Your first event is free to see if you like organizing. MeetUp’s subscription fees are a lot. They range from $300 to $700 a year depending on the group and options. After your first event we ask organizers to chip in $15 each calendar year towards the cost of running our MeetUp group. That means on January 1st, I will ask for the $15 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.
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.
We now have a space to use for community/MeetUp events. It is good for card nights, pot luck dinners and similar social events.
It includes banquet tables, approximately 20 chair. There is a small kitchen area with a sink, refrigerator, microwave, and toaster over.
The cost is $25.
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
Bad Profile Photo Do Not’s
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.
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 yearly MeetUp fees, we should all contribute to our attendance data.
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/
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“