Inside one of Charlotte’s most popular networking — and drinking — events
Who: Amy Herman is the owner of Vintage Charlotte, which organizes pop-up markets and shopping events in Charlotte. Corri Smith runs Black Wednesday Social Co, which conducts social media, marketing and PR for companies in Charlotte. Together, they created #instabeerupCLT, the super-popular meetup group that is the subject of this week’s The Good News Is … podcast.
What: Herman and Smith wanted to create a different kind of networking group. They had become tired of ones where it seemed like everyone spent the whole time angling to give out a certain number of business cards. They imagined something more relaxed, where people could really get to know each other and form relationships. And because they came up with this idea over beers, #instabeerupCLT was born.
The event, which is spread on Twitter and Instagram using the hashtag #instabeerupCLT, happens the last Thursday of each month at various breweries, bars and bottle shops around Charlotte, and has grown to attract hundreds of people each month.
The pair will be celebrating the second instayearupCLT (when the event turns 2) June 30 at The Olde Mecklenburg Brewery.
That’s what they said: “A really great way to make meeting new people less uncomfortable would be if we were all drinking beer while doing it. And so that’s kind of how we started the whole thing. … Worst-case scenario Corri and I would be drinking beers together somewhere, which is what we were doing anyway.” – Herman on the origin of #instabeerupCLT.
“I really like the article that said it’s one of the greatest places to go alone because it really is. You’re walking into a room of people but it’s super warm and everyone’s there for the same reason, it’s super casual. So it’s like if you walk in and you feel uncomfortable just go to the bar and get a beer.” – Smith.
Also, don’t forget that this is the final week to enter our Produce the Podcast contest. Send us your idea for a show — from talking points to guest to music to whatever — to thegoodnewsisclt@gmail.com. If you win, we’ll create the show, you’ll be there for the taping, and you’ll also win four tickets to the July 4 Charlotte Knights baseball game. Deadline is June 23. Details here.
The Good News Is — presented by The Charlotte Observer and powered by OrthoCarolina — is a weekly podcast with a similar mission to what we do here at C5: To get you CharlotteSmart, fast with fun, interesting and useful news about the city. It’s hosted by Corey Inscoe and Sarah Crosland.
As always, you can find our episodes on Soundcloud, iTunes and now Stitcher. You can follow us on Twitter @TheGoodNewsCLT, on Instagram @TheGoodNewsCLT, on Facebook and you can shoot us an email to thegoodnewsisclt@gmail.com.
This story was originally published June 22, 2016 at 12:00 AM.