Hello everyone!

Spring feelings are starting to grow. Most of us start to run and getting back to the bikini and speedo-shape. As we are waiting for the snow to melt to go hiking up into the deep mountains, I take this opportunity to send you this communication.

Since 2007, we have been keeping our high feelings and motivations for outdoor activities in this great Meetup Group. This has definitely paid off as the facts show: more than 5’000 members, 15 organizers, almost 1’000 activities and ton of great fun.

But there are always some recurrent topics important for this community. I would like to share hereby with you some of them:

1) The non-lucrative purpose of Meetup Hike&Outdoor
2) Last minute RSVP changes and No Shows
3) Becoming an organizer

1) The non-lucrative purpose of Meetup Hike&Outdoor

Let us face it, Switzerland is already expensive enough and we should not be limited by our budget to socialize, do some exercise and enjoy what Switzerland has to offer. As an Expat myself in this beautiful country, hiking groups have been my salvation from becoming a mole and, instead, I turned to be a marmot refusing to go back to the hole. This not only because hiking groups take me to picturesque scenery of the Alps, but are relative cheap compared to indoor tennis or golf clubs. This Meetup Hike&Outdoor should be consistent to this notion.

How shall this be reflected? Meetup Hike&Outdoor does not and never will charge an obligatory membership fee nor additional charges that exceeds the costs paid upfront by any of the organizers. Anyone who organize an event, accepts the condition that he or she shall not make any lucrative business out of it. The organizer merely does put together an event for its own fun and social motivation. But, I agree that in certain circumstances, indirect and hidden costs can occur before, during or even after an event, especially when it happens to be a multi-day event. As the organizer shall not be penalized for doing a great social deed, the organizer is allowed to charge a maximum of CHF 10 per participant per event in addition to third-party expenses (hotel reservation, professional guides, etc).

These additional fees can and only then be raised when:
- The event is a multi-day event
- This additional charge needs to be clearly stated in the event description.

In addition to this fee, the organizer can retain or ask to payment to the members when the event involves pre-payments (example, hotel reservations) and where the organizer would risk of paying a no-show participant from its own expenses.

If any of the members feel that the organizer is exceedingly charging above the reasonable service provided, or if the organizer have mislead, intentional or non-intentional, the participant of the event, I encourage those affected to communicate this directly to me as the Head of the Organizer’s team. I will then act as the mediator and try to find a fair resolution to any conflict that arises.

The exception to the rule above is if an event is organized for charity purposes and/or that supports social and/or environmental projects. In that case, the organizer is allowed to ask for a participation fee. All events of such nature need to have prior assessment by the Head of the organizer team, and need to be fully informative and transparent towards the members. By an event it is understood that this is exclusively in the sense of the Meetup Hike&Outdoor, i.e. disco-parties are not allowed.

It is also important for you to know that the Meetup Site is not free of charge. The head organizer pays an annual fee of around USD 150.- For this payment, we have this great site available with all the necessary tools to organize an event and share comments and photos.

2) Last minute RSVP changes and No Shows

As the Meetup Hike&Outdoor got bigger as well as other Meetup Groups have been building, it has naturally changed the behavior of its members towards these groups. We especially observe this change when it comes to not showing up to an event even if RSVP with “Yes”. At the beginnings of this group, the responsibility of its members to truly reflect its participation or to excuse themselves have been much more relevant. Nowadays, we observe that the members who sign up and do not show up are much greater.

The nature of any basic event is that an organizer wants to do something, and merely asks the internet community if they want to participate. The organizer in that case should not worry about who comes or who doesn’t come. In that sense, a no-show or late RSVP change is not a problem. However, a no-show will have an impact when:

- The event shows a limited number of participants –> a no-show will take away the chance of someone in the waiting list to participate

- The organizer have made a Group-reservation on SBB, hotel rooms, professional guides. It is really embarrassing and sometimes at the organizer’s own expense, if the number of participants are much fewer than initially thought.

- The organizer needs to mentally and logistically prepare its event knowing if there are 50 participants or 5 participants.

Therefore, my petition to all their members is that you should truthfully reflect your intention of coming and change RSVP as soon as possible. We understand, of course, that there are good reasons not to attend, such as health or unexpected visitors from your parents. A Hang-Over effect, however, is NOT a good reason for not showing up. If you have a good possibility that you will get drunk or you end up with someone in bed you met in the party the night before, please do NOT make a “YES” in your RSVP.

3) Becoming an organizer

If you like to organize an event yourself, you are mostly welcome to do so. For this, just write me an email and accept the conditions of being an organizer. I then will provide you with the access permissions for you to be able to write and post an event description.

The conditions of being an organizer are:

- In line with the first part of this email, the organizer shall agree that he or she will not gain lucratively on any event. In order to cover any indirect costs (example, telephone charges) and risks related to pre-reservations expenses of transportation, professional guide’s services or accommodation, the organizer is allowed to charge up to CHF 10 per participant per event in addition to event’s expenses. This is only valid for multi-day events or when there are a considerable risks of economic losses by the organizer.

- In case the organizer wants to hold a “charity” event, this needs prior agreement with the Head organizer of the Meetup Hike&Outdoor.

- The organizer shall always take all precautionary and safety measures for the group. This does not mean that the organizer is automatically reliable for any accidents that happen, but it has a moral commitment for the safety of the whole group.

- Last, but not least, the organizer shall not act without a good reason in a way that is opposite to the idea of having a fun and pleasant event.

It is my deepest wish that the Meetup Hike&Outdoor keeps its purpose to offer the community great & fun Outdoor activities to meet new people, get to know Switzerland and to do some good exercises together.

Wishing you all a great upcoming season 2015!

Best wishes,
Sven
Head of the Meetup Hike&Outdoor Zürich Organizer’s team