How to start a Circle
Pick one thing, set a standing time, recruit a co-host, and run a simple first night. You do not build a community. You host one Circle, and we hand you the format.
You start a Circle by picking one thing you practice, setting a standing time, and inviting a handful of people to the first one. That is the whole move. You do not have to build a community from scratch or be a natural leader. You host one Circle, on a fixed night, and we hand you the format.
What do I actually need to start?
Three things, and none of them is charisma:
- One thing to do. A practice, a walk, a discussion, a project. One Channel, one activity. Not a program. One repeatable thing.
- A standing time. A fixed night and place, like "every Thursday at 7." The standing time does more work than anything else you will do.
- A few people. You do not need a crowd. Four people who keep coming back beats twenty who came once.
That is the kit. Everything below is how to use it.
How do I create the Circle?
- Open Circles and choose Start a Circle.
- Pick the Channel it is built around (the one thing you practice together). You can add up to two more later from the Circle's settings, but one is the right place to start.
- Name it plainly and say where and when it meets. A clear name and a standing time tell people exactly what they are walking into.
- Set the first gathering with a date, time, and place so people have something concrete to RSVP to.
- Invite your first handful directly, and share the Circle so others nearby can find it.
You are now a Host. The role is earned by doing this, never bought.
Your free membership includes hosting a Circle of your own. To host more, join Crew, which carries a host kit with room for several: choosing "Start a Circle" offers a one-tap upgrade when you are at your limit, and you keep everything you have. Any member can join as many as they like.
Set a standing time and do not move it
Pick one night and keep it. The single biggest reason groups survive is that nobody has to decide each week whether it is happening. "Every Thursday at 7" is a structure. "Let's find a time that works for everyone" is how a group dies before it starts. Lock the night, put it on a repeating schedule, and let people build their week around it. Every other Thursday counts as a standing time, and so does the third Thursday of the month: what kills a Circle is a night nobody can predict, not a night that comes round twice a month. Set the pattern once under Repeats when you create the gathering and every date is made for you.
Recruit a co-host before the first night
Find one person to hold it with you. A co-host is the difference between a Circle that depends on you showing up perfectly and one that survives a week you are sick. They greet people when you are mid-conversation, they remember the oranges, and they keep the thing alive when life happens to you. Add them as a cohost so they can help run gatherings right alongside you. Do not host alone.
Run a simple first night
Keep the first gathering small and structured. A format people can predict is what makes them comfortable enough to come back. A first night that works:
- Welcome (5 minutes). Greet people as they arrive. Open with a one-line round so everyone has spoken once. Keep it light.
- The thing (the bulk of the time). Do the activity you came for. Let it carry the room. You are not performing; you are doing the practice alongside everyone.
- Close and lock the next one (5 minutes). Thank people, then say the single most important sentence of the night: "Same time next week." Name the date out loud and make sure everyone knows when the next one is before they leave.
End a little early rather than dragging it out. Leave people wanting the next one.
Questions people ask
How many people do I need for it to "work"?
Three or four who come back. A small group that is reliable beats a big one that is flaky. Circles are meant to stay small enough that people are missed when they are not there, so do not chase numbers. When a Circle gets full, it seeds a new one nearby rather than growing into a crowd.
What if nobody comes the first time?
Run it anyway, with whoever shows, even if it is one person and you. A group that meets with two people this week and three next week is alive. The fizzle comes from canceling, not from a small turnout. See why groups fizzle, and how to get the return.
Running your Circle day to day
Open your Circle and hit Manage. That is your console: one dashboard for the whole Circle, in tabs. Home opens on your message center, where you can look up any member and reach them directly. Events shows everything your Circle has coming up, and Add an event brings one of your existing events into the Circle: it keeps its RSVPs and its page, it just belongs here now. Settings holds the rest, including your roster, member roles, and who can find and join the Circle.
The Edit button beside Manage is for the Circle itself: name, cover image (including where the photo sits when it gets cropped, and how tall the header stands), meeting details, and the rest.
Can I hand my Circle to someone else?
Yes. Open your Circle and find Move this circle in its settings. From there you can move it into another space you help run, or hand it to a person. If a space runs the Circle, the space's Circles console has the same Move control, plus one more option: take the Circle as your own. You get there from Manage, then Circles.
Handing it to a person is an offer, not a move: they see it on the Circle and choose to accept or pass, and nothing changes until they accept. It stays yours the whole time, and you can take the offer back until they answer. A Circle carries its members, so it never lands on someone who did not agree to take it. When they accept, the Circle becomes theirs to host, and its members and anything it is running come along.
It works in the other direction too. If you help run a space, open that Circles console and choose Attach a circle you host to bring one of your own Circles into the space. The Circle keeps its host and its members. Its gatherings join the space's calendar, and they stay on the Circle's own page as well, so nobody loses track of where to show up. Move the Circle out again and its gatherings leave with it.
A space can also include a Circle with a membership. In the space's Memberships settings, each tier can name one Circle under Circle access. Join that membership and you are in the Circle while your membership is active; if it ends, you leave the Circle too, unless you had joined it on your own first. Your own joins are always yours to keep.
Where do people find the Circles my space runs?
On the space's own page, under Circles. Every Circle the space runs shows up there with its meeting place, how many people are in it, and how much room is left, and anyone can open one and join from there. A Circle you have set to unlisted stays off that page, so it is reachable only by its link. The tab appears once the space has a Circle someone could actually open, so a visitor is never sent to an empty page.
You see it at every stage, even before you have made your first Circle, with a link through to the console. Everyone else sees it only once there is something behind it.
Do I have to be an expert in the activity?
No. You are the Host, not the teacher. Your job is to hold the time and welcome people, not to be the most skilled person in the room. Plenty of great Circles are run by someone learning the thing right alongside everyone else.
How do I get people to the first gathering?
Share your personal invite link. Every gathering gives you a link and a QR with your name on them, and the people you invite can RSVP without an account. Text it to a few friends, one at a time, and ask them plainly to come. Guests who RSVP, show up, or join land in your Contacts and earn you Zaps as a Connector, so the work of filling the room counts. See Events & RSVPs.
Who gets to find it, and who gets to come in
Two separate settings, both under Settings on your Circle, and they do different jobs. Getting them mixed up is the usual reason a Circle is quieter than its Host expected.
Unlisted decides whether people can FIND it. Leave it off and your Circle shows up in the directory, on the map, and in search. Turn it on and it disappears from all three, but anyone you send the link to can still open it.
Who can join decides whether people can COME IN.
- Anyone can join is the default, and it is the right one while you are filling the room.
- Members only means you add people yourself. Nobody else sees inside.
- By invite only means a link or a QR code is the only way in.
- Circles a Space owns get three more: Space team only for the people who help run the Space, Space members only for anyone with an active membership in it, and Included with a membership if that Space has one. A free Space can run a membership tier that is free to join; charging for one starts at Business, with a payout account.
The useful pairing most Hosts miss: leave the Circle listed and set who can join to Members only. Strangers find it by name, read what it is about, and ask to come. You keep the room shut until you say otherwise.
Does it have to meet in person?
No. A Circle can meet on a call, and many start virtual while the Host builds a local group. The standing time matters more than the room. Virtual is the default; in person is the bonus.
How do I get my Circle onto the map?
Set it to meet in person and fill in the city under Place & Time. That is enough: your Circle lands on the map at that city, and people browsing Around You can find it.
If you want the pin somewhere more exact, drag it on the map in the same settings. A pin you place by hand always wins over the city, so you can move it to the park or the studio you actually meet at and it stays there.
An online Circle has no pin, and that is on purpose. There is nowhere to turn up.
Still stuck? Write to us. A real person reads every message.