Does Anyone Want to Lead Melbourne Bloggers Group into 2009?

Greetings Fellow Melbourne Bloggers,

OK - I'll admit it - I have been the worst ever 'organizer' of this Melbourne Bloggers Meetup group!

I had big ideas to pull us together as a blogging community but a complete lack of time to pull it off. As a result I've decided to step down as organizer and want to offer the role up for others with a little more ability in the area of organization to take over.

I'd still like to be involved and attend meetups but not as the coordinator.

This decision was brought on by getting another bill from meetup.com (they charge $15 a month). While the amount is not that much for an inactive group $180 a year is probably not the best use of resources.

So at the end of this payment period (18 January) I'll be resigning. If someone else wants to take over please let me know and I'll transfer admin rights of the group. If no one steps forward I presume the group will simply become inactive.

A little info on what is involved:

• This group has 112 members
  
• We've met once (it was a fun night)
  
• The cost of this group is $15 per month (I've covered this for the last 18 months) - payments are quarterly
  
• Last time I surveyed members they wanted to meet every 2-3 months, somewhere central, low cost and not too noisy
  

If you're interested in taking on the admin of this group please shoot me an email - darren@problogger.net

As I say - I'm very keen to stay involved, to attend and to promote the group - if someone has the passion and drive to lead us on into 2009!

Darren Rowse

$15 per month. I am so surprised they charge for this...
As bloggers I expect most of us would ave access to resources that could run a wordpress blog or other open source software to archive similar capabilities as meetup.com offer. But then there is the setting up costs and time and effort..

I suppose it not that much really, but it would need an mput by more then the one person in my opinion.

James

Firstly, let's have a meeting before this runs out. How about an afternoon meeting on the 3rd, 4th, or 11th of January? I suggest not the 10th of January as the LUV BBQ is on that day.

Getting someone to take over a group that has just had a meeting should be easier, and if the group is to close then let's have a final meeting!

How many people should we expect to attend a meeting? I guess that a blogger meeting can easily go viral so we need a location that allows the group to expand. As a cheap location is desired one option might be to have a picnic in a park, there are plenty of nice parks in the CBD and we could choose one with good 3G reception.

I'm happy to help organise meetings, and I could create a mailing list if that is desired. But I am not going to pay $180 per annum to meetup.com.

Russell Coker http://etbe.coker.com...

I am one of the organisers behind the Hive (thehive.org.au), a not for profit networking group for entrepreneurs.

I would be interested in taking over the Melbourne Weblogger Meetup Group.

Ned
dwyer.ed AT gmail DOT com
Electrorash.com

Hi, I'm an Admin for the Perth Bloggers Meetup. We migrated from Meetup to FB about 18 months ago and it handles all the stuff we need without the dollars.

What's happened in Perth is that a bunch of the 20-something bloggers have established a PTUB group - and attendance at the Bloggers group has fallen away. It ran for about 4 years with 8 - 15 people showing up regularly.

We've now stopped doing monthly Bloggers meetings and are now planning quarterly dinners. Not sure whether this will prove successful.

PTUB run a twitter account and a blog.

bret

I run a few groups on Meetup. I agree FB is more cost effective. However LOADS of people find my group on Meetup because of the "suggestions" Meetup gives. FB doesnt do this. It does do everything else though.

Think about it though. There's 100-odd people in the group. They they all paid $2 for the year, costs would be covered. That's less than a coffee. If they arent going to do that, they arent going to do much else with the group.

Also happy to lead the group

Jon

The Hive is run through our website and facebook. It's worked pretty well for us so far now that we have nearly 2000 members and 40% of those are via email.

I think Meetup is one part of the marketing mix for a group like this but direct promotion to local bloggers for a facebook group and a website would help to increase total membership.

I run a few groups on Meetup. I agree FB is more cost effective. However LOADS of people find my group on Meetup because of the "suggestions" Meetup gives. FB doesnt do this. It does do everything else though.

How many bloggers need Meetup to find other blogs? Surely the way that information about such meetings will spread will be through mentions in blog posts!

As for using FB or other services, any blog can handle this, it's just a matter of using posts to propose and announce meetings and comments for discussion.

By definition anyone who will want to attend such a meeting will be capable of setting up a blog and using the comments facility. But I'm sure that I'm not the only blogger who doesn't use FB.

Let's make it a priority to arrange the next meeting. If we can't arrange a meeting then discussion of where to host the group means nothing.

Hi

would be willing to take over to blog meetup group.

I would run the meeting on the second or third thursday of the month, when we also run the Asterisk user group meeting.

The asterisk meeting is run from the pint on pub. Its a cheap eat, space for people to meet.

$150 does not sound so bad, and it could be moved to facebook, as modm or the hive run from, This could lower the cost, and spread the word further.

Joseph

I would run the meeting on the second or third thursday of the month, when we also run the Asterisk user group meeting.

Do we have demand for a monthly meeting? I believe that any group which has little enough demand that a year can go by without a meeting is not going to get enough interest for a meeting every month. Maybe 3-4 per year would be the most.

One key choice is whether to have meetings on a week-day or on a weekend. The advantage of a week-day is for people who work in the CBD and can go directly there after work. The advantage of a weekend is that it's easier (less time pressure) for people who work outside the CBD and it's also cheaper (the weekend-saver tickets). Do we have members from regional centres (such as Ballaratt)? It seems very unlikely that such people will be able to attend a meeting on a weeknight.

Bars are not really cheap no matter which bar you choose, also the cheaper bars have more background noise and it's therefore difficult to have a conversation about any serious issue. If we are going to meet at a bar I suggest that one of the bars on Southbank (such as Walter's Wine Bar) would be a good choice - not cheap but you have no difficulty in having a conversation.