First let’s set some standards for our organizers.
These are required.
Organizer Contributions – Non Commercial
Your first event is free to see if you like organizing. MeetUp’s subscription fees are about $400/year. After your first event we ask organizers to chip in $10 each calendar year towards the cost of running our MeetUp group. That means in January I will ask for the $10 again. If we get more than the cost of fees, that money goes to charities and is a slush fund when we do volunteer work.
Organizer/Business Contributions –
We have a few organizers that are also businesses and they bring a lot to our group. Our members enjoy the events like yoga classes or dance lessons they offer. The businesses get an affordable way to advertise.
We ask businesses to pay $10 per event. That means if it is an improv comedy class that is held once a month, every time they post an event they pay the $10 business contribution.
This also helps filter out the low quality events and spam. If a business doesn’t think they will make enough from our group to pay $10, it probably isn’t an event worth posting.
Profile Photos
FACE PICS ARE REQUIRED TO BE AN ORGANIZER in “I Want To Do That, Just Not Alone”.
Why? Because more people will come to your events if they know what you look like and pics make it easier for members to recognize/find you.
Good Profile Photo Do’s
- Recent (more than 2 years old is NOT recent)
- Camera straight in front of you
- Camera no more than 3-5 feet from you
- Looking directly at the camera
- Close up showing just your face
Bad Profile Photo Do Not’s
- Don’t wear sunglasses, masks, hats or anything covering your face
- Don’t hold the camera above you, below you or off to one side
- Don’t use full length photos
- Don’t filter or color the photo. This isn’t about looking like a movie star, it is about being recognizable.
- Don’t use photos from far away
- Don’t use photos other people are in
If you don’t have a good photos like described above, ask me to come to one of your events and I will take a photo for you.
Remember many people use the MeetUp app on a 4″-5″ phone screen so your photo is only 1 inch square on their screen. These are screenshots taken from my phone with a 6.7″ inch screen. See the difference? Imagine it on a smaller phone.
Being a Good Organizer means taking Attendance
I know attendance doesn’t matter to many organizers or at many events. Taking attendance is still important because it helps all of us. Just the same as we all chip in to cover the $400 a year MeetUp fees, we should all contribute to our attendance data.
Taking attendance is important for ALL of the following reasons
- Our guests see us taking attendance and that reminds them how important it is to be considerate and show up or change their RSVP to events
- It allows you to see the guest’s previous attendance history and know how likely they are to come to your event
- It helps me keep track of “no shows”. If I see someone with poor attendance I send them a message asking “I saw you are having a hard time making it to events. I want you to come to one of my events so what can I do to help?”
- MOST IMPORTANTLY – It helps other organizers that have events where space is limited. If Joe Smith is having a dinner at an exclusive new restaurant and can only get a reservation for 6 people, he doesn’t want to allow people to sign up if they constantly cancel or no show. He wants to give that spot to someone who is going to use it. Joe only knows that if we all take attendance.
Here is a link and video explaining how to take attendance on the MeetUp Organizer App
https://www.meetup.com/blog/new-to-meetup-the-event-check-in-feature-for-organizers/
You are required to provide a safe environment for the people that come to your events.
Think about organizing and hosting events as being similar to having a party at your house. You want people to feel safe so they have a good time and come back. That means keeping an eye out for any potential drama.
Our group is NOT A DATING GROUP. Unless it is clear that BOTH sides are flirting and interested, it is your job to step in. A good way to do this is simply to step in between the two people and talk about something that is the opposite of flirtatious. “Do you two ever watch Dr Pimple Popper? I have this video on my phone…“
Now consider reading my post “Tips for creating successful Meetup Events“