Once you know a local veggie or two, organising a social event can be pretty straight forward.

The basic strategy that seems to work for most:

• pick a time and date that suits you and is likely to suit others (eg weekday evening, weekend daytime). Trying to decide a date by asking when suits everyone can be very time consuming and result in no decision. Being sensitively autocratic can work best ;o)
• pick a venue that can serve good vegan food, book a table if necessary for the minimum number of people you expect.
• tell people about it and ask them to book with you if they are coming (particularly if there is a table/special menu booking required or the place will be busy):
  • tell all the national organisations you are listed with, ideally in good enough time to get in their publications. You only need a date and venue decided at this point.
  • tell the local veggie-interested people you know
  • leave leaflets/fliers (with permission) in health food shops, veggie eateries, the venue, etc
  • Tell the Internet - through your own website, on noticeboards, newsgroups, forums, etc.
• update the venue if numbers increase.
• consider asking for special vegan dishes to be put on if you are reasonably confident of numbers. Give good advanced warning of this (a fortnight at least is best for places not used to cooking vegan) and as much help and inspiration as they need.

The major issue causing problems is if people don't turn up when they say they will. At Thames Valley Veggies this used to be about 10% of people. But they are nearly always the same people. We don't count the persistant non-showers in the booking numbers anymore, and if anyone does leave us in the learch without warning or excuse when a special menu has been booked, we tell them how badly it can reflect on veggies if they don't turn up for booked events.

At the opposite end of the spectrum are the people who show up without booking, and so there may not be enough vegan food on the special menu to go round. With luck these people counteract the no-shows, but they can be limited too by being very clear about the need to book, and even having a closing date for booking if necessary for the restaurant.

Here is the Thames Valley Vegans and Vegetarians detailed guide. Except for the specific details about updating an LVW web site, the advice should be applicable to all eating out style events.