r/Eugene • u/Ok_Presentation7413 • 1d ago
Tips for starting a social group Meetup
Hi friends! You may have already seen me posting about the group I’m trying to start, Eugene Creation Exchange. So far we have done jewelry making, collage, movie night, paint by numbers.
I’ve found that I’m putting in a LOT of effort into planning events, inviting friends and anyone I run into that might be interested. I make event posters, reserve venues, buy all necessary supplies. I don’t want to give up, but I feel like I’m doing something wrong!
It’s been fun, however we’ve had an inconsistent turn out each time. How do I get the same people to come back? Also, I’ve had lots of trouble getting members to participate in discussions about future events, their availability, etc. I don’t want to make this a chore and I totally understand that people have busy lives, but I guess I just had different expectations.
I could use some tips from people who either have experience in coordinating group meet ups, or what you’d like to see as a group member. Thanks for your help in advance!
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u/throwra1525 1d ago
I’d say post in Nextdoor and local Facebook groups to gain more traction. I see you already have a fb group and a discord set up. Maybe run polls on what the best day/time to meet up. Have the venue advertise the event. That’s just my 2¢ as someone possibly interested because I haven’t seen any of your posts and your social group intrigues me.
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u/ApplesBananasRhinoc 1d ago
I have not heard anything About this group! Seems fun!
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u/Ok_Presentation7413 18h ago
https://www.facebook.com/share/g/1EvMnEnisx/?mibextid=wwXIfr Here’s our link! :)
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u/OculusOmnividens 1d ago
I’ve found that I’m putting in a LOT of effort into planning events, inviting friends and anyone I run into that might be interested.
Yep.
I make event posters, reserve venues, buy all necessary supplies. I don’t want to give up, but I feel like I’m doing something wrong!
You're not doing anything wrong.
It’s been fun, however we’ve had an inconsistent turn out each time.
Yep.
So here's the thing about Eugene. People here are flaky, flaky, flaky.
You will have a hard time getting people here to do things they want to do. That's just the way it is here. You shouldn't take it personally and this isn't a suggestion that you stop doing what you're doing. Just understand that you're going to put in a lot of work for very little result unless you get really lucky and find the right people.
In short, it isn't you.
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u/hello-lemon 1d ago edited 1d ago
I’ve done similar event organizing. If there’s a high up front logistical cost for you and you’re not getting what you need from other people, require registration through eventbrite for a nominal fee. You can have “no one turned away for lack of funds” tickets if you want. But using that kind of service will solve a lot of your challenges with knowing how many people are coming, communicating with registered attendees, and also compensating you in at least a token amount.
Otherwise, Id suggest largely reducing your overhead: basically show up, encourage folks to bring their own projects, have a core group of friends who will always hang out with you, or otherwise do a setup where if no one showed up you would still enjoy yourself and not be mad your time was wasted. You can still have occasional high overhead events (once a quarter, once a year, whatever makes sense) but those can be treats rather than the norm. And if other folks want highly orchestrated events more often they can damned well organize them themselves lol
I have a handful of very flaky friends. I love them, they’re great. But they get invited to things like “at 5pm we are going to food carts and at 7pm we are seeing this movie, you are invited along with a bunch of other folks.” And if they show up, great, I get to see my friend. And if they flake, no biggie, I’m still planning on eating good food and watching a movie regardless.
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u/iliikepie 22h ago
Maybe keep it the same theme each time. For example pick a place and time and have it the same every week, and have people bring their own project to work on.
Honestly I think this is a great idea and if you keep going you might gain more success over time. For example I wasn't even aware of this group, so definitely getting the word out seems important for gaining traction.
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u/MrEntropy44 1d ago
Don't use meetup.com
It's essentially a pyramid scheme and if you stop paying, it will start harassing people who have previously joined to take over.
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u/LMFAEIOUplusY 1d ago
Yeah I'll second u/hello-lemon. Think about whether you want to be a promoter, or a community leader. If you want to be a community leader, and there was no community was telling you "Dang, you should do [this thing]!" you need to CREATE that community. Enlist aid...share responsibility...open up your vision for input.... Nothing wrong with being a promoter, either! But if you want there not to be negative cash/energy flow you need to figure out how to get compensated -- and there are a lot of models out there, to consider how other promoters are doing their things.... Good luck!
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u/refriedgreens22 9h ago
I’ve found that there are usually a number of people at these type of events with lots of opinions about how things should be done. If they’re too weird, just ignore them. If they seem sorta reasonable, then ask them to serve as lieutenants for specific topics such as finding locations, communications, or whatever. You will be surprised how many people don’t want to be the leader but are very happy to be one of the second level lieutenants.
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u/Bicycle_the_Earth 15h ago edited 15h ago
I sent a join request! I'm super consistent and would also love to help out with events and stuff
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u/AlpinePinecorn 1d ago
Instead of advertising with posters you could advertise with meetup dot com or via reddit and social media each week.
Venue - if possible pick the same venue each time and same time/week. Consistency brings people back.