Organizer of the Week, January 15-21, 2006

Meetup Organizer of the Week for January 15 - 21 is Sarah Beitler and The Pittsburgh Pug Meetup.

This week's Organizer of the Week was nominated by our own Mary Telesco. This Organizer caught Mary's eye with her meteoric rise in memberhip and managing to secure a sponsor for her Meetup all within ONE MONTH! This Organizer is on her way to building a solid Pug Meetup Community, linking with other Pug Meetups in her area to share advertising efforts.

1. How did you discover Meetup.com?

   I found Meetup.com through a Google web search, when searching for “Pittsburgh” and “Pugs”. The Meetup group was already established so it was the first search result.

2. How long did it take to get your Meetup meeting successfully?

   When I joined The Pittsburgh Pug Meetup group back in 2003, it was meeting regularly each month. I really enjoyed meeting other pug lovers around Pittsburgh and looked forward to each Meetup. Our organizer had to step down, and no one stepped up for a while to be the new organizer. I really missed our Meetup, and decided to step up to be the organizer for the group. My first Meetup as the organizer was very successful I think mostly because everyone had missed the group so much and were excited to see each other again!

3. What three things would you recommend to all Organizers do to help create a successful Meetup?
   1. Be Consistent – Our original Meetup group fell into the background when everyone stopped meeting regularly after our past organizer stepped down. Meetup.com is a great tool for creating an event, and tracking RSVPs and interest. But there won’t be interest unless you give your members a reason to log ont o your meetup site each month to RSVP to an event. “Meeting Up” is the whole reason behind a meetup group. Your members need to think of your group as a part of their life and weekly/monthly routine.
   2. Communicate– You need to communicate with your members so they know when the next meetup is, what to expect at that Meetup, etc. When someone RSVPs for a Meetup it is a good idea to send reminders to your members. Everyone is busy these days so it is easy to forget an event, even if it is something you are looking forward to. Also ask your members to communicate with you, that way you know of locations people might want to meet at next, ways to improve on your last Meetup, etc. And when members communicate their ideas to you, you as the organizer need to be sure to communicate back to them!
   3. Be Inclusive- Remember that not everyone has the same schedule, and not everyone lives in the same place. Try to mix up the locations and dates of your Meetups so you can try to include as many of your members at each Meetup. Some people may work on Saturdays; some people might have family obligations on Sundays. If you always meet south of the city, you will loose the interest of people north of the city, etc.

4. How do you utilize your group fees? (if applicable)

   We don’t have fees to join the group. We sometimes have fees related to a specific Meetup, for instance when we rent an indoor dog facility where there is a small fee per dog. This fee is paid directly to the facility to cover their staffing during our event, and cleanup, etc. Mostly we rent indoor facilities during the cold winter months because the facility fee is a small price to pay when the weather outside is in the single digits.

5. What was your biggest challenge? How did you over come it?

   Our group had been inactive for a while before I became the organizer, so our members either stopped visiting the Meetup page, or they joined other pug groups/forums that had formed on different sites. There were a lot of Pittsburgh pug lovers out there, but they were just in various places on the internet. I emailed the organizers of the different groups and asked them to post our Meetup event and a link to our Meetup site on their group site. Everyone was very enthusiastic as we all share the same passion… our pugs! I am still working to get people back into the habit of using our Meetup message board to share information.

6. How did you get the word out about your Meetup?

   Since the group had been active in the past, there were a number of old members who became active again as soon as I posted my first Meetup as the new organizer. They were a valuable tool to tell their other pug friends about the group and I have noticed some members “sharing Meetup” with their friends. I used the Meetup Craig’s List tool, and posted the meetup to a Pittsburgh Dog website that lists events happening around Pittsburgh. I also took the extra step to print tear-off flyers and mailed them to over 40 local pet stores, vets, animal hospitals, and groomers. The day the flyers hit the stores, I probably got about 2-3 new members a day for a few weeks. There is also a Sharon Pug Meetup Group that is about an hour away from Pittsburgh. Their organizer is great and we contact each other and invite each other and our members to the events.

7. What do you do, as Organizer, to get people to RSVP, show up, and stay active between events?

   The first thing is to create the next Meetup as soon as the first Meetup is over. A lot of people visit the meetup site right after the event to share stories and post pictures. Everyone is excited, and I think people are more likely to sign up for the next Meetup if they felt excited about the previous one. I also RSVP to the event so everyone knows that I will be there. You have to be excited about your own Meetup! I also try to pick locations where our pugs can be off-leash; it is easier on the owners, and dogs tend to be less aggressive when they aren’t on leashes. Also, it is important to pick locations Nort h, East, South, and West of the city as you want to try to include as many people as you can. I am trying to rotate the locations each month, and plan to do some Meetups on Saturdays, and some on Sundays due to different peoples work schedules and lifestyles. I also post updates to events and email those updates to members, and send everyone a personal reminder a day or two before the Meetup asking if anyone has any questions such as directions, what to bring, parking, etc.

8. Do you have any "big plans" for your Meetup?

   My first goal is simply to have a quality Meetup where the members have a good time. If they aren’t having a good time, then I need to take a look at how I can improve and listen to my members and their suggestions. Once that goal is met, only then I can start to look towards bigger things where the Pittsburgh Pug Meetup group might be able to make a difference… contribute to a local animal shelter, or raise money to help with local pug rescue, etc.

9. We noticed you have a sponsor for your Meetup, Could you tell us a little bit about how this came about?

   For the last Meetup I noticed that we had a very large amount of “YES” RSVPs. I contacted the company Zuke’s and mentioned to them that we would be meeting in a few weeks, and there would be a large amount of potential customers all meeting in one place. They had a new Dental Bone product which was only starting to come out in stores, and I suggested they send a few cases of that product to hand out during the meetup to raise awareness of their new product. Zuke’s was very excited about partnering with us and only asked I put their logo on the meetup site and hand out some pamphlets on their dog products. I think everyone at the Meetup was very excited to receive their dental bone as we are always trying to find ways to keep our pugs healthy. I am going to try to work with some other dog brands in the future as well.

   
   To give Sarah a sincere pat on the back and hear more great Meetup tips, check out the Organizer's Forum! Also take a look at all of our great Organizers of the Week and see how great being an organizer can be!