Before getting into copywriting and content strategy for the tourism, hospitality, and gastronomy industries – I originally wanted to be a wedding planner and event coordinator! I dreamed about organizing beautiful and lavish events for couples. I also entertained the idea of event coordination for restaurants, hotels, and large companies. Then, I had my first real taste of wedding coordination as an assistant. I quickly learned that wedding coordination was NOT for me!
Although I focus on words, content marketing, and messaging, event coordination is still something that I love and want to do more of with The Quirky Pineapple Studio.
There’s something about people coming together, sharing something, connections, and leaving with a new friend (if the event has a clear focus)! Lately, I’ve felt a pull in my gut (a calling, if you will) to host an event or create a “community feel”. I felt so scared to take action because of excuses like:
- Will it immediately bring revenue to my business?
- I don’t know anyone in Madrid and no one knows me…
- What if no one shows up and I’m hanging out by myself?
With a gentle and encouraging push from one of my mentors – she encouraged me to give it a try and see how it goes. Thus, was born the Instagrameo Picnic! Here’s a recap of how it went:
Message & Why for the Instagrameo Picnic
I’ve always wanted a “Creative BFF”, someone that shared in my passion for creativity, creating content, and was equally as passionate about their platform and growing it as I am. When I started blogging, I looked for a friend that wanted to take photos with me, help me with my articles, talk about pitching and collaborating with brands, and wanted to turn their blog into a full-time business.
When social media started becoming more popular and “influencers” were gaining more traction, I saw how “normal people” could use social media to create a platform, share their voice, and ultimately help others and inspire them! I loved using Instagram and other social media platforms to connect with creatives, entrepreneurs, and influencers, to grow our brands, build our businesses, and have conversations that my friends didn’t understand!
Having an Instagram hubby/wifey wasn’t just about someone that could take all my Instagram photos – it was about creating content together, helping each other grow and improve our platforms, and bounce ideas off of each other.
The Instagrameo Picnic isn’t about “Instagram”! It’s about the idea and concept of bringing creative business owners, dancers, videographers, artists, and others together to create together and collaborate. My vision was to get a bunch of creatives in one room and watch the energy explode with buzzing ideas, projects, and helping each other generally. That’s what I love most about events like this and why I wanted to create a community event to share that!
Planning & the event
With the little resources and connections that I had, my goal was to keep the event as simple as possible! Also, because the event was in Madrid, I wanted to keep it similar to the structure of Spanish events (especially since this was my first one). To keep things simple, there were a few factors I kept in mind:
- Keeping it free and as a community event
- Potluck style! (Spaniards love picnics and it’s easy to bring one or two dishes to share for other people)
- People can come and go when they please
- Bring a friend to make it less awkward
- Name tags!
My original plan was to have it in Retiro Park, but even though it never rains in Madrid, it decided to rain the day before and during the event. Rain in the city is NEVER fun – which makes it less likely that people would come. Thank goodness to the friends I made here and my community, I had two friends that were able to be my “Rain Plan”! We scrapped the park idea early in the morning and decided to host an indoor picnic in the heart of Madrid’s artsy neighborhood, Malasaña.
We kept the structure the same:
- Free entry
- Potluck style
- Wear something cute
- Come and meet new people!
- Come in with the mindset to expand your network, collaborate, bounce around ideas and ultimately help someone!
Thank you to Erin Corine Johnson and Cecilia Tenoria from El Salón del Artista for hosting the Instagrameo Picnic at such a last-minute emergency plan! The venue was the perfect space to hold an intimate picnic and welcome creatives from all industries to meet each other and chat about projects, platforms, all the social medias, and more!
The venue’s mission is to be a space for the creative community, especially musicians, to come and share space, ideas, and have a collective outlet. It was the exact idea that I wanted the Instagrameo Picnic to have – creatives coming together, becoming a collective, and helping one another along the way.
Future events
As for now, I am planning more events for The Quirky Pineapple Studio and our community! I’m curious to see what types of events the Pineappler community would be interested in and how I can start hosting more online and in-person events so that we can become our own “Piña Colectiva”! Here’s a little peek at what I’m planning for in the future:
- Facebook Community for location independent creatives
- In-person workshops, presentations, and conferences in Madrid
- Online workshops, presentations, and webinars
- Possible retreats (OMG! – this is something I’ve wanted to do for SO long!)
- Conferences (this might take a bit longer to develop…)
I have so many new ideas for the Pineapplers in our online and offline community! To make sure that I set up the community correctly, I know that each activity I invest in requires time and commitment.
To stay up to date about future events (online or in-person) make sure you give The Quirky Pineapple Studio a “LIKE” on Facebook and subscribe to our newsletter! We announce all of our events via Facebook and first to the Pineappler newsletter!
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What do you think? What are your favorite types of online and in-person events to join? Drop your feedback below!
*Thank you, again, to El Salón del Artista, for hosting our event extremely last minute and being a collective space for creatives alike!
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