Check-in to your Meetups

by Mike

Hi everyone,

We've made it easy to let others know you've arrived at a Meetup! Today we added the ability for members to check-in to their Meetups. By checking-in you're also making it easier for  members to see who's there and find the group.

You can check-in and view checked-in members from the Meetup mobile site, the Meetup iPhone application, or one of the third-party Meetup apps that support check-ins.

Members who check-in to events are also noted as in attendance for the event so you're also helping the organizer track attendance.

We're just getting started with check-ins, in the future we'll add the ability to share your Meetup check-in with others on services like Facebook, Twitter or Foursquare. Stay tuned!

Thanks and check you later,
Mike D, Ivy, Nathan, Rich and Steven 

Mike is a Product Manager at Meetup.

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Comments

[William]

Can the Orgs check members in?

[Dionne]

Cool and useful feature. I'm sure I'll use it with other Meetups. Too bad my own group is almost always in places with no cell reception or data service! ;)

[Judith]

Does the organiser have the option to allow or not to allow Check-In?

[Brennan]

Which of the 3rd party apps support checkins?

[Leif]

Can I sign in from the regular site too?

[Kim Eisenberg]

I LOVE THIS!!!!!!!!!!!

[Gabe]

Meetup iPhone Application?!

That's the first I've heard of THAT! Was this news posted anywhere else besides here? If so, I missed it. App Store shows the app has only been available since July 9th. That's pretty recent.

Our members are pretty bad about RSVPing, so I'm not sure if they will use this. Still, somewhat interesting.

[John]

This may just be the most useless idea Meetup has come up with yet.

[LaughingAtYou]

I think this is silly. You're forcing and trying uber hard to make people log into the dang nerdy internet while they walk and talk and meet people face-to-face like regular human beings. Give it a break, geeks. Get back in touch with society in the flesh.

[lisa]

THE App DOesnt work with my phone/ what about a little customized paket of items mailed to organizers like a check in sheet and post cards fliers so people have something to make up for the money meetup already makes off of people that sacrafice so much of their own $ and time to market meetup.com

[Erica]

Interesting, but I'm a little concerned. Our group has a high rate of no-shows, which I'm in the process of correcting with a no show policy. Anyway what concerns me is what if people check in and they were not in order to circumvent the no-show policy and being removed from the group. Does the organizer have the ability to change that check in to a no show? I think I would prefer it if only the event's organizer could check attendees in.

[J]

all the new features are sure helping. I do agree tho with those who do not like the rating system. One angry person over something and down you go. How about letting us take that out?

[Keith]

How are they going to check into the event if the event lists as a past event after 1 hour..?
You do not have a start and End time for the events yet..?????
You need Start and End times for the Events.. I aslo agree someone can sign that they are there and never show .. and if you have a no show policy they can get away with it

[Mike D]

Orgs can still mark members who didn't actually attend absent, thus overriding any check-in.

@William - I like the idea of a organizer app that you can use to check members in as they show up at the Meetup.

[David]

Would be cool if it could integrate with foursquare too.

[Tsafrir Melamed (Mike)]

Sounds GREAT! Thanks for this feature! !

[Lou Lampe]

Check-in?? What an odd idea. I can't see how it will be any use to us.
But then Facebook is equally useless.

[http://www.meetup.com/Charlotte-AdventuresAfter40/]

Totally Useless, What if a member isn't there but signs in as there, and then trashs the Meetup.
If the members need to find the Meetup Group, the ORGANIZER/Event Host needs to have a sign as to where the group is.

[John]

You have got to be kidding me! I just checked into an event that is now occurring and I didn't even RSVP. Now I can even RATE THE EVENT in which I neither RSVPd nor attended!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Emory]

This is of no use at all to my group. We are hikers and cell devices don't work when you are out on the trails! How about creating something useful to organizers like ability to click and drag the modules on the groups main page like so many of us want!

[Tim]

wow, i'm amazed at how many negative comments there are here. surely if you have a group where you have a heap of no-shows, or worse, people who actually lie about being at a meetup, you have a problem with your organising and control of the group. i agree the organisers must have the ability to overide and decide whether or not to adopt the check-ins. as per usual, if you don't want it then don't have it activated

[Ken]

Kind of a spiffy idea but when some of my users can't even figure out how to upload a picture or RSVP for an event, do I really think it will get used? No.

I'll bet this looked GREAT on the idea whiteboard but UBER useless use of development time.

[Robert]

Useless geeky feature. Why would you ever think that everybody in a group has 3G/Internet or an iTouch, and that places where we meet have Wifi? This is clearly to keep up with other social networking websites which use the new "check-in" concept. Just one more feature to remove Meetup and meetup groups from real life and place it a little more firmly in virtual reality.

[Michael Brinkley]

Waste of time! Added complexity withour benefit! Time would be better spent adding a search feature for Events.

[KaiserSenheiser]

As an organizer I like the idea if for no other reason than it gives me the peace of mind to know that I haven't missed someone.

[Julie]

I second the question can an organizer still override this option and mark them as a no show if a person chooses to check in trying to fly under the radar that they didn't actually show up and get pinged on an attendance policy violation.

As for the check in feature being available on Facebook, foursquare, etc. Oh please. How lame. What a waste of time and a great way for burglars to know you are not at home! Quit trying to be Facebook.

[dona seyler]

as the organizer i would need to have internet access on my phone to know someone had checked in....since i don't, i can't see how this could be helpful....what would be useful is the ability to move the modules so i can fill in the big hole in the middle of my homepages!!

[chris]

Definitely another vote for organizers to disable this - less is more and bloat never helps. Thanks!

[Mike]

For those who didn't notice my earlier response...

Orgs can still mark members who didn't actually attend absent, thus overriding any check-in.

Mike D @ Meetup

[JJ]

Why have a No Show Policy if the members can get around it?
What a waste of Meetup's programers time and our money!
Lets get to work on something worthwhile.

[Melida Sabeta]

Wow, so much negativity...

I personally like this feature. I also only see myself using it and not my members. But that is no reason why it should not be there.

I think MU is trying to be realistic and keep up with the times. Being a software consultant, I cannot tell you how many companies have gone out of business because they did not keep their product "current". Sure there are a few things that could be improved upon but that does not mean that new features like this should not be added.

[Shirley]

I run a hiking group and have never had any problem finding people. Nor do I have an iPhone, Blackberry, etc. and no reception at many remote sites. I agree, a waste of resources. I'd rather be able to use a search feature for past events in my own group (so if I want to schedule another hike at the same place as 2 years ago, I can copy it, but now I have to search all through hundreds of events) AND/OR a search feature to find all events on a given day or specific type of event.

[Linda]

Here's another vote for sticking to the meetup mission of focusing on in-person interaction. Please, let's have fewer virtual bells and whistles.

I'm saying this only because I love meetup for what it is, and like others have mentioned, don't want another Facebook. Like eveything, the site needs to grow and evolve, but please keep to the original vision.

[Donna]

I would love an app like this for a Windows based market phone - I have the HTC HD2 - Anything in the works for that?

[Victor]

OK, I kind of prefer the normal way where my members "Check In" to our events by walking up and saying hello to me or Vice/Versa.

I think there is already too much "Sandbagging" "Double Dipping"and "Event Shopping" by Members who are looking for hottest guys/gals or most exciting event before they decide to turn off American Idol and spritz up for an unknown social experience gamble.

The Singles groups will probably have the most problems with this since some will stay away if the "Crop" isn't up to specs. It can be difficult to find people in a crowded public place but just knowing they have arrived doesn't mean you'll be able to find them!

We do it the old fashion way, by researching locations, posting photos with lots of directions, being on time, and when all else fails we use ancient technology and call each other on the phone!

There is too much convenient technology in Society already and more and more people are loosing their "Face-to-face" communication skills.

I like most of the Meetup upgrades but this one is totally useless for me. Try again guys.

V

[Kim]

I have to agree with others. I'm not fond of this new idea. The whole point of a meetup is getting off the computer or cell phones and actually INTERACTING with humans. Now you're encouraging people to get back on their cells and not pay attention to the people right in front of them all so they can say "I'm here!". Seems kind of dopey to me.

I vote for allowing 1 person as the 'check in' person. Actual meetups should be about encouraging conversation with people in front of you. Please don't change the original format of what Meetup is all about.

[Ray Nielsen]

I didn't have time to read all these replies but many were negative asking meetup.com to spend their money and efforts on more useful features. I have been asking for chat for over a year now. As every organizer can attest; the messages boards are a rarely viewed feature and chat or chat rooms would be a far better utility to get members interacting and eventually meeting one another

[Perry]

Huh? You just spent a lot of effort fixing a problem that existed only for a very small number of groups...

[Randy Keeling]

This is fine, As long as it is something that can be decided to have or not have by the person who is initially organizing the group. Not everyone has this technology, and I don't think it should be forced down anyone's throats!
But If I say yes I want to have or no I do not want it that's fine with me.

[TinaBiner]

This seems like a good way around privacy issues when you haven't exchanged cell #s or email addresses and still want to be able to contact the group if you're running late or something came up. With friends you would call, text or email, if you're new to a MU group you probably wouldn't have them as a personal contact yet.

[TinaBiner]

Should the organizers decide how tech-savvy the group is? As long as the functionality does not have loop holes for no-showers, the individual should be able to decide to participate in check-ins or not, not the organizers. What if a person doesn't want to broadcast where they are regardless of a yes or no rsvp?

[gimme_a_break]

Wait. I go to my meetup, and instead of smiling and greeting and talking to my members, I would be fiddling with a gadget? To friggin TAKE ATTENDANCE on the spot? And that's supposed to be friendly?

[Nestor]

How many people asked for this creative/geeky feature? and how many of us are asking for other things as more important?

how many people will check who is at event in their computer then decide to go, yet arrive on time to attend event? - not that much possible in any medium size or large city

use the internet to get off the internet...until you get to event, where you get back to the internet!

[Lara]

Guys, I think you are all getting immensely worked up over something you can choose not to use. Those of us who think it's a good idea, can make full advantage of it. Why so much negativity?! I think it's great. I think that ANY additional feature will be more helpful than hurtful. I find it truly bizarre that so many people talk about people PRETENDING to show up so they can rate the meetup badly. What a weird concept. These people insist on taking off the star rating and cutting out any feature that might make their meetup look bad. What's going on in your areas that this kind of thing happens? Meetup Mob Wars??? Really!

[Randy R.]

I just print off the attendance roster (with name and photo of rack RSVPd member) before going to a meeting. Then I use the pen from my pocket to put a ckeckmark next to those people in attendance. When I get home or the next day I update the attendance on Meetup. Simple. I don't see this feature changing what I do one bit.

I agree with what some others have said. There is already a small problem with people fiddling with devices at meetings which takes the focus away from being present.

[Aaden]

Maybe Meetup has it just the opposite. Instead of check-in have a check-out feature where a person can indicate that they have actually put away their geek machines and are actually heading to the event and will be arriving on time to introduce themselves and to shake your and others hands.
USELESS PLAIN AND SIMPLE!

[Shannon]

Interesting enough... but I doubt we will be using this feature.... just not needed for us.

[Brian]

On a silly feature 1-10 scale, an easy 10.

[Gordon]

I do not see anywhere I can check in on the website. I also think that it should do it automatically, because if I forget to check in, people on my site may think I never check it when I do. Right now, I can not check in even though I have been on it for an hour.

[Joey]

Welcome to the year 2010.
WOW! What a great idea! I have been looking for the Meetup app for months now. The fact that it includes check-in’s is even better than I had hoped! Thank You! Thank you! Thank You! With technology like this at our fingertips, why wouldn’t we want to use it? For those of you who don’t understand (most of the negative comments come from lack of education in how technology has made meeting people in person easier, not harder…hello, you’re using a .com to meet people), please message me so I can give you an education in location based sharing (LBS) and how it will actually help you get more real life people to your meetups and not a bunch of phantoms (@joeymcgirr). I run a Brainstorming group (Brainstorming Networkers) and recently encouraged attendees to bring their laptops, and check in on Foursquare and Gowalla with their mobile devices. We are now posting to a twitter hashtag (#BrainNet) and the meetup has grown threefold. We are in Austin, TX, but get participation from London as well as all over the USA. Sure, this may not work for a hiking or biking meetup (or would it? Get creative people), one simple solution, just don’t use it. Pretend you never read the update. Unless it ACTUALLY hinders your ability to meet people in the real world, try not to express your lack of understanding on the rest of us who really get it. Your negativity has no place. With that I just want to applaud Mike D, Ivy, Nathan, Rich, Steven and the folks at Meetup for the wonderful job they are doing. I am in the process of creating more meetups and I plan to use every bit of technology and social media platform to connect the whole of humanity.

[Victor]

Here's an update for some organizers who still haven't figured it out. Meetup groups are ALL private groups. Some are Private from public viewing, some are not.

They pay Meetup.com to use their site in compliance with Meetup Terms Of Service.

The Organizer decides how EVERYTHING is done on his or her group if they want to.

My phone number is posted on every single page of my site and any member can call me at an event if they cannot find us. It is really hard to recognize someone who is looking down at their phone.

If the new feature helps you that's great! I'm just stating my opinion.

Thanks and remember.........let's be careful out there.

V

[Kevin L. Zander]

Mike, I can not find the check in feature on the site. I have tried with both my Blackberry and my laptop. Can you help me with this?

[Aaden]

@Victor: You have brought up a good point! If a Meetup group is not open for public viewing, and if this feature is tied in with Facebook and Twitter etc. in the future, then this check-in feature has the potential to threaten the private Meetup group's privacy, as the message will be broadcast to those accounts. Hmmm..

[Heather]

I am hosting an event this weekend in which there will easily be 200 people-it's a public event. I am expecting 11 at this point. If one of the members attending doesn't have a profile picture how exactly is his checking in going to help me find him in the crowd? And how much time am I supposed to spend ignoring the members who managed to find me and my trusty MU sign so I can check to see who bothered to check in but not to look for us?

[Caregiver]

goodness grief... you're JUST adding this??? We're talking about just adding another field to a table and flipping a bit in the field from 0 to 1 (0 for "not there" and 1 for "there"), and then adding a Form action=post etc etc. 10 lines of code at most. This could have been done ***MONTHS*** ago. Why don't you people stop trying to act like you're a Microsoft by everyone people on their edge of their seats with your "quaterly" updates of mundane features that could be rolled out at once. Or is it that you people are just hiring jackleg programmers? At least when Microsoft pushes out new features, it's 10's of thousands of lines of code (i.e something of true substance), not 10 lines worth of ALTER table INSERT INTO and ACTION=POST code.

What's next!?? 4 lines of code for "hey... I'm running late!! Now you can inform the Organizer that you're Running Late! Just choose from 5 minutes, 10 minutes, or 15 minutes

WOW! So fricken impressive!

Can the great meetup programmers exercise their mighty skills and impress us with MULTIPLE PAYMENT PROCESSORS PER MEETUP please? thanks!

[Ed Rehfeld]

Since you've already created this feature, please tell me that I will be able to change the attendance status from someone whom I DID NOT MEET OR SEE at the event to "not attended," regardless of whether that person has checked in.

It would also be nice for organizers (you know, the ones actually paying for this service) to be able to disable this feature so that people actually have to, I don't know, MEET UP with us to be counted as attended.

That last is probably asking too much, though.

If I can no longer keep track of who did and did not attend my events, and therefore be able to prevent folks who don't show from RSVPing to future events, then Meetup loses its usefulness.

Ed Rehfeld
Organizer, Washington, DC Jazz and Blues Meetup Group.

[Caregiver]

Attention all organizers! Basically for this new feature to have any real value, you will now have to CHANGE your meetup group to require all members to have photos, and you will have to WAIT for meetup.com to bring out a new "mundane" feature whereby you can APPROVE the photo, else what value does this new feature have if all of the dorks in your meetup group with Bugs Bunny avatars and blurry photos use this and post their attendance? Are you really going to walk around "hi who's here with the bugs bunny photo in their profile"???

[Comp Laner]

Wow. Now I can play police to find out who is here or not. Don't they do that at the army too? It is very interesting that the meetup guys are focusing on useless control things, while the membership/subscription/fee corner of the website is still very, very basic and needs a lot of improvement and new features. E.g. it would be great to deny access to anyone who doesn't pay or to remind them automatically after a year that the payment is due. So far you have to do that yourself - not a nice thing when you have a big group.

[Aaden]

ORGANIZERS: HERE IS HOW THE CHECK-IN FEATURE WORKS! Any member of your group can use this Check-in feature no matter if you have a yes, no, or not a RSVP at all. If a member uses the Check-in feature without a "yes" RSVP they will automatically be placed on the attendees list. If that same member, who did not RSVP or has the "no" RSVP and shows up on the attendees list, that member can be marked as absent by the organizer and it will show as a "no show" on their attendance record.

The Check-in feature activates directly under the "Print name tags" icon and with a "At this Meetup? Check-in now!" icon about 1/2 hour before the posted starting time of the Meetup. and turns off a full 3 HOURS later after the posted Meetup time.

When you click on the "At this Meetup? Check-in now!" icon, the words "Have a Comment" will appear with a box directly below to write in. Leave a message or not and click on "At this Meetup? Check-in now!" icon one more time and you are "checked-in". Once checked-in you are able to immediately rate the Meetup.

This is how it works.... You decide!

[Heather]

Yep, Aaden is right. I just discovered I can check-in to a MU event that is happening right now that I am not attending. At an event last night, the only attendee to check in checked in around 9:15 for an event that started at 6:00.

I can see this creating more work for Orgs with "No Show" policies as members figure out they can check into an event without actually going to it.

I can't see using this feature myself. I'm not one with a "look at me" complex that feels the need to alert the entire world to my every move. Plus, I don't go to Meetup events to sit and play with my phone the entire time.

[Randy Keeling]

Still, I ask,
"can we choose not to use this feature? or do we have whether we want it or not?

[Aaden]

As of right now it appears we have to accept the feature as it is. Hopefully Meetup will understand that this feature is absolutely not practical or even useless to many Meetup groups and Meetup events. Hoping that Meetup will understand that it has the potential to cause more problems than what it is worth. If a member needs to post a message for an event, the comment section on the event page is already in place. Many Meetup events are intended for people to get together as friends and to leave the thoughts and cares of everyday life behind. About the only thing this feature does is to show someone who is not on the event that "hey I am here and you are not." A member can show how well they enjoyed the event after the event is over by using the "Rate The Meetup feature. If Meetup really cares about a Meetup groups privacy, I ask to please make it optional and let the groups who want to broadcast to Facebook and Twitter choose that option.

[Carol West]

This is a great feature. Would also like to see the ability for expanded organizers tools, such as being able to check individuals in at a meetup, member management and meetup editing tools. This would be extremely beneficial for overall management of a meetup especially with last minute changes and being able to identify and check in first time attendees, especially when we have a large group.

[LaShelle Christensen]

This will help reduce the near misses of new members or if someone is confused as to where to meet... especially if you haven't been able to swap cell phone numbers yet. Great Idea!

[Ironsides]

You guys have a great thing going here, but I sense some competition will soon be eating your lunch using KISS for feature development
How about working on some features we organizers really want LIKE DUES MANAGEMENT

Oh and with the bad reviews of Iphone4 I suspect it will be an orphaned app shortly

[Denise]

Wow, I can't believe how mad this makes some people. If you like it, use it. If you don't like it, don't use it! There are a lot of people here and we don't all want or like or need the same things.

[Eve]

Only read about half the posts... I have a hard enough time getting people OFF the smartphones as it is. Thanks.

[Randy R.]

IS THIS FEATURE OPTIONAL?

In other words, can the organizer turn it on or off?

A clear answer, please. Thanks.

[Teresa]

Oh my Lawd, I hate this! I am sorry if there was a ton of time and effort put into this concept and then implementing it but we have a no-show policy and I hate that there is a way for our members to potentially circumvent that. I mean, what stops a member from clicking on the "checking in" when in fact, they weren't at the meetup. The organizers rightfully count them as a no-show and they use their "checking in" as their evidence that they were at the event? It becomes a big 'ole "she said, she said" thing!

Respectfully, it would be fantastic if you could work the bugs out of some of the things you already have implemented, especially the rating system, the new way groups are rated and the waiting lists, before you create new problems.

Is this thing on? Test . . . test . . . I feel as if we beg for changes or to stop mucking up things that don't need mucking up and we are not heard! Please, please, listen to the people.

[Michael Brinkley]

Useless and confusing. Please remove it from my Group.

In the future, I'd suggest you get feedback from your paying clients BEFORE you ram "New Features" down our throats. At the very least make them optional. Your time is better spent on increasing functionality instead of focusing on "fluff".

[j]

how about something that shows if any members even come to the site ? It is difficult to know if they are coming to the site at all......

[coach handbags]

At present, Beautiful and fashionable is young people’s theme of the times! So you could consider buying coach handbags which will make you look very fashionable.

[Amber]

AWESOME feature!!! Wish we had this when I showed up for a meetup and only one other person was there and we spent most of the night wondering if the other guys showed up but in another part of the building. GOOD WORK! :)

[Mauro Mazzerioli]

Please implement SMS check-in. All it needs is a server, it's not easy, but it's feasible, I have done it for another project.
Regards

[BernieJMitchell]

I have a blackberry (I know!)- can the app be adapted for that?

[Ed Rehfeld]

The problem here is not that this a bad feature or a good feature. For some Meetup Groups and organizers, it would be a boon, for others, not so much.

The problem is, once again, that Meetup is not giving us the option to NOT USE THIS FEATURE IF IT DOES NOT FIT OUR MEETUP GROUP.

My Meetup Group is about attending jazz and blues concerts and events, where typing away on a mobile device accessing the Internet is a) missing the point, and b) rude.

But Meetup HQ has not only not given those of us who do not wish to use the feature the ability to turn it off, they are encouraging members to utilize it to communicate with us.

I now will have to send an e-mail to my members to let them know that this IS NOT a reliable way to communicate with us at events, and that if they are running late or can't find us, they should use the cell phone number(s) we give out in our final details e-mails.

For those of you who love this feature, great; have at it and have fun. But it is a pain in the rear end that those of us for whom this feature is not only useless but counterproductive CANNOT TURN IT OFF.

Thanks again, Meetup HQ.

Ed Rehfeld
Organizer
Washington Jazz and Blues Meetup Group

[Randy R.]

I run a popular long-running meetup and I have a serious concern about the ability of members to upload photos this way without authorization.

The subject matter of our meetup is very sensitive for some people and they attend anonymously. We respect their privacy. But if any person can instantly upload a mobile snapshot...marriages, even careers could be ruined.

Can you *please* leave control of this up to the (paying) organizers who know best if this is appropriate or not?

Thank you.

- Randy

[Sflsocialgeeks]

Where the Blackberry Version? Why not just link the Meetup to an already in place geocaching application like Foursquare, Loopt, or Latitude? Why do we need a proprietary version?

[Ian]

I am surprised with the technophobic negativity even to the extent of claiming it could ruin marriages and careers (in which case it's their fault for being there)! Clearly there are bureaucrats among us that would like forms for things like photos (in public) to be put online.

It's also not like these involves programming of any kind either. People who don't know how to use this can be shown, is it so hard to press just a few buttons?! All it takes is for them to try. I have found I can upload a photo in four button presses, including the one to start the Snapup app and it's very straight-forward.

However, personally I have found many of the features of the "Snapup" by Meetup Inc. app to lack features which I now find are in the Meetapp app, so I look forward to using that and consequently RSVPing to more events.

[David McMullen]

This app shows events 15 hours too late. Is this a time zone thing? I live in Melbourne Australia. For example, an event on Jul 21 at 7pm shows up as July 22 at 10 am.

[Michael Stephen]

This is great, now when are your going to give the 1300+ members of this group an iphone so we can use it?

Over 900 of us do not have an iphone, yet all we hear from you is iphone stuff. Why?

[GC]

I'm an organizer, and this idea is of no use to me. Not all members have cell phones, and any of them can just check in and really not show up. This would just create more problems for organizers. Unless of course, you are wanting to give us all an IPhone. Drop the idea please, or give organizers the chance to turn this option off if they want to.

[Mike]

Most people are too technologically challenged to use this feature. Many more cannot afford the smartphones necessary for this. The rest will stop using the feature after the first or second event where they are the only one 'checked in'.

And I can also see new members trying to use this, seeing they are the only one 'checked in' and leaving an event thinking they are the only one there.

[Kelly]

I think it is alright. An addition might be some way to update the precise location.
for instance, if we are going to a festival or lecture, 5 people may show that never even find the group.
something to flag when a person arives will be nice, helping them find us will be better.

[Kiran]

Great idea! How can I download this for a Blackberry Storm?

[Williamsburg Co-ed Soccer]

I'm with Ed Rehfeld on this one.

"The problem is, once again, that Meetup is not giving us the option to NOT USE THIS FEATURE IF IT DOES NOT FIT OUR MEETUP GROUP"

The more complicated meetup makes features (bells and whistles) the more complicated it gets for me to run my group. I need the ability to turn off extra functionality like this immediately. If we can it is not clear from your posting.

My group (probably like many others) is unique in its needs and when meetup adds more features it only makes my life more complicated. This feature is clearly more for group "member" user experience rather than organizer functionality. I get that, but I just want to turn it off. Management of my group will become very complicated otherwise.

[susan ross]

I can't use this feature because I don't have internet on my phone how about a text feature????

[Deidrah]

Am I missing a setting somewhere? Our check-ins are posting in the Eastern time zone, yet we are in the Central time zone. The correct time is shown on the iphone app, but it is NOT viewed on the internet site as such. So, a 10:30 meetup shows people checking it at 11:30 at which the event is half over????

[Mandi M Lynch]

I have to say, while I see the usefulness of this, it's only good if the ORGANIZER has a way to see those. And since I'm on a phone that doesn't take apps, I have no way to know that there are people checking in.

Not that it should matter. Although, July 7, when I had people that weren't smart enough to read the event page to know where the writers group met (o_O seriously. I wish I could make that up...), it would have maybe been slightly useful.

[Douglas Miller]

Great idea. Looking forward to the Four Square check-in for MeetUp

[Karin W.]

While it's usefulness can be debated for days, at least let it pick up the correct time zone, not just Eastern. That only adds to the confusion.

[Heather]

I organized an event on Saturday evening and did have one of my members check-in. Instead of enjoying the event, I spent my time scanning a crowd of about 100 people trying to find someone I had never met who ultimately found us thanks to my sign, which she said was clearly visible from across the venue.

[Mike]

@Karin - We caught that one too, its been fixed.

Mike D @ Meetup

[Paul]

As many others have said PLEASE give organizers the ability to disable (make invisible) this function at the Group level. Whilst this may be useful for some groups, for lots of others, as evidenced by the comments above, it is at best useless, and in many cases positively detrimental.

[Jonas Vigbedor]

Jonas vigbedor is my name and I come from Ghana. I am a professional network marketer and traveling all over the globe building an mlm company call Edmark International the company that is paying 71% to the distributors. I am member of meetup group in Ghana.I thank the one who is behind this wonderful group for making it possible to form this group.

Please, all meetup group in the world so make it a point to visit www.edmarker.com or call jonas on +254711288956-Kenya and +233244842978- Ghana

[Distinct Lady]

I think this is a good idea for the organizers (event host, organizer, assistance org) of a Meetup group. It allow them to track the members who did show up and not have to do a paper trail.

For those of you that are so negative, wow, you really don't have to use the site or the features.

[Tara]

interesting feature, but because of no-shows possibly checking-in even though they haven't attended it would be good for organisers to be able to confirm the attendance list, if they wanted to.

The other aspect that would be good is to be able to text your attendance in. and then organisers get a copy of the text message, so those who meet at big venues or really big groups can know who is there and not necessarily find them.

[AandSInternational]

Hi will Linked in be one of those social media places be doing this as well?

[Wilder]

the organizer and/or hosts of an event should be able to check people in.

[mindy]

meetup for android please!!!