About Guild Gatherings
Guild Gatherings are informal, social gatherings for current Guild members. Events occur each month in each of our established regions in the state: North Texas, Central Texas, San Antonio, Houston, Heart of Texas, East Texas, South Texas, and West Texas & the Panhandle.
Guild staff and designated regional leads recruit hosts and set the schedule on an annual basis. As a result, each region’s Guild Gatherings have their own flavor and style, which can vary even more depending on its host brewery. Current Guild members may attend Guild Gatherings in any region.
Your brewery staff are welcome at Guild Gatherings! Make sure you have added all your staff to your online account to make sure the widest number of your employees can access Guild benefits, including the schedule and RSVPs for Guild Gatherings.
Guidelines for Everyone
Respect the host brewery’s COVID-19 protocols while you are on site. Guests who do not comply with the host’s posted or stated health and safety specifics may be asked to leave.
Make sure you RSVP. Plan ahead and use the event calendar in your Dashboard to RSVP for each event you plan to attend. It’s important that our hosts, leads, and any sponsors have an accurate headcount for planning.
Tip your servers! You know how hard those beer slingers work, especially when surrounded by their own thirsty compadres. Especially if you’re drinking free or discounted beer, make sure to show them some love.
Ask Guild staff before bringing nonmembers. We’d love to meet folks you think would make great new members in any category! Like other things in life, the first one’s free, but we need to connect with the potential recruit to set expectations and protect Guild benefits for paying members like yourself.
Ask the Region Lead or brewery host before you bring product samples, swag, or promotional materials of any kind. Some breweries have strict policies about outside alcohol on their premises. Email Guild staff to get connected to your region lead.
Don’t wear out your welcome. Arrive and depart within the designated timeframe of the event, which is posted on each schedule on the Member Dashboard and should be communicated by the host. Many times host breweries open exclusively for the purpose of hosting the Guild Gathering. Please be considerate, drink responsibly, and follow staff instructions.
Abide by our Code of Conduct. All Guild members, staff, volunteers, and ticketed/RSVPed attendees at all Guild functions agree to comport themselves in accordance with the Code of Conduct posted in the Member Dashboard.
Guidelines for Brewery Hosts
Brewers and brewery employees are the main audience for and beneficiaries of Guild Gatherings. These were created to foster social interaction among industry professionals from brewery owners to their staff working across all levels of brewery operations: production, packaging, sales/marketing, administrative, and taproom.
As the host of the Guild Gathering, you are given latitude to structure the event in the way that best suits your facility, amenities, and staff. Your Region Lead or Guild staff can answer questions you may have about hosting, and often will be on-site to assist you and your team. An RSVP count or name list is available to you at any time. There is a set start time for each region, which we suggest sticking to for consistency. Beyond that, here are some additional helpful pointers to help you plan.
Communicate your COVID-19 health and safety protocols ahead of your event. Guests will need to know what they should expect around face coverings, social distancing, hand and surface sanitizing, etc., while visiting your facility. Let Guild staff and/or your Region Lead know these details so they can be added to the event details in the Dashboard.
Providing beer for free for our Guild Gathering guests is generous, and is not required. Choose a discount regime that works for you: Free beer for all attendees, first two beers on the house, free beer for brewery members, happy hour pricing, or simply no freebies or discounts for anyone – it’s completely up to you to decide, to communicate, and to enforce. We do not want hosting Guild Gatherings to present a financial hardship for our members. Regardless of what you choose, make sure to leave the tip jars out so attendees can thank your bar staff for their hospitality.
Don’t be shy. Get the group’s attention early in the evening to welcome folks, thank them for coming, introduce or thank a sponsor, hand it off to Guild staff or a Board member (sometimes they have announcements!), and let everyone know where the bathrooms are, what time you’ll close, and any last call or service specifics for the evening.
Work with a sponsor. Our Guild has a robust network of Allied Trade members who can help offset the expense of hosting through sponsorship. Guild staff and Region Leads can connect you to these interested sponsors. There is no one-size-fits-all sponsorship package – you are free to determine what’s right for your brewery. Review some examples of successful sponsorships at the end of this document.
Promote your Guild Gathering! Post to the forum and/or send an email to Guild members in your region about your upcoming Guild Gathering to get folks excited, recognize the sponsor helping make it happen, and let your guests know what to expect.
Guild Gathering Sponsorship Examples
- The brewery host is a production brewery with an on-site food truck. An Allied Trade member delivers a $300 check towards the catering order from the on-site truck. The host brewery invites the sponsor to put table tents and brochures in their taproom for the event.
- A brewpub host has an on-site kitchen that is not normally open on Mondays. The host decides it will be more cost effective to have their sponsor place an order of pizza for the group rather than provide food in-house. When the pizza arrives, the brewery host publicly thanks the Allied Trade sponsor before opening the food line.
- A brewery host invites a friend who owns a catering operation to provide food for Guild Gatherings for promotional purposes. Since food is already provided, the Allied Trade sponsor starts a tab to cover beers and gratuity starting at 7pm.
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