HELP WITH GROUP

Hi I am new to meet up and the Organizer of ABSOLUTELY WOMEN in progress. It has been two weeks since I started the group on meet up to only have received four people interested in joining my group. Neither of the four that has joined since have RSVP to the meet up scheduled for todayj.

I can't believe out of all the people that use this site I received such a small response. I was really excited and looking forward to a much bigger response and getting members for my group. This is the main reason for starting the group here on meetup.com.

Could it be my group sounds non-interesting? Or maybe the meetup is not interesting? Can someone HELP? Take a look and give me a fair ipinion or your suggestion and be as honest as you can be. Please be encouraging as well.

Sherry - Organizer

Hi Sherry

First off---- The group looks pretty active. Your scheduled event for today is the DAY BEFORE HALLOWEEN. Some may not be coming because of prior committments. To be honest, 5 have RSVPd yes, and that's a good turn out. Your group started Oct 17th. To have 5 people coming two weeks later....that's a good turn out!

The only suggestion I have is your description says what it's about, but it all says "enpowering women"----as a potentail member---I'd want to know how you're going to enpower me. What aspects of life are you going to help me improve and how? My relationship with my husband? Time Management? Closer to God? Work Ethics?

Alot of people join meetup anticipating a 'get rich quick', meaning they expect to have twenty people coming to a meetup within the first month. unfortunetly it's not so. You have to work at it.

Congrats on your new meetup!

I also see 5 Yeses. Which I think is good for a first time. Have you done any advertising? The only cc I have for your site is that it was a little difficult for me to read the black text on dark purple background.

Looking at the event description, it seemed like this would be a really long event. There are several things going on, and I imagine if there were separated out that you might get more attendees b/c the time commitment would be less.

Your topic sounds really good but I have to agree with Shy--when I went into your Home page I could barely read the black text on dark purple. Colors definitely have a way of suggesting moods--maybe try some lighter, more friendly colors.

Dottie

Yes, you see 5 RSVP's but actually two of them are actually "No's". I asked the member to go in a change her response. Thank you for your input which has enlighten me and will motivate me to change up the website. I will definitely think about playing around with the colors. I had no idea it was hard to read the text. I guess it depends on the person's settings on their computer because the text is fine for me on my computer at home and at work.

I will change the About Page to be more detailed on what the group will offer more so than what the group is about.

Hi Sherry

Just my impression, I think your second paragraph reads better as an opening than the first. "As women" groups you in with your prospective members before they even join, so that joining the group seems like only acknowledging the obvious. Your "About" page has many of your goals as group organizer, and the first paragraph might fit better here. Maybe two parts here, "About the Group" for group and group/organizer goals and "About Your Organizer" to introduce yourself and your personal goals for the group.

Your first meetup sounds great. As a single man I'd welcome an option for food which meant variety, ease, low cost and great food. Have you gone through the list of interests for your group to see if you can find additional ones you can use for a while (cooking, eating) that will not dilute your basic core interest? Once the group grows, you can drop 'generic' interests and retain the specific ones on the list Meetup uses to promote your group to the general membership.

I can't believe ... such a small response.

Two weeks isn't that long. Try to expect nothing and just take what comes. If you're having fun, people will want to join you.

Good luck!

Hi Sherry,

You're actually off to a really good start. I think I had my first meetup event 2 weeks after my group was created. I have a movie group and you'd think that tons of people would sign up and turn out, right? I actually only had ~20 members and 8 people showed up to the 1st event that I organized so that's a 40% rate. You have 9 members now and have 3 yeses, which is 33%...not bad at all!

Your group's welcome message would work great as a member welcome email or a separate About Us page. To encourage members to join, make your opening page catchy...perhaps something like this:

Are you wanting to be in a community of positive and encouraging women?

Are you finding yourself so busy that you're losing a sense of who you are as an individual with a path and goals?

It's not easy being a woman today because we give our best to everyone and everything else and leave little if any time for ourselves. We spend more time tending to our children, spouses, significant others and keeping our bosses happy loosing (sic: "losing"?)sight of our individuality, path and goals.

It is our time now to take time for ourselves!

Absolutely Women in Progress is a group where women can have fun, nurture our spirits, pamper our bodies, laugh and socialize more, rejuvenate our souls to be happy and aspire on personal growth. "THIS WE PLEDGE"

It is our mission to Empower women to improve their lives to result in more personal growth.
So inspire to live life with more passion, purpose and fulfillment!

If you want to uplift and encourage someone, be empowered, connect with your creativity, find your strength, build on friendships, consider starting a home based business, forming a sisterhood in a sense of a community and of course have fun then I invite you to come along for the journey.

You may also want to include what kind of events you're hoping to have like, coffee socials, potlucks, scrapbooking events, etc.

Also, try to have events with titles that describe the event. E.g. your first event is titled "Absolutely Women Meet Up", but in the description, you're having a potluck and a scrapbooking demonstration. Also, since it's the 1st event, you can title it "Meet and Greet" or something like that.

Don't be discouraged by the low turnout. 4 people other than yourself have RSVP'ed so that means that they're interested, but may or may not be able to make it this time. Have consistent events to build up a core membership. Crystal's point in that it's around Halloween makes sense as to the lower-than-expected turnout as well.

Have you thought of promoting your group in gyms, libraries, etc.? That'd be a great way to let other people know that you exist.

Hope that helps!

Lana

Keep in mind that the holiday season is going on. You may have to deal with small turnouts (especially on short notice) until the new year starts. I wouldn't judge the idea of the group just yet.

Hi Sherry,

Forming a new group takes patience as well as "trial and error". It may take a little longer to build a cohesive group since we are heading towards the holidays.

Just make sure your description of the group is clear for the readers. You may want to post another meetup in early November which may help attract members in joining the group.


good luck!

Hi Lana, I really like how you changed the wording around. I love it. I would really like to use some of the wording if it is okay with you. I appreciate the time advise given. Yes I have put up flyers at the local library and grocery store. I wil continue to promote and put up more flyers. I did not think about gyms.

My meetup yesterday was not the best. Only one person actually showed up. Three people cancelled on me at the last minute on Friday. Me and the other member still proceeded and had a great time though.

I have made some changes to the web page per everyone's ideas, suggestions and advice. Please check out the Home and About page now and let me know if you think it is better or did I make it worst.

Once again thank you for your suggestions.

Sherry