At the beginning of 2021, Meetup CEO David Siegel shared what Meetup accomplished in 2020 and what was ahead for the remainder of 2021. We’ve spent the past six months listening to our organizers and members to plan our next moves. At this special Meetup Live event, David Siegel shares the wins, learnings, and news on what’s to come.
Watch Meetup CEO David Siegel for an in-depth presentation on the current state of Meetup, including our new “Let’s Get Back Together” initiative and the future of in-person, online, and hybrid events.
Main Takeaways:
- This is our first hybrid event in the history of Meetup. Our belief is that the future is going to be not just online events, not just in-person events, they’re trying to take the benefits of both.
- Meetup’s Top 10 List of evolving through a crisis:
- Mission is constant
- New Meetup owner
- Online events will stay
- Fix tech debt to better UI
- SEO drives member growth
- Paid media grows RSVPs
- Sharing best practices
- Product enhancements
- Mobile investment
- Need to keep listening
- Meetup is about creating safe spaces for people to connect with each other and to understand who you really are. And one of my least favorite questions is, “what do you do?” because what you do is not who you are.
Top Q&A Questions about Meetup:
- Should we now be using SEO in descriptions?
- Most people are not experts in SEO. However, if you think that by putting a group description together, that by hitting on certain keywords that are important for you to rank in, it will drive more people to attend your group and join your event, then absolutely you should be doing so.
- How does Meetup plan to leverage the surge in activity resulting from things reopening?
- The most important thing that we could do is listen. Understand needs and continue to evolve and improve our product. We are going to be investing more in Marketing. But at the end of the day, growth will be a result of having positive experiences from organizers, positive experiences for members, and there’s no shortcut to it, it’s about creating positive experiences and a better product. And that’s what we’re focused on.
- What are things that organizers can do?
- For all of those people who continue to have online, it’s really important for that experience to be as interactive as possible.
In addition to that, I’ve seen many organizers starting to organize their first event in person. And one for the best things we can do is reach out to your community and get their thoughts. Get their thoughts. Get their thoughts on when the right time to do it is, what safety precautions people feel comfortable with.
- For all of those people who continue to have online, it’s really important for that experience to be as interactive as possible.
Last modified on June 23, 2021
