May 31, 14:05:28 PDT> *Heif*: Hi, this is Scott Heiferman from Meetup

May 31, 14:05:34 PDT> *Eric Leland*: Excellent :) welcome scott!

May 31, 14:06:46 PDT> *Eric Leland*: Scott, maybe you can give us a
sense of the scope of meetup. How many folks are using it, what are some
great examples?

May 31, 14:07:46 PDT> *Heif*: Anyone there?

May 31, 14:08:10 PDT> *Eric Leland*: We are :)

May 31, 14:08:39 PDT> *Eric Leland*: are you hooked in ok Scott?

May 31, 14:09:55 PDT> *Alex*: Scott, can you tell us your advice on how
ngos can best use meetup?

May 31, 14:11:43 PDT> *Alex*: I'd ask you for an example but the Dean
thing kind of blows everything else out o the water

May 31, 14:11:43 PDT> *Alex*: Scott is on the phone with me -- he's
having a little trouble connecting

May 31, 14:12:24 PDT> *Heif*: howdy

May 31, 14:12:24 PDT> *Heif*: sorry about that

May 31, 14:12:24 PDT> *Eric Leland*: Hi Scott :)

May 31, 14:12:59 PDT> *Heif*: hey there

May 31, 14:13:17 PDT> *Eric Leland*: Alex had posed the question: Can
you tell us your advise on how ngos can best use meetup?

May 31, 14:13:52 PDT> *Heif*: The simple way is to just suggest to the
people you want to mobilize... to Meetup

May 31, 14:14:02 PDT> *Heif*: We designed Meetup to make it easy for
people to enter their location

May 31, 14:14:04 PDT> *Heif*: and spark people to organize & "find the
others" locally & meetup

May 31, 14:14:04 PDT> *Heif*: It can be pretty powerful.

May 31, 14:14:40 PDT> *Heif*: Other questions, how can I help?

May 31, 14:14:46 PDT> *Eric Leland*: what examples of smaller ngo groups
can you cite as good cases for using meetup?

May 31, 14:15:49 PDT> *Heif*: They're out there, but unfortunately, I
don't really know! I saw this one today...
http://ecology.meetup.com/24/about/

May 31, 14:16:14 PDT> *Heif*: but that's probably not an ideal use of
Meetup -- seems like it's not about the power of local groups

May 31, 14:17:12 PDT> *Heif*: Early last year, we stepped away from
working with organizations to focus on helping The People organize their
meetups

May 31, 14:17:42 PDT> *Heif*: but i there are orgs here & there that use
Meetup to try and create movements & mobilize people.

May 31, 14:17:48 PDT> *ClareWhite*: do you have a lot of involvement
from developing countries, particularly in africa?

May 31, 14:19:00 PDT> *Heif*: there's a bit, but not much yet.

May 31, 14:19:16 PDT> *Heif*: here's a decent example

May 31, 14:19:35 PDT> *Heif*: http://beppegrillo.meetup.com/about/

May 31, 14:20:08 PDT> *Heif*: not an NGO, but a personality/organization
in italy that sparked hundreds of local meetups around their election a
couple months ago

May 31, 14:20:44 PDT> *Heif*: it's an example of an organization or
person saying: "go meetup!" and people make a difference

May 31, 14:21:40 PDT> *Heif*: How about some of you introduce
yourselves... who's out there?!?

May 31, 14:21:52 PDT> *gabber933*: are there meetups for netsquared people?

May 31, 14:22:14 PDT> *Eric Leland*: I am relatively new to meetup
myself. Do you find groups cross-fertilizing? Are there tools for doing
this?

May 31, 14:22:20 PDT> *SkarjuneMN*: I'm sponsored by MySQL for a meetup
in Minnesota.

May 31, 14:22:30 PDT> *Heif*: i just saw this --
http://netsquared.meetup.com/about/

May 31, 14:22:30 PDT> *Heif*: that's pretty neat

May 31, 14:22:59 PDT> *gabber933*: cool!

May 31, 14:23:02 PDT> *Heif*: yes, the local groups can talk with one
another -- they can be like "chapters" in a multi-chapter organization

May 31, 14:23:13 PDT> *Heif*: that's how political candidate meetups
have happened

May 31, 14:24:28 PDT> *Heif*: who else is out there?

May 31, 14:24:46 PDT> *Eric Leland*: I was looking for best practices on
"meeting up" and found the organizers meetups. Do you work to highlight
best practices from groups

May 31, 14:25:33 PDT> *Heif*: yes, that's a big part of how great
meetups happen

May 31, 14:25:52 PDT> *Heif*: it's about connecting meetup organizers to
help one another

May 31, 14:26:09 PDT> *Heif*: and teaching them directly

May 31, 14:26:34 PDT> *Heif*: lots of resources here: http://orc.meetup.com/

May 31, 14:27:26 PDT> *Heif*: any other questions?

May 31, 14:28:10 PDT> *Eric Leland*: Has anyone here had an opportunity
to use meetup and would share their experiences?

May 31, 14:28:55 PDT> *Eric Leland*: I could see a feature to find
organizers similar to me, that I could use as my closest mentors in
setting up great meet-ups.

May 31, 14:30:29 PDT> *Eric Leland*: Heif: What are some new directions
Meetup is going? Is there a drive to incorporate more linked-in/myspace
social networking attributes?

May 31, 14:34:17 PDT> *Eric Leland*: Scott, any thoughts on meetup.com
plans for the future?

May 31, 14:37:37 PDT> *Eric Leland*: Scott, are you back with us?

May 31, 14:37:43 PDT> *Heif*: oh my.

May 31, 14:37:49 PDT> *Heif*: did you not get all my answers?

May 31, 14:38:08 PDT> *Eric Leland*: I didn't...

May 31, 14:38:14 PDT> *Heif*: crap.

May 31, 14:38:32 PDT> *Heif*: sent lotsa answers to those. ok.... back at it

May 31, 14:38:41 PDT> *Eric Leland*: sorry, thanks for sticking with it :)

May 31, 14:39:04 PDT> *Heif*: No social networking for Meetup. Our goal
is a simple one:

May 31, 14:39:12 PDT> *Heif*: Meetups everywhere about most everything.

May 31, 14:39:14 PDT> *myles*: hey all - myles from meetup.com is here @
the conf -- happy to chat.

May 31, 14:39:25 PDT> *Heif*: Helping people find & start & grow great
Meetups.

May 31, 14:39:34 PDT> *Eric Leland*: Hi myles!

May 31, 14:39:45 PDT> *Heif*: Really imagine if there was a meetup
everywhere about most everything.

May 31, 14:39:55 PDT> *Heif*: so that people can "find the others" about
whatever.

May 31, 14:40:14 PDT> *Alex*: are there any tricks you 2 could recommend
for embedding meetup info in an organization's primary web site?

May 31, 14:40:54 PDT> *myles*: hey eric. mutlitasking ... @ the
'combining online & offline organzing' table

May 31, 14:41:36 PDT> *Heif*: can you hear me now?

May 31, 14:41:56 PDT> *SkarjuneMN*: Is meetup solely commercial--or--is
there a free level for nonprofits?

May 31, 14:42:01 PDT> *Eric Leland*: Yep you are coming through!

May 31, 14:42:15 PDT> *Heif*: meetup is people-powered & people-funded.

May 31, 14:42:38 PDT> *Heif*: organizations don't pay meetup, it's the
local group that pays a small fee to be listed, etc.

May 31, 14:42:43 PDT> *Heif*: so the local meetups are "sovereign"

May 31, 14:42:55 PDT> *Heif*: that keeps us focused on the needs of the
local groups

May 31, 14:43:02 PDT> *Heif*: & getting them to kick ass

May 31, 14:43:21 PDT> *SkarjuneMN*: So there is nothing free for
nonprofits...

May 31, 14:43:31 PDT> *bekamop*: heif, greenpeace's internet organizer
here...dianne eisner tells me we live a few blocks away

May 31, 14:43:35 PDT> *Heif*: no, nothing free for non-profits.

May 31, 14:43:37 PDT> *myles*: hey alex ... depending on the org and/or
the mission, there are ways the org can promote meetups -- but they need
to understand it's a tool for the people... (scott just said this). but
check out http://www.meetup.com/friends/toolkit ....

May 31, 14:43:47 PDT> *myles*: for easy widgets to embed meetup stuff on
websites

May 31, 14:43:49 PDT> *Heif*: hey!

May 31, 14:43:53 PDT> *bekamop*: hi!

May 31, 14:44:05 PDT> *bekamop*: would love to get coffee sometime

May 31, 14:44:26 PDT> *Heif*: you bet, drop a line -- scott@m .com

May 31, 14:44:33 PDT> *bekamop*: cool

May 31, 14:45:20 PDT> *Heif*: how's the event going there in SF?

May 31, 14:45:20 PDT> *bekamop*: question abt meetup...when folks
organize local events, do they get the RSVPers emails?

May 31, 14:45:20 PDT> *Alex*: Myles, I'm looking at the text links options

May 31, 14:45:26 PDT> *Alex*: is there anyway to generate a link
specifically to one's own events?

May 31, 14:45:54 PDT> *Heif*: not unless they ask people for them.
people are very protective of their privacy,

May 31, 14:46:22 PDT> *Heif*: so to give people most confidence in
signing up, we promise them that their personal info won't be shared
with anyone without their permission.

May 31, 14:46:22 PDT> *myles*: alex -- if there's already a meetup topic
for it, yes. but further customization (tweaking the text) isn't
something we offer at this time

May 31, 14:46:45 PDT> *Eric Leland*: So what are the next moves of
meetup, any features to look out for?

May 31, 14:46:45 PDT> *bekamop*: makes sense

May 31, 14:47:18 PDT> *Heif*: ah, some good stuff in the pipeline...

May 31, 14:47:34 PDT> *myles*: and we just launched some new 'stuff'
today...

May 31, 14:47:35 PDT> *myles*:
http://www.meetup.com/boards/view/viewthread?thread=1909562

May 31, 14:47:38 PDT> *Heif*: all about teaching & connecting organizers
to be great organizers, and getting meetups more exposure

May 31, 14:48:12 PDT> *Heif*: i'm excited about a re-design that gives
people easier access to browse the meetups in their town

May 31, 14:48:21 PDT> *Heif*: so hopefully more meetups will get more
members out of that.

May 31, 14:49:26 PDT> *bekamop*: teaching? are you including skills
training materials? (running effective meetings, recruiting and
retention, etc)

May 31, 14:52:00 PDT> *Eric Leland*: Scott: you may not be coming
through again, what sorts of teaching support is in the pipeline for meetup?

May 31, 14:52:48 PDT> *Heif*: sorry for the tech trouble, y'all

May 31, 14:52:49 PDT> *Heif*: bekamop -- yes. we're trying help the
meetup community in all kinds of new ways & share best practices. there
are some completely amazing meetups out there (a lot of them ) -- people
can borrow a lot of good stuff

May 31, 14:53:14 PDT> *Heif*: whatever you guys are doing to mobilize &
create local action groups -- it's important for people to share best
practices.

May 31, 14:53:44 PDT> *Heif*: with meetup , people can get help from
local organizers of other kinds of meetups.

May 31, 14:54:05 PDT> *Heif*: ok, who's got the last question?

May 31, 14:54:35 PDT> *Eric Leland*: I am happy to defer, but ... How
will you specifically be helping folks share best practices going forward?

May 31, 14:55:13 PDT> *Heif*: sorry for the tech trouble again... thanks
for having me... i wish everyone all the best!

May 31, 14:55:14 PDT> *Heif*: bye

May 31, 14:55:22 PDT> *Eric Leland*: Thanks Scott!