You have a meetup group, now what?

[Kandilynn]

My husband and I are the organizers for the Hampton Roads, Virginia meetup group. And I've been trying to come up with ideas for my meetup group. So, I thought I would start a thread where we could all share what is going on in our individual meetup groups.

We created our group because I knew we needed one, but I've never organized a group like this, so I can use all of the help I can get. Especially since our group has members from around 7 or so cities. So, what is your meetup group doing, and what have you done?

[carla8478]

I have a checklist of things to do to support Ron Paul that I've been distributing. maybe you can do some of these. Especially the idea of banner making parties.

I don't see a way to attach a file so I'll paste it in:


Action Steps to support Ron Paul in the 2008 Presidential Election


□ Go to the official website and donate. www.ronpaul2008.com
□ Go to the official website and sign up for their mailing list
□ Go to the official website and buy buttons and bumper stickers
□ Go to www.youtube.com, search for Ron Paul and become a subscriber. (A link is on Ron’s page)
□ Go to Ron Paul’s www.MySpace.com page and be added to his friends list. (A link is on Ron’s page)
□ Go to www.RonPaul.meetup.com and join a local group or get one started.
□ Email everyone you know and spread the word
□ Go to www.ronpaulhq.com and order signs and T-shirts
□ Go to www.ronpaulhq.com click on Grassroots action and get hooked up with groups in your state
□ Go to www.ronpaulrevolution.com, click on “how to” and watch the video on how to create your own banners
□ Host banner making parties
□ Go to www.dailypaul.com and download Ron Paul brochures, flyers, door hangers, and stickers to print
□ Go to http://www.libertytalk.com/liberty_card.php and order the inexpensive Ron Paul cards to hand out
□ Vote for Ron Paul in online and TV polls
□ Go to www.nytimes.com and do a search for “Ron Paul”. There is a ticker on the politics page that lists the top ten most searched for terms.
□ Go to http://www.usaelectionpolls.com/2008/articles/how-to-take-over-the-media-and-show-support-for-your-candidate.html and email letters to the editors. Like the article says spamming is probably not the best idea. Don’t be rude, just email something like, “I want to see Ron Paul coverage.” Keep it simple and to the point.
□ Copy this list and distribute

[SKW322]

OK, here's my idea.

You know those quaint, dense, popular areas of town made up of mom&pop small businesses,
like Georgetown in DC, OldTown in Alexandria, Carytown in Richmond, the Downtown mall in Charlottesville, etc.

Your meetup group needs to present a plan to each of the storeowners in one of those types of areas. The vision is to create a unified landscape of Ron Paul Revolution banners hanging from each storefront.
I think it would be easy to convince a storeowner that Ron Paul is the only friend of small business in the coming election. Most of these people that own and work at these places are wired, hip and trendy and may already be Ron Paul supporters.

You need to show courtesy by coming in to talk to the owner during a slow period of the day. You need to bring a banner with you to the store to give away or hang it for them if they accept. You need to bring a positive, friendly attitude. Let them know that you support local business and that the banner will resonate with the neighborhood's image as a hip place. You need to bring literature about Ron's positions on small businesses/taxes with you to leave with the manager if they seem hesitant or want to know more before agreeing.

That's all I've been able to cook up so far. Let me know what you think. If anybody in Richmond wants to help get this started in Carytown let me know.

[UtahApocalypse]

A wonderful couple started the Salt lake City area meetup group I am in. What they did is wait until there group had a few members then scheduled the first meeting. At that meeting everyone got to share there ideas and we all worked together. Now we have just under 50 active members, all of us have projects were doing and all of us support each other. So what can you do? I would say get members, then get active !

[abstrusezincate]

Definitely. I lead the Pittsburgh Meetup Group, and you really just find that everyone has great ideas, and you find ways to work together to see some of them happen. It takes some time and effort, but it is worth the results! :)

[Bryan]

OK, here's my idea.

You know those quaint, dense, popular areas of town made up of mom&pop small businesses,
like Georgetown in DC, OldTown in Alexandria, Carytown in Richmond, the Downtown mall in Charlottesville, etc.

Your meetup group needs to present a plan to each of the storeowners in one of those types of areas. The vision is to create a unified landscape of Ron Paul Revolution banners hanging from each storefront.
I think it would be easy to convince a storeowner that Ron Paul is the only friend of small business in the coming election. Most of these people that own and work at these places are wired, hip and trendy and may already be Ron Paul supporters.

You need to show courtesy by coming in to talk to the owner during a slow period of the day. You need to bring a banner with you to the store to give away or hang it for them if they accept. You need to bring a positive, friendly attitude. Let them know that you support local business and that the banner will resonate with the neighborhood's image as a hip place. You need to bring literature about Ron's positions on small businesses/taxes with you to leave with the manager if they seem hesitant or want to know more before agreeing.
I like your thinking here with attracting the small business owners. If you get to the point were they'll allow a sign they might also allow having some flyers available for customers to take.

Our Houston meetup.com group had our first action day today- we hit the streets at several adjacent intersections with signs, flags and flyers to hand out to motorists. It felt great doing it and was very successful.