And Then I Turned Into a Pumpkin

So, our visitor from London told The Impossible K and I many tales of the meetups there, and gave me a lot of advice on how to maximize our meetups here. I think I'm going to do most of these things. These were they:

• Currently, we have a Bay A Team Yahoo group, and we also discuss meetups on AVEN. Posting about meetups, and tracking responses, on both sites seems like too much work and confusion. It would probably be a good idea to consolidate all meetup planning onto AVEN.
• Make a new thread for every meetup. If London does it...
• Write exciting accounts of what happened at the meetup for the benefit of those not present. "Wait a second...you've never heard about someone turning into a pumpkin before?"
  
• Post a picture of myself (apparently, a "recognizable face" is essential).
• It was suggested that we don't have enough people to have regular meetups, and I can't decide if I agree with this or not. A lot of cities just seem to have meetups whenever people feel like it. And maybe that's better, I don't know. But since planning meetups gives me a sense of purpose, it's a responsibility that I'm reluctant to relinquish.
• And an idea I just had in the last ten seconds: Maybe we should take pictures at all meetups, even if it's just two people. Perhaps seeing friendly human faces would make showing up less intimidating.
  

Why do I bother telling you about every gory detail of the San Francisco meetups, and what seems to be my every thought process in relation to them? Because I think this can somehow help people plan meetups in their own areas. If you click on the tag "community" at the bottom of these posts, you can find pretty much everything I've ever learned or experienced about meetups in almost two years. I'm not sure how to measure success, but I feel like one of those commercials for Western Career College: "If I can do it, you can do it!" I'm not sure how to inspire other people to start meetups, but if I can do that, it would be the greatest.