Thanks for these findings! Especially looking forward to see the strategic analysis.
Some small remarks:
Surprised to see that not many people use Meetup.com when the average boost is 21% to attendance. In Groningen it’s definitely helping us, especially with some more diverse participants than our personal networks (although repeated attendance seems lower for people coming through Meetup.com)
The graph under ‘Practical support and new ideas’ is wrong, it’s the same as the one above.
Percentages would have been a little nicer to read than numbers, as the number of respondents varied
A random idea to help groups:
A checklist with ‘easy to do stuff that improves groups’/low hanging fruit, that groups can go through to evaluate themselves. On the list could be things such as (or whatever else you think works best):
Thanks Siebe, I’ll add your suggestion to our list of stuff to do.
I’m glad Meetup.com was helpful for you guys. I think that there are demographic differences in terms of which places have strong Meetup.com participation and which places don’t. In the UK I had never heard of Meetup.com until I became involved in EA. We know that it ends up being highly useful for a minority of groups, and non trivially useful for others. We allow people to experiment with it, but then aim to check in on groups every few months or so and close down the groups if it turns out to be no good for that particular location. I have been toying with the idea of contacting Meetup to ask if they would share their internal data on regional use patterns. I doubt they’d want that information public though.
Thanks for these findings! Especially looking forward to see the strategic analysis.
Some small remarks:
Surprised to see that not many people use Meetup.com when the average boost is 21% to attendance. In Groningen it’s definitely helping us, especially with some more diverse participants than our personal networks (although repeated attendance seems lower for people coming through Meetup.com)
The graph under ‘Practical support and new ideas’ is wrong, it’s the same as the one above.
Percentages would have been a little nicer to read than numbers, as the number of respondents varied
A random idea to help groups: A checklist with ‘easy to do stuff that improves groups’/low hanging fruit, that groups can go through to evaluate themselves. On the list could be things such as (or whatever else you think works best):
Automated sign ups for mailing list
Meetup.com group
Website
If it’s being used, it can be supplemented with short walkthrough or links to how-to’s.
Thanks Siebe, I’ll add your suggestion to our list of stuff to do.
I’m glad Meetup.com was helpful for you guys. I think that there are demographic differences in terms of which places have strong Meetup.com participation and which places don’t. In the UK I had never heard of Meetup.com until I became involved in EA. We know that it ends up being highly useful for a minority of groups, and non trivially useful for others. We allow people to experiment with it, but then aim to check in on groups every few months or so and close down the groups if it turns out to be no good for that particular location. I have been toying with the idea of contacting Meetup to ask if they would share their internal data on regional use patterns. I doubt they’d want that information public though.