Let’s Meet Up at the BBTC Meetup Group
What is Meetup?
The Meetup website (www.meetup.com) hosts groups of any and all kinds, enabling people with common interests to (a) find each other and (b) keep in contact with each other. You can join as many Meetup groups as you like, free-of-charge [no fee as a Meetup user]. Meetup makes their money by charging groups a hosting fee (which at $12 per month for a 6 month contract is a real bargain).
So…. go online and join our Meetup Group at http://tall.meetup.com/15/.
Why have a Meetup Group?
Aside from being another way of promoting and raising awareness of the BBTC, our Meetup Group is a great way for ALL of us to communicate with each other, without having to know everyone’s e-mail addresses, or maintain distribution lists of people’s e-mail addresses. Once you have signed up for our Meetup group, you will be able to e-mail the entire group by sending to just one address: tall-15@meetup.com.
This will make it a lot easier for our members to advertise short-notice get-togethers (“Hey, anyone wanna go wine-tasting / dancing / people-watching this weekend?”) and updated event information (change in location / weather advisories, etc.) – promote more communication, friendship and socializing, which is what we’re all about.
There are an increasing number of TCI Clubs that have embraced Meetup – BBTC is the third TCI Club to do so. The Hartford Heights Tall Club got an early start back in November 2006, even before Meetup had a “Tall” category (they have subsequently been re-categorized now that the “Tall” category exists). Next were The Tall Club of New York City (TCNYC) in December 2006, and then BBTC in January 2007. TCNYC has 90+ people signed up on their Meetup group – and they are growing daily – which is fantastic PR and visibility for a Club to have. Since 95% of our members are Internet-connected, I know we can (and will!) have a lot of members in our Meetup Group. And it does “mean something.” Meetup highlights the Groups within a category that have the highest membership counts (more PR for us!).
Does the Meetup Group replace our existing web site?
No it does not – consider our Meetup Group an extension of our “corporate” web site, www.hubtall.org.
On our Meetup Group, we only post public events such as First Fridays, Third Fridays, our dances and any other public get-togethers we have in the calendar. We refer all prospects to www.hubtall.org to read more about the BBTC, sign up for the newsletter and full BBTC membership (which is a prerequisite for attending any house parties, BBTC Weekends or other TCI Club Weekends & Convention).
So what do I need to do to sign up?
Go to http://tall.meetup.com/15/ and click the “Sign up for this Meetup” button.
If you are not an existing Meetup user, you will need to set up a Meetup user profile. Once you “Sign up”, your request to join the Meetup Group will be approved by the Group Organizer (currently Robyn Laing), after which you will receive an e-mail confirming your membership of the Group.
You are not required to post a photo of yourself as part of your Meetup profile, but it really does make a big difference if you do post a photo. If prospects get to see the faces behind the user id’s, it’s a lot less intimidating for them to come to an event by themselves – because they will be familiar with some faces and (possibly) names. And – dare I say it – there’s nothing like some good eye candy for attracting single guys & gals too! So put your best face forward, folks, and let’s go for it!
