I'm still not really sure what we should be doing at meetups.
People like to eat, so I've been having them at restaurants. Food also provides people with something to do, and something to look at if you're tired of looking at the other people. However, I'm uncomfortable with "making" people go out to eat, when that may not be in their budgets. Also, restaurants can seem kind of formal, even if they're casual places. Ideally, I'd like to meet at the 3DB cafe in the LGBT Center, but it's only open until 8:30 (our meetups have been starting at 7, and you would think that an hour and a half would be plenty, but if people are coming from other towns, I feel like they want to "get their money's worth" and stay for a long time), a lot of other groups already meet there, and I run into the problem of what "activity" we would do.
While eating constitutes an "activity" in my mind, drinking coffee somehow does not. I also feel that to attract more people, we'd have to do something "cooler" and more exciting than just hanging out in a coffee shop. But what would that entail-- going bungee jumping, getting tattoos, and then heading over to Fisherman's Wharf to wrestle the sea lions? What if I am my meetups ideas, and what if my meetup ideas aren't good enough?
Maybe I should just do what I want, and end this constant attempt to take everyone's schedules, locations, and social mores into account. But then I face another fear: that no one shows.
If only the Canvas Cafe were still open... *cries inside, with what little is left of her post-Canvas heart, then pulls self together*
I really need to get these meetups into a consistent place and time, so that I can free up this mental disk space for other matters. We already have a consistent time, and I think a place naturally follows. Or does it?
Now, if you have any ideas even remotely related to this matter, please please share, and help me help the A-Team (Wow, I feel like one of those commercials that play on TV around five or six in the evening-- "Do YOU have an idea? Are YOU an inventor?"). And, don't forget that confused orangutan!
2 comments:
Hey Ily the Fantastic!
For the Vancouver office hours, we meet at the same time every week in the same Starbucks, and it works well for that purpose. I understand what you mean, however, with forcing people to eat. For some reason, it always ends up that we meet on a Sunday evening and do dinner. I'm not really opposed to food, but... Iunno. Maybe some day that asexy play will come around and we can all go to that, like the Londoners recently did.
In the meantime, however, I think restaurants work for most people because they are public places with a designed purpose. I mean, no matter how the meetup goes, you can walk away with a full stomach and enjoy some good food. Other events might be too expensive, time consuming, or unappealing, but everyone's gotta eat, right?
*Pets orangutan*
Hey Cole, thanks for the comment! I'm glad someone else knows what I mean about forcing people to eat :-) I agree that restaurants are a good place to meet, but I can't think of any restaurant that I (or anyone else) might to go to every month. I guess I'm still stuck on this "meetups must be in the same place!" mentality, but I just feel like eventually, that will cause more people to come.
And this is reminding me...gotta send out a notice about the Dec. meetup... (I'll see you soon, yaayay!)
Post a Comment