The Official Meetup HQ Blog

Organizer of the Week: Organic Fruits and Veggies for Everyone!

by Tegan

Congratulations to Alexis of the Inland Empire Organic Produce Buying Club, our Meetup group Organizer of the Week!

When Alexis founded the co-op, she thought she was doing it for herself: as a raw vegan, she wanted a cost-effective way to fill her own fridge with tasty organic fruits and veggies.

But what started as an exercise in saving money on produce has blossomed into a real, powerful, local community.

Together they're out to make the world a better place, one bag of good-for-you food at a time.

Check out to Angela's awesome interview with Alexis here. With the upcoming Thanksgiving holiday, you've probably got food on the brain anyhow.

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Yelping about Meetup!

by Andrea

If you're already familiar with Yelp, you know it's a wonderful community site dedicated to rating venues (mostly).

They've also branched out to include other categories too, like Event Planning and Services, where you might find businesses like Meetup.

Thanks go out to Sheryl from the Culture for the Non-Cultured Meetup for bringing this to our attention,  and a very special thanks to Manny for devoting his 200th Yelp review to us.  Some highlights:

Since I joined meetup I've met tons of people and made some friends. Now I have too many options and have to be choosy about what events I can commit to, I could go to a party every night of the week if I wanted too.

I didn't even go on a trip this year because I spent all my vacation money having a good time at meetup events and I don't even care.

In our current economic climate, a daycation through Meetup sounds like a great investment too. Nice!

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Let's Talk Chicken Over Chicken!

by Andrea

from the Meetups that don't talk turkey archive:

Special thanks to Tegan for finding another wonderful Can't Miss Meetup. 

Andy, a self professed Chicken Whisperer, runs The Atlanta Pet Chicken Meetup Group, which has over 100 Pet Chicken Buffs.  The photo section is full of adorable little chicks.  There's a Chicken Classifieds section too, just in case new members want to start a menagerie of their own! 

There's something for everyone here, whether they're Organic Farmers, Chicken Farmers or people who just plain like chicken.

Check out their egg-citing upcoming Christmas Party at the Golden Corral!  They have a special Toys for Tots collection planned, which is also worth bawking about. 

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Community Organizer of the Week: Jeff Kurzon

by Andrea

Congratulations to Jeff Kurzon and the newly minted Voterbook (formerly ObamaNYC.com), our latest Organizer of the Week success story.  Jeff's Meetup fueled a successful political campaign through grassroots organizing.

His former New York Obama for President Chapter has moved on to even loftier goals: as a good citizen, political watchdog, social group and alliance:

While each of us may hold a different candidate or cause most dear at any given time, we are allied in our goals and ambition to create a better democracy and country.

Thanks go out to Angela for his inspiring interview here.  The evolution of his Meetup is a testament to what happens next, keeping it in context, and how to make the vision and scope even more universal as a team. 

Together, they are change.

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Extreme Makeover: The Meetup HQ Blog Edition

by Andrea

Thanks to Dr. Derek at HQ, our blog is now beautiful:

 You'll notice the background features a Meetup Group.  As well it should!  Meetup Organizers and members are what we are all about, and the folks who make Meetup the best platform on the planet for running a local group. 

Thanks go out to all of you for making us look good, and for making the world a better place in that process. 

Three cheers from all of your friends a Meetup HQ! 

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"For a recession-friendly alternative"

by Scott

This San Antonio site (paper?) writes about a $600 class for aspiring screenwriters, then says:  "For a recession-friendly alternative, sign him or her up for the San Antonio Screenwriters Meetup"

Go Eddie Gonzalez & his members! 

Yes we can Do It Ourselves, and save $$$! See an earlier post about that. Imagine a Meetup Everywhere about Most Everything that gives people a much cheaper way to get what they need

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"This is the basic healing that we need now across our country"

by Scott

This guy is saying something that cuts to the heart & soul of Meetup... and why it's so important for Organizers to do what they do, now more than ever.

Rev Billy: "Real progress will be local. A Vision of the Local now appears before us. Local-lujah! We don't defer to celebrities, to suits in skyscrapers, to the theater of power in the glamorous distance. What do we have right here? ... The environment of pavement and ads and cars broke up our human connections, our talking to each other, the unhurried richness of neighborhood life... We find the extraordinary in the ordinary. Stop and trade names with a neighbor, touching hands, not hurrying away from the eyes... This is the basic healing that we need now across our country. Do you hear my preaching? It's clear now - We were forced into isolation. We were taken from each other - that's what we allowed them to do to us. We are getting to know each other again. This is the stuff of our new economy. It will grow and we won't let it go this time. Local-lujah!"

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Weekly Release: November 18th, 2008

by Jesse

Hi everyone!

The release this week is not too busy, but we're gearing up to launch some big things in the coming weeks. In the meantime, rest assured we are fixing exciting bugs like these below:

Some boards/forums improvements:

• You can now embed videos into message board posts!
• Fixed linking to other board posts from board posts
• Fixed Read/Unread not working for discussions in new forums
• And more ...

Other bug fixes:

• Now assistant organizers have the same rights as organizers in managing venues.
• Fixed venues sometimes guessing addresses wrong, and dropping second address line
• Fixed "Who's organizing?" not appearing on past event pages
• Don't show "Sponsor our Meetup Group!" for leaderless Meetup Groups
• No longer permanently reserve url names by people who stop in the middle of creating a group
• Meetup Alliance: Fixed calendar widgets sometimes not working
• And more ...

Visit our boards to see the total list of bug fixes, and comment about them.

Thanks,
Jesse

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Unavoiding Awkward Human Interaction

by Scott

While some of the best & brightest minds in Silicon Valley tackle how to "Make It Even Easier To Avoid Awkward Human Interaction" we work on increasing actual human interaction!!!!

Go Meetup Organizers!  Save the world!

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Does watching TV make people less happy?

by Andres

Scientists at the University of Maryland recently published a study that shows that people who watch more TV are generally less happy than people who engage in Meetup-like activity.

"TV doesn't really seem to satisfy people over the long haul the way that social involvement or reading a newspaper does," says University of Maryland sociologist John P. Robinson, the study co-author and a pioneer in time-use studies.

This comes as no suprise to most people who have attended Meetups.

There's a buzz you feel on your way home from spending a few hours with people who really get what you are into. You can't get it any other way. 

So let your couch potato friends & family know that happiness might just be a Meetup away.

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