New in January (2008)

Hi all, I'm Viviane, a Product Manager here at Meetup, and I'm the one that worked on the Meetup Shop promotion. ::ducks::

First thing I want to clarify is that the Meetup Shop isn't about "our" items or about making money, but about helping you promote your Meetup!

We are delighted that you guys are setting up your custom shops, marking things up and using that money to offset your Meetup. That's totally awesome and what we want everyone to do!

The reason we added the link to the Meetup Shop on the group pages is to create awareness and get even more organizers to create customized items to promote their Meetups. Many organizers and members don't know that they can go onto Cafepress and Zazzle and create their own shops. Or, they don't want to or can't spend a lot of time or money.

I do want to clarify that many of the items available in your Meetup Shop are completely customizable and you have total control in customizing those items:

Zazzle shirts, buttons, etc. For those that don't have their own logos or just want something basic, they can use the existing Meetup template with our logo and your group name. However, the Meetup logo and your group name can be resized or completely removed and you can submit your own designs. You can even change the types of shirts and colors of the items.

VistaPrint products. We created basic Meetup templates for business cards, invitations and table tents. Once at VistaPrint, if you don't like the template, they have a bunch of other designs or you can submit your own.

Print Your Own. Yeah, these are simple Meetup templates that you can't really customize a whole lot but for those groups that don't want to spend a lot of money, it's a great way to get the word out.

All of that said, we see why this new link to the Meetup Shop would create confusion for those of you who already have your own shops. We will absolutely put that toward the top of our list of stuff to get done.

So now our events are no longer called events, but meetings instead? Yuck! As a Movie EVENT Organizer, I think the word EVENT has a little more gusto and purpose to it, dontcha think?

Hi all, I'm Viviane, a Product Manager here at Meetup, and I'm the one that worked on the Meetup Shop promotion. ::ducks::

First thing I want to clarify is that the Meetup Shop isn't about "our" items or about making money, but about helping you promote your Meetup!

We are delighted that you guys are setting up your custom shops, marking things up and using that money to offset your Meetup. That's totally awesome and what we want everyone to do!

The reason we added the link to the Meetup Shop on the group pages is to create awareness and get even more organizers to create customized items to promote their Meetups. Many organizers and members don't know that they can go onto Cafepress and Zazzle and create their own shops. Or, they don't want to or can't spend a lot of time or money.

I do want to clarify that many of the items available in your Meetup Shop are completely customizable and you have total control in customizing those items:

Zazzle shirts, buttons, etc. For those that don't have their own logos or just want something basic, they can use the existing Meetup template with our logo and your group name. However, the Meetup logo and your group name can be resized or completely removed and you can submit your own designs. You can even change the types of shirts and colors of the items.

VistaPrint products. We created basic Meetup templates for business cards, invitations and table tents. Once at VistaPrint, if you don't like the template, they have a bunch of other designs or you can submit your own.

Print Your Own. Yeah, these are simple Meetup templates that you can't really customize a whole lot but for those groups that don't want to spend a lot of money, it's a great way to get the word out.

All of that said, we see why this new link to the Meetup Shop would create confusion for those of you who already have your own shops. We will absolutely put that toward the top of our list of stuff to get done.

Vivianne

I see that it's actually zazzle's site you are customizing through and that is nice, but my concern here is that these logos we've created are getting passed by, by members whom don't know how to use the tools. I could easily send them all a jpeg file of my logo varations, and tell them they can customize it to their liking, but for members whom don't have very capable computer skills they will be left in the dust. And although I can create a shirt with my logo on it, it does not allow me to change the window underneath my pic to the shirt with the logo I created, so that other members can order it. Does that make sense?

On top of that, we've added a small amount of $ to help offset meetup costs, and by doing it this way it negates that, from what I understand. I haven't seen a place to change the price. All in All it makes the hard work that we've put into our logo gear get passed by. That's why it's bothersome. Thanks for clearing some of it up.

Crystal

Vivianne

There has never been anything on Meetup that I have been against. All in all I love Meetup and reccomend it at every turn.

This time though I am incredibly frustrated. This absolutely should have been at the least discussed. Now my members are asking a thousand questions about what happened to our store (the one I set up) and why this is being forced onto our group.

I am also frustrated for the same reasons Crystal explained. None of the shirts my members order through this link are going to to match the other members shirts. We are looking for unity here. It helps our new members find us at events and promote our group.

I would be willing to use this if there was an option to lock in our groups shirt design.

I do think the best avenue would be to give us the option to turn this off.

Please help us with this.

Hi Crystal
The image on the left-nav bar is an icon for the Meetup Shop and not meant to represent Zazzle or your shirts, but the shop as a whole.

I understand what you're saying, you want your group to use the logo you've created and that this link is confusing for you and your members. In the meantime, you could post your jpegs to the "file" section of your Meetup or if you already have an existing cafepress/zazzle store, let your members know where they can go buy your pre-customized items.

Hi Rachel,
Like I said in my original post, we understand why this is confusing to those of you who have existing stores. This is at the top of our list to deal with.

Thanks,
Viviane.

I noticed that too. I run a moms group. I don't think any event with 10 or more toddlers should be called a meeting. We have very few events that I actually consider to be meetings.

Still I really was not overly impressed with the upgrades. I would like things that I will use. Someone mentioned having a event waiting list what a faboulus idea.

I would like the abblity to do things like adjust the Auto reminders. My group has virtual events from time to time. We do them to get members to take our polls, up date there profiles, pay there dues I wish on those events that once a member RSVPs yes they could stop getting e-mails about it while the site still sends e-mail reminders to those who haven't responded. With these the option to turn off the feed back feature.

Someone mentioned having more options on our welcome page. I would love a welcome page that is setup so Organizers can choose the features that are on the page. Where we change the priority and order of what we feel is important. To be honest it would be nice that potential members and current members were to be dirrected to different pages. I have a lot of information on the welcome message to encourage new members. It would be nice for current members to see instantly this is whats going on instead of having to scroll down.

Still I realize that all changes take time. I hope to see some better upgrades next month

(Please read this with just a touch of feigned anger and a little humor. I'm not really angry, but am a might miffed. Also double posted because I didn't realize this thread was here.)

In regards to the Show your meetup pride ... get your customer gear change.

GET THIS OFF MY PAGE!!!!

Sorry to shout, I too have my own CafePress site. I pay for the professional store which gives me a lot more freedom for the shop. All material I sell is marked up by $1, and the proceeds pay for the shop first, or go into our group kitty. And, if no one buys our shirts, then we have to pay $6.50 each month to keep my shop open. If there is no money in the kitty, it comes out of my pocket.

So....

UNFAIR COMPETITION!!!!

I worked for HOURS to get the CafePress site up and running, then I'm not allowed to put images or links on every page to get my members to go to a store that has our logo ONLY. I don't want the meetup.com logo, sorry. I want to advertise my group, not meetup.com.

Now I have to go to the message board, about us page, and welcome page and tell everyone to NOT use this store for shirts. I don't mind meetup having a place to do this, but can you let me remove it!! I have a hard enough time advertising the shop we do have.

Ok ... that's the complaining.

I appreciate meetup wanting to make NEW organizers aware of this feature. I've known it has existed for some time and choose not to use it. I make my own professional looking business cards w/o the meetup logo because I want to advertise my group first. It is only incidental it is on meetup.com. I want someone to ask me about my group, not 'what is meetup.com'.

If you feel for some reason the need to keep this, please open it up in a separate window. Once you click on the link, you can't easily get back to the page you came from.

Once again I will say it. But I will say it briefly and loudly.

OPT - IN = GOOD

FOIST - ON = BAD

When you allow opt in, people can carry on as before by choice, but when you foist unrequested stuff on us, we don't like it.

Personally, the fact that I can't afford the exorbitant delivery charges to import from a US based supplier makes the meetup shop totally useless over here. No local supplier is offered. Had I set up my own store already, I sure would be ungrateful right now instead of bemused at the lack of learning going on at meetup.

You ask us about stuff, solicit our opinions on things, warn us about upcoming changes, effectively tease us into believing you have learned from the past: - Then change random other stuff instead. WHY?

Len

Disgruntled....

The Zazzle - gear shop - should be an option to Orgs and should be able to be turned off

Thank you SO much for moving the Google calendar (and Yahoo & iCal) up nearer the top of the page!!


Thank you for fixing the gobbledygook that was happening in the "Additional Information" field!

Agreed! A simple upgrade that is soooo good! Thanks meetup.com!