Before

Borrow a room with tables: a church basement, a community center, a loft over a bakery if you're lucky. Recruit two or three soup makers and find someone willing to donate bread and supplies. The food should be simple and homemade; the $5 door covers a lot of soup.

Put out a call for pitches: any idea that makes the neighborhood better, from anyone. Pick three or four presenters for the night and tell them the Detroit rules: four minutes, no slides, and four questions from the audience.

Set up the dinner in Plurality, print your poster, and share the link widely; the bigger the room, the bigger the pot. Use the Needs tab for folks to bring side dishes or something to share. Make the deal plain in the invite: $5 gets you dinner and a vote, and one neighbor leaves with the money. You can use the Ticket function in Plurality to make things easier.

During

Eat first, pitch second. Give folks time with their soup and their table neighbors before the presentations start. The mingling is half the meal.

Keep the pitches tight and human: four minutes, four audience questions, no technology. The no-slides rule matters.

Vote by paper ballot over dessert, count in the open, and hand the winner the money that night.

After

Invite the winner back to a future dinner to report how the money worked. That report is what turns a one-night crowd into a community with a track record, and it keeps the grants honest.

Take a photo of presenters and the folks sharing the soup, and ask the audience to record any other Moments. Then set next month's date before anyone leaves.

Start a group in Plurality and invite all the attendees to join. They’ll be able to volunteer to help on the next round, help find new pitches, and follow the calendar for the next SOUP meeting.