Creating a Welcome Message for New Members

You can customize the Welcome Message that Meetup.com sends to your new members. This will give you a chance to tell new members about your group in your own words, even if they have disabled receiving one-on-one messages from other members.

How to Create a Welcome Message for New Members


1. Click "Group Settings"


2. Click the "Your Members" link


3. In the Welcome message section, type in the text of your special welcome message


5. Click "SUBMIT" at the bottom of the page

What Information Should You Include?

Anything that you think will orient new members to the Meetup group. Introduce yourself, your passion for your group, and talk a bit about what your group does. It's a great place to plug your Meetup group's message boards and the events page. If there are costs associated with membership, those should be mentioned as well. And don't forget to thank the new members and welcome them!

A Sample Welcome Message

This is the message that members of the NYC Bowling Meetup receive from their organizer, Deidre. Note how she mixes the information with a bit of humor to create a personal touch:

Welcome to The NYC Bowling Meetup Group!

The Meetup Group Organizer is Deidre.

He or she says:
---------------------------------------------------------------
Greetings!
Deidre, your NYC Bowling Organizer here.
Thanks for joining the NYC Bowling Group.

Welcome to the wonderful, fulfilling, exciting, and often
inebriated world of bowling.

I would give you a prize or something for joining but this club
doesn't have a molecule of money!

Instead I'll buy you a drink at the first event you attend.

I'm the organizer and my job is to make sure I come up with
bowling events you look forward to attending. For now, that job
consists of annoying you with intrusive emails asking you to
RSVP to our upcoming events and (if you haven't already done
so) please, please, please fill out a profile. (Wow. I'm
already begging and I haven't even met you. You must really be
someone special. Don't you feel special?)

You should, you're a bowler!

You can RSVP here: http://bowling.meetup.com/43/events

Take a look at our somewhat informative, (if not downright
silly), bowling FAQ:
http://bowling.meetup.com/43/boards/view/viewthread?thread=1151290

The FAQ is designed to help you help me help you...honestly.

I think it's important to note here, if you're a serious bowler
looking for a serious league, you are in the wrong place. On a
whole, we kind of stink on ice as bowlers, but we're proud of
that and don't hesitate to stay slightly tipsy to ensure 10
gutterballs in a row remains a laughing matter.

I'll keep this email short; thanks again for joining and check
out the events section as I add more and more bowling
opportunities in 2005. I look forward to eventually meeting
you.

Cheers!
Deidre

That's it! Do you want to share how you use the welcome message feature with other organizers? Check out this discussion in the Organizer Forum:

Motivating Member Participation (And the New Welcome Message Feature -- How Do You Use It?)

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