees. A $45 ticket became $53 after Eventbrite charges—a nearly 20% increase. Make sure your pricing and planning includes these hidden costs.

Marketing & Promotion: Amplify with Tools and Community

We leaned into our own promotion using the pre-existing Acquired NYC Lu.ma calendar, our own social posts, and Ben and David graciously supporting us across their various platforms.

• Our own promotion efforts worked well, but nowhere close to when Ben and David shared posts on the official accounts

• Leverage platforms like Lu.ma—they featured our run, giving us unexpected promotion.

Outcomes & Metrics: The Data Doesn’t Lie

Across the three events, here’s how we performed:

• Total sign-ups: 840
• Total in‑person attendance: ~325–375

Feedback

• Run club: Strong attendance and rave reviews (4.6).
• Pre-party: Great turnout and solid feedback (4.1).
• After-party: Attendance was good, but ratings dropped (3.3). People liked the venue but wanted more. The ability to buy food, better value, and a non-ticketed option.

Thank you everyone for attending and providing feedback. If you'd like to help out next time please join the Acquired Slack and say hello in the #nyc channel.

Key Takeaways: Do This Next Time

1. Start planning—and communicating—early. No one likes last-minute updates.
2. Sponsor pitches need data. LinkedIn links = demographic data needed for sponsorships
3. Never assume food isn’t expected. Evening = hungry attendees.
4. Check for local clashing events. Even small overlaps can cause issues.
5. Include platform fees in pricing. No surprises at checkout.

Final Thoughts

I am exhausted. Thanks to everyone who helped make this happen, I appreciate you very much.

If you want to learn about how LLMs work check out my next event on August 8th: LFC.DEV - Deep Dive into LLMs watch party w/ Stifel Bank @ Company Ventures

If you’ve run similar events, I’d love to hear what you learned.