Hello, and thank you for being a part of Prairie Fire Meetup,

I would like to introduce the wonderful people who have volunteered to help facilitate our group for the next year.  Teresa, Membership Chair, will write a brief personal welcome note to new members who join us.  Kumiko, Event Chair, will set the members who create an event as the "event host."  Paul, Photo Chair, will post photos of events (and we encourage all members to take and post photos too!).  Scott, Treasurer, will record member dues and pay meetup.com to host our group website.  I also want to express our sincere thanks to Karen, Terri, and Eve who worked hard over the past 17 months for our group.

But these four people don't do the most important part of making Prairie Fire Meetup what it is; each member does.  Everyone has the ability to create events, and we need you to do just that!  If there's a bike ride or hiking trail you want to visit, a festival or theater performance you hear about, chances are good some members would like to go with you!  Creating events is easy, and we have only two requirements:  first, that you be available to answer questions members post on the event page on our website, and second, that you actually attend the event.  If you'd like to co-host an event with another member, that's a great idea too!  And to encourage members to host events, we are adding a new incentive.  If you host a meetup, six months of free membership will be added before your next dues payment is required!

You may ask why we pay dues, or where the money goes.  Our group must pay meetup.com $72 twice a year to host our site.  100% of our dues go to that cost.  After a brief trial period, members are required to pay dues before they can RSVP for events.  Currently, our dues have not quite kept up with the $72 payments to meetup.com, since most of our 287 members have never attended an event or paid dues.  If more members pay dues in the future, and we have a surplus of money, we will sponsor a needy family for the Holidays, and/or reduce the amount of the dues (currently $5.00 cash or check, or $5.95 by credit card since the payment processing keeps 95 cents).

We have also made the group "private", which means people must join to see our members and other specifics about the group.  Some groups have had people use the website to stalk members, and we want to ensure the safety of our members.

Finally, a reminder that you can change the amount of email you get from meetup.com easily.  Log into the website, and at the upper right, pull down the menu "My Profile" and select "Email and Notifications."  If you don't need multiple reminders of an upcoming email, turn them off here.  These are automatically generated by the website, not initiated by event hosts.  Event hosts receive emails every time somebody RSVPs for an event, which helps them plan the event.  But they don't need 200 members to RSVP "No" for an event.  If you don't RSVP "Yes", that tells them that you are not going, and that's sufficient.

We discussed these changes and hope they make the group better for every member.  If you have any concerns, please email Scott.  If not, now is a great time to create your first meetup event!

Thank you,

Scott