Alternatives to Meetup.com, maybe free ones?
October 28, 2013 12:19 PM   Subscribe

I'm interested in starting a regular craft night event in a town which I have only recently moved to. I'm on my local MeetUp but I'm curious if there are other platforms like this I should explore before plunking down my money. Anyone had any luck gathering interested folks through another method?

Believe me: I do think MeetUp provides a great service at a very reasonable rate. I'm just curious what else people have done to start an event like this.
posted by dahliachewswell to Computers & Internet (8 answers total) 5 users marked this as a favorite
 
Haven't tried it, but you could pretty easily setup a Google+ community for something like this, and it wouldn't cost you anything. The problem is that people tend to go to Meetup to find things like this, so you might not get new members as quickly as you would on Meetup.
posted by cnc at 12:30 PM on October 28, 2013


Plunking down money, for MeetUp?

How exactly are you thinking of using it that requires money? It's been free for every usage I've seen. I genuinely don't get what you're trying to do.
posted by IAmBroom at 12:43 PM on October 28, 2013


IAMBroom: in order to start/continue a group on Meetup, there's a monthly fee.
posted by jacquilynne at 12:48 PM on October 28, 2013 [1 favorite]


Craigslist has a section for community events.
posted by Wordwoman at 12:50 PM on October 28, 2013


What kind of craft(s)? If you're doing anything fiber-related (knitting, crochet, spinning, weaving), you'll want to look for geographically local sub-forums on ravelry.com to promote your group in. Don't know if there are similar niche social network sites for other crafts, though.
posted by ActionPopulated at 12:54 PM on October 28, 2013 [1 favorite]


Are there any local shops in your area? If so, contact them about starting a night. Either the event could take place there, or they can advertise it on their listserv or on a poster at the check-out register.

Also...Facebook. Seriously.
posted by barnone at 1:11 PM on October 28, 2013 [1 favorite]


Yahoo groups, Facebook page, University club (if there's a university nearby and students who might be interested), casual word of mouth advertising, meeting in a public place at least 1/month, having handouts/business cards available at the local hobby store, and being present at any local craft fairs (is there a Maker Fair in your region?) would be where I'd start, based on how I've found the clubs I'm in now.
posted by nat at 4:27 PM on October 28, 2013


The library may have meeting space, or a coffee shop, and people may feel mor ecomfortable coming to a public space. Put up flyers, and use any events listings - weekly newspapers, craigslist, etc.
posted by theora55 at 5:09 PM on October 28, 2013


« Older Could you speed that up a little?   |   Looking for a good, fast Wordpress host for 25k+... Newer »
This thread is closed to new comments.