December 8, 2025

Running AMAs!

I’ve run a good amount of AMAs over the past year. Some past guests have included Joe Scotto, Zack Freedman, and Strange Parts!

I just wanted to quickly share a few pointers that would’ve been really useful when I was first running these!

Before the AMA

First: define your goal with the AMA. What do you want to get out of it?

For me personally, I find the best goals are teen-first. It generally validates building projects by giving people a chance to meet people they look up to, and also to be part of something bigger than themselves with a community.

You don’t need to plan around this goal per se, but just keep it in mind as you’re running the call.

During the call

Before anything - HIT RECORD ON ZOOM. PLEASE. DON’T FORGET.

Expect people to take 4-8 minutes to pile in. Use that time to introduce yourself to the AMA guest and generally just acclimate.

Starting the actual AMA portion of the call mainly comprises of two things. One, introducing yourself and the guest. Second, expectation-setting for the AMA itself.

The introducion is relatively straight forward. I find it easier to allow the guest to introduce themselves.

For the expectation setting, it’s mainly about setting context for how these things should operate. What I generally ask for is the following:

  • Raise your hand if you want to ask a question
  • If you’re picked, you’ll be asked to unmute. State your name, age, where you’re from, and what you’re working on!
  • No follow-up questions - let others go first!
  • Responses should generally be under (scheduled time / (0.5 * number of attendees)) - I find this usually comes down to 2-3 minutes per, but let the guest know they are free to keep speaking if they’d like.

And that’s it! The reason why the participants should state the info about themselves is because it really helps humanize them. When you’re the guest in large calls with 50+ people it can be really hard to remember that every participant is also their own person.

If an answer is running really long, I would unmute and just say hey - that usually is a decent enough indicator for them to start wrapping up.

Once all of that is done, the AMA is officialy on! It should be relatively straight forward from here - the main thing to look out for is keeping up the energy/vibe. You are the anchor of the event and people will echo your energy, so keep it high! Have lots of fun, and don’t overthink it too much - you should enjoy it too!

Don’t forget to save & upload the recording after the AMA. Seriously.

Other

Some other interesting things that I’m not quite too sure how to structure:

AMAs are really good because they provide a direct CTA to be part of a community. Someone may be on the fence on a program, but if they have an opportunity to meet a person they see as cool, then that’s a reason to just show up.

There’s a certain sense of camaraderie that gets built during these events, as it’s a special moment that you share with other people.

AMAs are really, really good for introducing people to Hack Club and letting people know it’s real & legit.