CIANCIA MEETINGS:Our meetings take place once a month, on a weekday, at the lovely homes of our hosts and patrons. Meetings held at commercial venues, art galleries or restaurant may take place on a Tuesday evening. HOSTING CIANCIA:What does it take to become a host? Before booking an event, we recommend that you review the hosting guidelines on this page, where we outline some of the requirements. Size of home Because of the enthusiastic attendance to our meetings, the host needs to provide adequate space to comfortably fit and average of 30-50 attendees (up to 80 people), mostly standing. If your house or living room is small, we recommend a spill-over space of at least 200 sq feet – this could be a porch, a deck, a loft, a terrace or a den. During the warmer months, you may host the meeting in an open space, such as a garden or a deck, yet we recommend that you have a suitable indoor area in case of rain. Suitable parking space If you don’t wish that people park on your driveway, please set up cones or a ribbon to keep cars out. It is important, however, that there is plenty of parking space within walking distance from your home. Please, when you send us your proposal, include parking instructions to your directions. Directions to your home It is the host’s responsibility to provide accurate and reliable directions to his or her house. We will verify the directions, but you can tell us about important landmarks that make navigation easier to follow. This can be done by sending directions to info@ciancia.org . Gas stations, supermarkets and other landmarks are considered extremely useful to get the bearings to your location. Please include any special instructions about your entrance facility and don’t forget important details such as floor and apartment number. You might also make your entrance drive or door more visible with a few colored balloons, an Italian flag, or any other evident sign. Host profile Ciancia members love to learn something about the host they are about to meet, his/her passions, interests, activities, profession, traveling habits, etc. Please provide us with a brief profile of your passions, professional activities, and connections to the Italian culture. This info will be included with our bulletin and will be useful to introduce yourself and network with our guests and attendees during the meeting. Aside from the publicity and pride, this is a discrete way to network. Exposure The exposure that a hosting status or other sponsoring affiliation bring is self evident. Our bulleting goes out to over 1,700 subscribers, their families and friends. Our website receive over 500 hits per month, our Facebook page has 400 vistors montlhy, and our club grows at a rate of 20% a year. A private host would put himself or herself on the map of the Italian community. His or her business and activities will gain great exposure, not counting on the club’s status and the friends you make by hosting our club. If you are the owner of an Italian-related, commercial venue, such as a restaurant or an art gallery, bear in mind that the sampling and the display of your products has a great effect on our members. In addition, your buck gets great mileage in terms of advertising yield: for most events, with an estimated marketing cost of 10 to 20 cents per hit. Participants Ciancia members have proven to be proper and extremely well-behaved guests. In twety one years of social activity, we have not had a single accident involving broken items, wine or food spilled on rugs or carpets, or any improper behavior at the meetings. All our members are well-educated individuals with a keen taste for the language, culture and traditions of Italy. Several members of the committee attend each meeting and help keeping an eye on the crowd. After you move a precious glass vase or your favorite camera to a safer location, as a host you have nothing to worry about, but enjoy the beauty of the event. Noise consideration for your neighbors The members attending our meetings are quite considerate in regard to your neighbors. However, even at conversation level, a large group may become lively, if a bit noisy. If you leave in an apartment or a condominium, please make sure that your immediate neighbors are aware that you are having a large gathering. Better: invite them over! Bathroom facilities It is important that you make available to our guests a bathroom or two where you feel comfortable giving access to strangers. You may want to assure that there are fresh towels and enough toilet paper for such number of people. Safety It is important that our meetings are held in a safe environment. Fire escapes – if any – should be self-evident and free from any obstacle. In addition, any fragile, breakable, sharp or hazardous item should be removed from the area where the meeting will be held. Food & Drinks One of the joys of hosting a Ciancia meeting is showing your culinary prowess. Our guests bring food and wine to the event. You may cook for half of the expected attendance: a couple of pasta dishes, a platter of appetizers, some Italian cheese and plenty of fresh bread can serve as starters. Remember, we are feeding 80 people. Nuts, veggies, cookies, grapes, anything helps pleasing the attendees. You may also consider to have a couple of starter bottles of red or white wine. Believe us, you will have several bottles left unopened at the end of the meeting, and if there are leftovers, you don’t have to cook the next day. Picnic supplies and garbage bags It is important that the host provides picnic supplies for 100 people. The following are a must-have list: 200 napkins, 4 large trash bags, 120 paper or plastic plates, 100 plastic forks, plastic spoons (if required), a minimum of 200 plastic glasses (transparent, low-profile are preferred because it is hard to knock them over), plus plenty of paper towels. Ciancia may arrange to provides a contribution of aboutn $60 for covering such plastic-ware expenses, except for restaurants, whose exposure is well worth their monetary effort. Please, lock up your real glasses! We don’t want any broken glass around. By the same token, we do not recommend silverware, as it may end up in the trash. Trash Handling In order to keep the place clean during the event, we recommend that you to place a few garbage bags or recycling boxes on different corners of your home, including any terrace and garden. You will cut in a half the clean-up. Duration of the Meeting Children Pets Smoking Notice of change of plans Booking a meeting Thank you for considering to host a meeting of Ciancia! |