Success with Meetup

[peanutbutterandjelly]

I was just wondering if anyone has found joining a Meetup to be a successful way to meet people. I have gone to a couple, but they have been close to an hour away so I was thinkiing about starting my own near me.. I've never done anything like this before, and am not sure how I would be as a group leader. I also have no idea what kind of meetup I would create. Also, It is like $45 for 3 months. I'm not sure I want to put money into something right now, but then again, it's like paying for dating site. What kind of meetups are you all in?

[AmandaB]

I belong to several hiking meetups as well as single meetups, kayaking meetup, and a girls night out meetup. I havent had any luck dating in the meetup groups but I have known some of who have had luck. One of my friends met her current boyfriend in our hiking meetup and they have been together over a year now. The hiking meetups are the ones I personally enjoy the most. The singles meetups just tend to be a meat market and full of drunks at times. Meetups can be very rewarding even if you dont meet a man. I met many different, cool people through meetup. I met some of my best friends through meetup.

[peanutbutterandjelly]

sounds like you've been successful with meetup, Amanda. Maybe I should give it a shot. I'm weary on paying them to start a group though.

[quirky]

I think it's a great idea to start one near you!

I was part of 2 meetups and I met some nice people. I had met a guy there too although that was not why I had joined. It was today actually that I thought about joining a couple more, I think its a great way to meet new people.

[TakingtheBlame]

I've been in a book club from Meetup for over a year and I've met some great people, some of whom are my good friends now. I met a few quality guys there but nobody I ended up dating, just because I met my boyfriend shortly after joining. The organizer of that book club holds a meeting or two every month and collects "dues" from each member ($1 a meeting) to help her pay the Meetup fees, so that's something to consider depending on the turnout of your meetup group (our meetup group has at least 15-20 members per meeting if not more, so that's a pretty significant portion of the fees paid out of all of our pockets.)

 

I also joined a volleyball league for a few months a couple of years ago...met a few guys there too but didn't stay long enough to really get anywhere with them. But everyone there was really cute and friendly at least.

 

In summary, I highly recommend Meetup for meeting people!

[peanutbutterandjelly]

I was thinking of maybe a pub or food night where people could come in and meet over drinks or something. I've never done anything like this, so I have no idea how to go about finding venues to host it and all that.

[Sparkly Eyes]

It's probably not great for dating, buy you can make friends.

[AmandaB]

I was part of a meetup that was "Diners, Drive ins, and Dives" where I live. They just met up at local food joints and did whatever. You can ask for a "donation" fee to help pay for the cost of running the site if you would like. Some of my meetups do that some of them dont. Its up to you. You can ask for just like a $1. You can start a meetup for just about anything. I was even part of a meetup for people in their 20's, but i left it when i hit 30, lol.

[mfan]

I was thinking of maybe a pub or food night where people could come in and meet over drinks or something. I've never done anything like this, so I have no idea how to go about finding venues to host it and all that.

 

I have never done that, but I don't recommend it. From looking at the past events attendance list for those events, I conclude it will be all completely random people, probably none of whom is even remotely in your demographic. You won't meet anyone.

 

The best meetups to meet people are those for very specific activities. Like "scrabble" or "learning German". I can see why AmandaB had success in the hiking and kayaking ones.

 

I'd stay away from meetups on a general topic like "eating" or "movies". It's probably like meeting the population of Craigslist in person! Again, this is just from viewing past attendance lists and I've never actually gone to those.

[peanutbutterandjelly]

hmmm, I could see why a specific singles meetup might be a bad idea. I guess I was just thinking that it if it was meant specifically for singles, everyone would be going for the same reason. It might be harder to meet a single guy at a book club or something like that. I do like the idea of meeting people based around an activity or hobby though, I just don't know what I would make mine about.

[peanutbutterandjelly]

as far as people being out of my demographic, I was going to limit it to a certain age range to avoid that.

[beatlesfan77]

I gave Meetup a shot a while ago and am thinking of trying it again. However this time I'm going to look more towards the special interest groups by hobby. Last time I tried it I did not get any dates or make any new friends. Looking back I think the groups I were in were more of a meet market environment which I can't stand. They were groups for 20's to 30's social outings.

[AmandaB]

I had much much better success through the hiking group. There are many people who are married, divorced, with kids, w/out kids, single, whatever. You just meet so many different types of people. I wouldnt limit yourself to just singles because those do tend to be hook up events with a lot of booze involved. Even if you dont meet a single guy you will have loads of fun. You never know though, single people, in my opinion, are more adventurous when it comes to doing new things so they may be more inclined to join a meetup than married folk.

[peanutbutterandjelly]

I can see why you guys think it's a better idea to start a group with a general interest instead of a group specifically for singles. I definitely don't want it to be a meat market and am not really a partier, so I can't imagine having much fun anyways. I think it would be cool to do a game night or something, but I don't have anywhere to host it. Or maybe some sort of pick up sport. The wheels are turning lol. If anyone has any other ideas, let me know!