Questions & answers

Meetup doesn't charge individuals to create an account, join a Meetup Group, or attend meetings.

Instead, every Meetup Group is responsible for paying a fee billed to the Meetup group Organizer. Most Organizers treat this fee like a restaurant tab, sharing it with the Meetup Group members by setting membership dues or charging at individual Meetups.

There are 3 price plans:

• USD $12 a month for 6 months (a single $72 charge)
• USD $15 a month for 3 months (a single $45 charge)
• USD $19 per month

Each plan has a 30-day money back guarantee.  Organizers can run up to 3 Meetup Groups with their subscription.

For more information on fees, check out:http://orc.meetup.com/archives/2006/02/the_lowdown_on_1.html

To change the details of your Meetup Group:

1. Go to http://www.meetup.com/ and log on to your account
2. Go to your Meetup Group's 'Home' page
3. Click 'Group Settings' on the left side of the page
4. Make any necessary changes and click 'Submit'

To schedule a new Meetup:

1. Go to http://www.meetup.com/ and log on to your account
2. Go to your Meetup Group's 'Home' page
3. Click on 'Schedule a Meetup' on the left hand side of the page
4. Create a title, choose the date, select a Venue, and adjust the settings for your Meetup
5. Click 'Schedule Meetup'

To edit, copy or cancel a Meetup:

1. Go to http://www.meetup.com/ and log on to your account
2. Go to your Meetup Group's 'Home' page
3. Click 'Calendar' on the left side of the page
4. Click the name of the Meetup that you want to change
5. Click 'Edit'', 'Copy', or 'Cancel'
6. When editing or copying; make any necessary changes, click 'Change Details' for editing, and 'Schedule Meetup' for copying
7. When canceling a Meetup, you can choose 'yes' to keep a record of the canceled Meetup on your calendar, or 'no' to remove it completely, and click 'Submit'

There are a couple ways to contact your Members:

A. Use the 'Email Members' tool:

1. Go to http://www.meetup.com/ and log on to your account
2. Go to your Meetup Group's 'Home' page
3. Click on 'Email Members'
4. Choose 'See More Options' if you want to adjust who you are emailing
5. Compose your message
6. Click 'Submit'

B. Use your regular email client:

1. Go to http://www.meetup.com/ and log on to your account
2. Go to your Meetup Group's 'Home' page
3. Click on 'Email Members'
4. Scroll down to the bottom of that page, and you'll see the an email address you can use to send a message to your entire Group from your personal email account.  The replies will go to you and not the group.

C. Use the Mailing List address, if you have that feature turned on:

1. Go to http://www.meetup.com/ and log on to your account
2. Go to your Meetup Group's 'Home' page
3. Click on 'Mailing List' on the left side of the page
4. Copy the email address listed
5. Go to the email account you used to register your Meetup account and create a message using that mailing list email address.  This message will be sent to the Members of your Group who have chosen to receive Mailing List messages.

A record of this email will also appear in your Group's 'Mailing List' page.

To remove a Member from your Meetup Group:

1. Go to http://www.meetup.com/ and log on to your account
2. Go to your Meetup Group's 'Home' page
3. Click 'Members' on the left
4. Click on the 'Remove member' link under the Member you'd like to remove
5. Follow the instructions on that page to finish removing that Member

Currently, a Meetup Group can only have one official Organizer.

Meetup Group Organizers though can assign as many as 40 members to be Assistant Organizers. Assistant Organizers' names will appear below the Organizer's photo on every page of the Meetup Group.

Assistant Organizers can:

• Create, edit, and delete Meetups
• Email the entire Meetup Group
• Approve or decline pending members
• Give members custom titles
• Remove and ban members from the group
• Edit, delete, and close Message Board discussions
• Create and edit Message Board forums
• Add, edit, and delete photos and photo albums
• Add, edit, and delete About Us pages
• Create, edit, and close Polls
• Add, edit, and delete the list of venues the group uses
• Add, edit, and delete Files

Assistant Organizers cannot:

• Change the Meetup Group's name, description, primary location, or web address
• Change the main Meetup Group photo
• Set up autoscheduled events
• Designate or remove other Assistant Organizers
• Turn the Mailing List on or off
• Turn the Message Boards on or off
• List the group under multiple topics
• Make the Meetup Group public or private
• Change payment settings
• Control the customizable automated welcome message that goes to new members
• Control the customizable profile questions
• Edit the group Sponsorship settings

To assign someone as an Assistant Organizer:

1. Go to http://www.meetup.com/ and log on to your account
2. Go to your Meetup Group's 'Home' page
3. Click 'Members'
4. Click the 'Make Assistant Organizer' button next to the member you wish to designate
5. Click 'Yes'

If Meetups are being created and you don't remember scheduling them, it's possible that you have the Automatic Meetup Scheduler enabled, which will create Meetups for your Group once per month, or week.

To change the frequency of automatically scheduled Meetups, or to stop the site from scheduling Meetups automatically:

1. Go to http://www.meetup.com/ and log on to your account
2. Go to your Meetup Group's 'Home' page
3. Click 'Group Settings' on the left side of the page
4. Click 'Optional Features'
5. Under "Automatic Meetup scheduling," set the desired frequency
6. Scroll to the bottom of the page and click 'Submit'

If you want to promote your Meetup Group, check out your Meetup group's 'Promote!' section.

To find it:

1. Go to http://www.meetup.com/ and log on to your account
2. Go to your Meetup Group's 'Home' page
3. Click 'Promote!'

From here, you can find customizable flyers and business cards, graphic links that you can stick on your own web page, places to buy t-shirts, invite friends, you name it!

There are even more great promotion ideas in the Meetup Organizer Center:

http://orc.meetup.com/archives/2006/02/group_promotion.html

Make sure to check back to the Organizer Center regularly for more ideas on spreading the word about your Meetup Group and your Meetups.

Some Organizers choose to require fees for participating in a Meetup Group and/or to attend a Meetup Event. These fees are generally used to cover costs associated with running a Meetup group or hosting a Meetup event. Costs might include room rentals, speaker fees, door prizes, t-shirts, Meetup Fees, etc. Fees can also be used to settle up the bar tab or even to limit event attendance to people who are serious enough about the event to pay a fee.

Meetup makes it quick and easy for an Organizer to receive Meetup Membership Dues or Meetup Event Fees from group Members.

There are several options available to an Organizer to collect group fees:

You can collect payment online through:

• Amazon Payments
• PayPal

Or, if you would like to collect group fees, but not utilize an online payment system, you can request cash or check payments.  Unlike Online Payment options, Organizers are responsible for collecting cash or check payments in person at a Meetup event.

Please note that Meetup HQ isn't involved in the setting, collection, distribution, or management of these funds -- they're strictly a financial arrangement between the Organizer and the Meetup group's members. Please see our Terms of Service for more.

To schedule a Meetup Event with an Event fee, do the following:

1. Go to http://www.meetup.com/ and log on to your account
2. Go to your Meetup Group's 'Home' page
3. Click 'Schedule a Meetup'
4. Enter the event details,  including event title, event date & time, location and event agenda
5. In the "Payment Settings" section, select 'Yes, I'd like to charge my members.'
6. Select one of the three options available:
   • online with Amazon Payments
   • online with PayPal
   • Other (cash, check etc.)
7. Enter the description of the charge and the amount due in the "Attendees pay a..." section
8. Enter your refund policy in the "Refund Policy" area
9. Complete the RSVP Settings section
10. Then click 'Schedule Meetup'

To establish Membership Dues:

1. Go to http://www.meetup.com/ and log on to your account
2. Go to your Meetup Group's 'Home' page
3. Click 'Group Settings' on the left side of the page
4. Scroll down to 'Dues & Sponsorship settings' and click on 'Membership Dues'
5. Check all options that apply, set the amount and add your refund policy
6. Click 'Submit'

Meetup has made it easier for Organizers to keep track of funds received from Membership Dues, Event Fees, and sponsorships, as well as your Group's expenses, in one convenient location: the Money tab.

Organizers have the option to make the Money tab public so that their group members may see the Group's expenses, any funds collected, etc. or keep that information private. An Organizer may make the Money tab public or private at anytime.

Some things to keep in mind:

• Currently, only the Group Organizer can add, edit or delete transactions.  
• Assistant Organizers will only have access to the Member view of the Money tab when it is made public by the Organizer.  
• Members can see the transactions but they can't add, edit or delete transactions, nor see who made which payments.  
• Non-Members will not be able to see the content of the Money tab, even when it’s made public to the Meetup Group members.

To record payments you received from your Group Members, do the following:

1. Go to http://www.meetup.com/ and log on to your account
2. Go to your Meetup Group's 'Home' page
3. Click 'Money' on the left side of the page
4. Click the 'Record a transaction' link below, then select the appropriate option:
   • 'Record Membership Dues Received'
   • 'Record Event Payment Received'
5. Enter the Member name to locate the Member's Profile, then enter the date and amount received for the Membership Due or Event Payment.
6. Click the 'Record Membership dues' button to save.

Please note: You must have Dues turned on to add a Membership Dues payment. If you do not, you will be prompted to first turn it on.

Currently, Organizers may lead up to 3 Meetup Groups without paying additional fees.

To start an additional Meetup Group, simply click the 'Start a Meetup Group' button at the top of the page when you are signed in.

If you're thinking about running a second Meetup group, you might want to stop by the Organizer forum first:

http://www.meetup.com/boards/view/listthreads?forum=203829

and ask the Orgs there about the rewards, challenges, and considerations. They have some great advice about the amount of time/effort involved in running multiple Meetup Groups.

You might also want to appoint Assistant Organizers to help manage the additional responsibilities.

To step down as Organizer of your Group, or to nominate a new Organizer:

1. Go to your 'Account' page.
2. Click 'Memberships and Communications' (over on the left)
3. Click 'Step down as Organizer' under the appropriate Meetup Group
4. On the "Step down as Organizer" page you have 2 options:
   • Pick a new Organizer from the list of the members in your Meetup Group.  If you nominate someone, you can write them an encouraging message and we'll invite them to take over as Organizer. You'll continue as Organizer until he or she agrees to take over. 
   • Select 'Or, don't nominate anyone'
5. After you've done that, check off why you've decided to step down
6. Click 'Submit'