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Permalink Reply by Silvia Li on November 12, 2007 at 12:50am

You may start by looking at Meetup.com. I think it requires a fee to start a meetup group, but once you sign up, it provide you a system and webspace to presnt your group. A lot of people look for groups of similar interest in their area through Meetup.com. It practically promote itself.

A few members here have actually started their own Meetup group through Meetup.com. Maybe you can ask them how they do it. You can also find their meetup group by navigating to the Groups tab of this site, or click here, to see what Meetup groups are there.

Good luck in creating your own meetup group!

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Permalink Reply by Sam Tsang on November 12, 2007 at 8:52am

Actually both Silvia and I belong to several Meetup groups throughout the US and Canada, we've been to several meetings for corgi related and non related events. The problem with meetup.com is that there's a monthly fee for the site organiser, so there is an overhead to begin with and depending on the size of the group, it may be overkill. Also I didn't really like the meetup.com site's tools, it's good enough for most people, but after using it for a while, you'll understand what it lacks and you'll want something better.

I've also used google groups and yahoo groups and there's a lot of flaws in those, they requring users to jump through hoops just to join or always have to link out for viewing videos and photos. There isn't a central location for media storage and that forces the members to register to other services just to share a few pic or view videos, so it's not that friendly. It's free, and there's plenty of ads.

One of the reason why I launched MyCorgi.com was to provide a free and easy to use platform, so that the average joe and jane can start their own group, having their own messageboard and email system, a place to annouce event and share photos & Videos. Pretty much what the basic group needs. On the other hand, those who wish to use yahoo, google or meetup.com can still stick with their own platform and just add a link to MyCorgi.com and use it as a springboard to gather more owners to join their own group. So it's a win win situation for everyone.

Now back to the good and back about meetup groups, I've been to some really good organisers event and they have a great personality to match and were able to keep everyone interested and entertained. I've also been to meetups where the organisers's personality was too strong, lacked in leadership skills, wasn't open for new joiners or was just in it for the money period.

I'll share more in my second reply.

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Permalink Reply by Sam Tsang on November 12, 2007 at 6:36pm

Ok, part II :)

I think to head up a meetup group takes a certain type of personality, most important of all is not to take things personally. Don't forget that at the end of the day, your pet is what brought everyone together, so try not to get into politics, religion, or get lost in pointless arguments, if everyone can play nice and respect others who shares a different opinion, it'll be just fine.

Listen to your members, because without them there won't be a group. Have an open line of communication, be resourceful and make the newbies feel welcome. when the groups gets big, it's time to split the responsibility with other volunteers.

Conflict - just like any family outhere, having different opinion is just a matter of time, encourage your members to settle their difference privately. when it's gets out of hand, kill the thread. don't give a chance for other members to join in and pile on. Words do hurt people, be respectful, take a step back and breathe, there's more to life than cyberspace :)

Okay, here's some good stuff that can happen from a meetup group. The friends that you're going to make, the social behaviour of your dogs, the support that you're going to get when you're down and of course joyful moments that you share.

So good luck! Let us know what we can help you with :)

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Permalink Reply by Avyon on November 12, 2007 at 9:04pm

thank you for the information :)

Any advice on finding a good place to have one? Of course I'll look around but just like any event are there certain things I should look for?

We never used dog parks up in VT.. most of the time we went to a field and just let our dogs run free so Im unsure what I should look for when I go visit them. I've heard sometimes they can be unkempt or just horrible to bring your pet to while others are just great.

How do I find out who owns the parks and do I ask them if I can have a meet there or just go ahead and we just show up? lol

It will def. be a while before I start my own.. obviously I have a lot to learn before I start one but its always the idea of something that brings it to life :)

I will def. post the link/information when it does happen though I promise!

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Permalink Reply by Carmen on November 12, 2007 at 11:20am

You could just start a group here on mycorgi.com. I have the Minnesota/Iowa corgi picnic on Yahoo groups. It isn't too bad to work with and it is free. A lot of people use yahoo to do meet up groups.

As for running it, it does take a lot of time to get all the events set up. I only do mine once a year, and it is still a headache sometimes. One problem is that there are other opinions in the group. It is very hard not to take the critism personally.

If you have any other questions, just message me privately.

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Permalink Reply by Avyon on November 12, 2007 at 9:07pm

Thank you for the information :) I'll def. check out yahoo and a couple other sites to see what options each has.

All in all I was thinking of creating my own site on a private domain but I'm still thinking everything through haha.

and thank you for the msg offer, I'll keep it in mind while I work with this idea!

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