I recently joined and there is one that looks up my alley…just women, close by, books, wine, etc. I joined and there hasn’t been a meeting in like 2 years, but there are 250 members. I got an email from someone asking if I wanted to help coordinate and pull it together. I emailed back and asked about the history and this person responded that they paid for it before it was disbanded, and it looked like there was only one meeting. They would pay the costs, etc. if I would be willing to help discuss the logistics, etc. in starting it up.
I might be interested in this, but the person owns a spa, and when I looked it up, the owner is a guy. I specifically said in my email I wanted to be in a women’s book club. Should I respond to this last email and ask point blank if this would be a women’s only book club and if he/she is a woman.
But my question? Why would there be costs? Why couldn’t people just meet at a restaurant?
There are costs associated with organizing a Meetup group. Those costs pay for the overhead of the Meetup software same as you might pay for many other software subscriptions. Info can be found here: https://www.■■■■■■■■■■/pricing/
As for individual meetings, no, there don’t need to be any costs associated with those once the organizing fees are paid. People can meet anywhere they like. There are groups such as running groups - no cost for their meetings if they’re just running outdoors!
I’m in a number of professional Meetups, and sometimes there is a small fee to attend - especially if it is training or a workshop. Other times it’s speakers, and often businesses donate the meeting space and light refreshments. I’m a big fan of Meetups for networking - haven’t joined one on a personal level. But I would wonder about a man running what is listed as a women’s only group - I’m a member of a few women’s tech groups but they specifically state they allow all genders to participate - it’s just that many of the topics focus around challenges that are related to being female high tech.
I’ve been a member of a great Meetup for two years. I would walk away from any Meetup that hasn’t had anything in several months, let alone two years. I also check to see how many members there are (depending on where you live, 250 is a fairly small membership), when members last joined, and also how many members routinely attend events. If there are sporadic events only attended by a small handful of members, it sounds like something that is being run for the benefit of very few.
There are a lot of Meetups that are started for essentially commercial purposes; every meeting is at someplace that charges a fee to attend. That sounds like your “spa” book club; essentially an excuse to get people into the spa in the guise of a book club. It also sounds like it never got off the ground and that the spa owner would be happy to have you drum up some business. I consider those very different from the social Meetups which often do charge a small joining fee to cover the annual costs. Also different from the professional networking Meetups.
If you’re really interested in a women’s book group, try contacting your local library. They often sponsor such groups, or at least have information since they often put books on hold for outside book clubs.
Or if you’re interested in drinking wine with a bunch of women, look for some “wine-and-paint” offerings. They do have a cost but are a fun evening and you get to bring home your amateur painting!
Thank you all! I think you hit the nail on the head with this guy…I can be a little dense sometimes. I emailed him back and mentioned again I thought this was a meet up for women, and did go to the business webpage and it looks like the owner is a man, and asked him such. I also mentioned I thought these groups met at restaurants. I have not heard back from him, so you are right. Just someone trying to drum up business for himself. There is another large bookclub that looks quite active and is just women. But they meet downtown, at least the June meeting. I’m just not interested in driving there for this. But now I know to back away from this other group. I’ll keep looking. I have a nice group of friends, but I have been wanting to expand that circle. It’s not as easy when you don’t have your kids and their activities to meet other women.
comma–I posted on our NextDoor trying to get together with others to play Mah Jongg.
The first time I had a few interested and one person who could teach in a few months.
So I found a class–not very good but got me started–.
Then I recently posted and had 66 replies and 22 new students that this teacher is now teaching
free in two batches of classes. I am one of 3 others who have played just a little but now I might
have a whole new group to play with…JUST because I placed a post!
So look up NextDoor and see if you can find a kind or group or start one as I have now that you
might be interested it…
Also found out pressure washer and fence painter on NextDoor.
I sound like an advertisement! But I really want to find a book club this winter and think I will
be able to do this the same way I have found Mah Jongg players.
Thanks @oregon101 . I actually was on a Nextdoor, but there were constant emails or messages, can’t remember the form. It was so much I exited out of it. Maybe I should try again and figure out how to limit incoming messages.
I joined a meetup group last fall for screenwriters and it’s been great. We meet every 2 weeks and critique a screenplay or TV pilot that a member has written and submitted. It’s run by a woman who is a script editor, and I thought she’d be pushing her services, but she doesn’t do that at all. I’ve been pleasantly surprised by how professional and helpful the group has been. I submitted a pilot and got good feedback.
We meet in the back room of a local bar, and the only suggestion (since the bar doesn’t charge us) is that everyone order a drink or something to eat.
Conmama, yes there are setting so you do not get emails or texts.
I only get notified if there is an emergency such as animal missing
Car stolen and such.
^it is, Oregon101! I go to all of them – tonight is TV drama; last one was a feature. Mine is a TV sitcom. No matter how much you try and edit your own work, feedback from others is huge.
My Meetup group is so great - it’s for Baby Boomers. There are about 20-30 events every month including three weekly exercise walks, occasional other walks/hikes, two to four monthly happy hours (my favorite), weekly tennis, monthly bowling, summer picnic and winter holiday party, and a whole variety of other events depending on the season. This Meetup is where we developed our social circle after moving here without knowing anyone but our realtor. The people who run it work very hard to keep it fun and interesting.
I was also going to suggest posting on Nextdoor but I see Oregon beat me to it. People are always posting they are looking for book clubs, etc., to join and get loads of responses.
Just one more note about nextdoor. There is a setting that lets you get one email a day with all the posts from that day linked within. There are probably other settings/options too but this is the one that works for me. I can quickly look down the list of new posts, new replies and classifieds and see what, if anything, I want to click on and read more about. No need to have each post come to your email if that’s too overwhelming for you. It was for me when I first joined. Funny this discussion around nextdoor and making friends came up on CC today–about 3 weeks ago someone posted on Nextdoor that she was pretty new to the area and interested in meeting friends and over 100 replies followed. She organized a get together just this evening and I stopped by. There were 35+ people that showed up.
I went back and reactivated my NextDoor account. I will choose that once a day setting, it was just overwhelming before. So far, all I’m seeing is newsy tidbits and for sale items, lost digs, etc. but it’s fun to read.