Re: [UUPoly-L] Polys here, Polys there, Polys Polys everwhere Re: location

["Dorothy Krause" <dorothyk@charter.net>]

I got away from meetup's when they started charging organizers. None of
the multiple groups I participated in (Poly, Pagan, Freecycle, and
occasional political, mainly) was interested in paying a monthly fee in
addition to a "going out" cost at any of the venues they had available
at that time. So I, along with a lot of others, dropped out of the
system. I hope a lot has changed in the way they do things since then,
tho I see there is still a charge ($12-16/month) that the organizer is
responsible for. Have they made changes that has made it reasonably
possible for fringe type groups to succeed without putting a financial
burden on volunteers? Particularly, is there more flexibility in meeting
schedules and venues? 

We have an advertised outreach meeting on the first Friday monthly at a
local GLBT center, where there isn't a charge for the venue and no need
to buy even a coffee, or feel guilty if you don't. I wouldn't mind
organizing a meetup based on that (a buck a person donation would cover
the cost to meetup) but still tend to hesitate, particularly since I'm
not certain that meetup is an effective enough advertising tool to make
it worth it, even with a relatively modest fee. If we collect a fee, I
might rather donate to the venue giving us space! 

So... the question, I suppose, is... how much outreach can one really do
through meetup, assuming that the primary reason to pay the fee is to
make new people aware of its existence? Has the general membership
increased or decreased since the fall out after they instituted a fee,
and what is people's experience in that, compared to, say, "advertising"
through email lists and such? 

Any and all feedback welcome, onlist or off.

Dorothy
Madison, WI

On 4/25/2007 8:14:53 AM, Tara_Affinity (tara_affinity@yahoo.com) wrote:
> After offering the MeetUp links for to Poly MeetUp groups, I thought 
> perhaps other's might like to see if there are MeetUps or folks 
> interested in MeetUps near them.  Here's the link to MeetUp.
> com's page for these http://polyamory.meetup.com/about/    If this
link doesn't
> work, I'll try another way...so let me know if it doesn't.
> 
> Peace:  Tara
> (in Lancaster PA)
> 
> Tara's page - http://360.yahoo.com/tara_affinity - a sacred living, 
> sex-/poly-positive exploration Meet Up for Lancaster Poly-Tantra - 
> http://tantric.meetup.com/14/ Yahoo Group for Lancaster Poly-Tantra - 
> http://groups.yahoo.com/group/LAPTN