Hi Everybody!

A few of us moderators got together the other day to talk about managing the group's growth (among other things), and one of the questions that came up was how we could go about getting good feedback from all of the group members (and making sure people know that such communication is vital and encouraged). Like Meetup is good, sure, but most of what's posted there is very affirmative. And while we deeply appreciate it, we think everybody's doing a pretty good job, we're pretty sure this is why we're growing, we're curious about the things we could do better, we'd like to know your general thoughts and feelings on the groups, and we want to give us the opportunity to think and talk about them critically.

While John Daleiden, Isabel Worden-Klym and I will be trying to figure out how to develop and implement these things over the coming weeks, we figured what better way to get off on the right foot than opening it up to you guys! Namely:

1. What are some items you'd like to see on a survey? Because while we're focused mostly on people's general experiences with our groups, we could also be curious about people's experiences with other groups, how long people have been coming to groups, where they live, what they do, why they keep coming to groups, why they stopped coming to groups, so on and so forth, anything that will give us (as moderators/managers) a better understanding of how we work (and why we're continue to grow!)
2. How can we design, develop, and institute structures to retrieve accurate, reliable, and comprehensive feedback from participants? I, for one, am thinking that a combination of a suggestion box, online surveys, and an online form will do the trick. Kenneth suggested 5 or 10 minutes at the end of each group to reflect. Maybe we could start a blog? Do you have any ideas? What do you think?
3. What are some things we can do to improve as moderators? Like I don't know about other people, but (a) I struggle with ending/breaking on time and (b) I probably talk a little too much. Obviously when we get these things developed it will be anonymous, but if you're comfortable communicating these things to me, by all means (as it's a professional encounter, I want to hear these things).
4. Have you had any negative experiences? Again, for the most part I'm pretty sure our groups do a good job, this is why we continue to grow, but this is pretty much our chief concern, the elephant in the room if you will, and if you've been unhappy with something that's occurred in group (even if it concerns us), we really want to know.
5. There's also a legitimate question about how do we (as moderators) manage communications throughout the Meetup? Or, to put it another way, do you ignore these e-mails or read them? Are they annoying or engaging? Do they actually help you stay informed? Do they make you feel more included? Are there better ways we could communicate and share information (e.g. through Facebook, with less frequency, etc etc).

Because at the end of the day, I think it's important to remember that whether you are an individual who has somehow happened to have fallen into a moderating role or not, we are all of us the group, our success comes from you, and me, and all of us who believe in what we're doing here and make the commitment each week to get together and share each others work (which probably shouldn't be called a commitment, I have a lot of fun, I have problems calling something a 'commitment' when it's that much fun) and, I simply cannot state this enough, if there are things you'd like to do or ways you would like to get more involved (such as moderating), please please please please please just send me an e-mail or talk to one of us at groups and let us know.

Thanks much, and see you guys soon!

-Jake