Curing Meetup Apathy

Lots of great advice here!

This thread and some quotes will appear in today's edition of the newsletter.

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A lot of meetup members have never supported a candidate before and don't know what it means to campaign. I had this trouble even in NH. They seemed to want to have banner making parties with each other and sign waves, but this was not getting the message out to the mainstream and the GOP.

1) Whether you like it or not, you MUST be part of your GOPs presidential primary activities. Find someone to be a liaison and go for it. Attend all GOP meetings, events, and actitivies within your reach. You will become MUCH more competitive once you see what the other candidates are doing and how it's necessary for you to show up! You must not neglect this part of things.

2) It's likely too late for this in your state, but a big part of campaigning in NH is the fairs and festivals. All summer and fall, the GOP and Dem committees have tables to encourage people to join their groups. In primary years, the candidates at least leave literature on the table to hand out as well as station a rep from their camp, to promote the candidate. You can also find other venues like football games and parades to station a booth or simply hand out literature.

3) Canvassing. If you don't have an official campaign effort to do this, you must get the lists of Repub. voters in your towns who've been active in the last few primaries and target them by door to door action or telephoning.
In NH we have had robo-calls but if I were campaigning I would simply start by reminding them when there was going to be a vote and by the way, to please support Ron Paul...period.

If this would help. In my personal experience of event planning, too many events too often can kill attendance. They'll think "Well we can just go next time" or something to that effect.
Maybe plan a big meetup, give it a couple weeks notice and pull all of your resources together. A workshop of a sort. Explain that you want to hear any suggestions and ideas that people have. Have a sign making day the same day and make sure you can pull together slim jims, signs, lit, stickers, buttons, whatever. The more you have, the more enticing it will be.

I just started this map http://www.buddymapping.com/maps/MCRP
I plan to ask the meetup members to add their info so we can possibly find a better location to have meetings.

just some ideas I've had

I am the Organizer for a Meetup group with 420 members. About 10% of those members are not in the area, so are only "members" technically. Out of the 380 who are in the area, we get 80-100 at a monthly meetup, and about 60 of them are active in events on a regular basis. This is normal in any organization. It's the 20%/80% rule.
Some suggestions: First, make sure that you are the right leader for the group. You must be able to cast a vision and motivate people in a positive fashion. Some people have killed their local Meetups because they are realy just wrong for the job. I'm sorry, but it is the truth. If you aren't the right leader, find someone to else to be the visionary and spokesperson for the group.
Second, make sure that there are opportunities to get people active in various ways. Not everyone is ready to stand on a street corner with a sign. We have to be prepared to meet people wherever they are at. It takes courage to get involved. I always encourage people to get involved however they are comfortable at first...if that is just putting a bumper sticker on their car for starters, fine. The more people learn, the more they will grow in their boldness about Ron Paul. Also, allow members to give testimonies via email or inperson about their experiences in activism. Many people realize after they get out there to do something how much fun it is, and how good it feels to sacrifice for the cause of liberty.

fyi - from what I see in my own group and a few others - if you get past a 20% turnout you are doing well. We have about 30 locals registered (I've discouraged most 'out of area' signups) and we run from 4 to 12 members showing up.

I'll let other much larger groups speak for themself, but I note one that has over 500 members but seems to only get about 20-30 people out at any one time, sometimes less, sometimes more if a 'big' thing.

My guess to the cause is that most people are lurkers by nature - they want to know what is going on but just do not have the motivation to get out and do something. It might be they are very busy, some may be slackers, some may just be embarrassed. Some show up for one event thinking 'wow this will be cool' then find out well.. there is some work involved id rather drink beer! Cold weather now won't help.

rant.st views on finance, politics and science

This is no time to step lightly around the issues. The republic our forefathers left us is dying, and after the next election, it may be beyond the point of no return. If we are to be free people, this is our last and best chance to reclaim our heritage.

Amerika, under Giuliani or Clinton, will not be a free nation.

If that doesn't inspire people into action, then they don't deserve a free nation.

Solicit ideas then let those with the idea take ownership. people all have different gifts and talents, get them to use them. Not everyone wants to make or wave signs

share other meetup succes stories and ideas. A local group here had a ron paul clean up day. It made the local TV news and the state news paper. The same day some other individuals in that group had a table at a gun show.

try to develop a since of community, ask for lots of input

market to the group, make sure they ge an email at least once every day or two.

Most Meetups are only going to have a small subset that actually show up for almost every meeting. Some people will come on occasion and others will never come to a meeting. I have only been to a few events myself, but I don't think that means that I'm any less enthusiastic or committed. I doubt that most of your other members are sitting on the couch or in front of their computers rather than attending an event.

Most of the other Meetup groups I'm in have a problem with people saying that they are going to be at an event and then not showing up. We usually get a 25% no-show rate for the social groups.

get the active members and any others to watch

https://www.ronpaul2008.com/volunteer/content/grassroots-vol...

Ask your Meetup group members - and everyone else - to check out
the important message at www.ObamaLA.com to see just how much
of an impact Ron Paul is making on the political landscape.
The news there will not, of course, be reported by Katie, Brian or
Charlie -- but be certain it has caught the attention of the major campaigns.

Nearly 90% of all meet-up activities occur during the weekdays and working hours (like sign waving at busy intersections). The few that do show up must either be unemployed, self-employed, or work the night shift. Also, there are activities that take us far out of town. Instead of planning a car pool (more fun), everyone dives separate cars (my car is a piece of unreliable crap.) Then there is the fact that organizers usually plan an event close to their house and don't consider the inconvenience that others must endure, like heavy traffic and navigating to unfamiliar locations. And one last comment. In our meet-up, notifications for an event are usually sent out the night before they occur. Only the organizers (insiders) for the event have planned and are prepared. So, my advice to organizers would be to actually organize an event to include everyone instead of whining and moaning when only a few in your clique show up. IMHO

"It does not take a majority to prevail... but rather an irate, tireless minority, keen on setting brushfires of freedom in the minds of men." Samuel Adams

We had the same problem in our meetup for several months. I find that persistently but gently reminding people about the events will pay off. Our attendance has gone from two or three at a time to around 8-10 per event in the last month. We have also gathered at different places to give people a chance to attend closer to their house. A lot of it is location also. Our group is in Westchester New York which is Clinton and Giuliani territory so I am happy with even 8 people showing up. Peace.

I'm in a local Meetup in the Los Angeles area. I joined it because it covered my immediate neighborhood. Nothing much has happened except what was organized by the nearby powerhouse Pasadena and Hollywood Meetups.

I had asked for people who wanted to meet me for lunch or after work for a sign wave on a weekly basis and no one responded from my area.

I'm extremely busy and the activity really has to fit into my schedule, so my plan was to keep it local. I have a RP sign that I take to lunch with me a few times a week, and I wear a RP shirt to yoga 2 nights, plus all weekend.

However, I noticed we keep getting new members in our local Meetup. So, after I signed up for precinct walking, I tried again. This time two ladies e-mailed me back to volunteer to walk. I'm working on putting that together, now.

People all have different schedules and needs. Because I'm so busy (including another project for RP), I can't travel miles to wave signs across town, if there's something equally or more productive I can do at home.

Just keep trying, and it helps if you spell out a plan so people know what to expect.

IMissLiberty

Hey Aaron. I have the same Problem in Sioux Falls on the other side of the state. I think that's just reality.

Not sure if there is much we can do about it.

Tracy

I think you need to divide the list of members among the few committed members. Then take your list and call each member individually. Talk to them, see what they feel comfortable doing then ASK THEM to do it. Many people will do anything for you if you ask. They may do something but feel more comfortable doing it with another member, start a buddy list. I think many people may just feel overwhelmed with all this and just need some encouragement. Make it fun like Dr. Paul says. Keep it simple. Follow up get in put. Watch personalities that work best together get them working together. We are doing something that brings many different groups together for a common goal that doesn't mean they will agree on anything else try to match groups. Birds of a feather fly together. Peace