Raleigh-Durham, NC




STRANGERS WITH COMMON GROUND

By Jonathan B. Cox

One by one, they arrived on a recent Thursday night, seven self-described geeks drawn to a downtown Raleigh restaurant by a Web site and a desire to talk tech.

A makeshift cardboard sign with peculiar markings on a chair near the entrance was the only clue that others like them were nearby. Though they barely knew each other, the seven chatted like old acquaintances. Two hours later, six were still going. . .

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Link: http://newsobserver.com/business/story/1796559p-1801119c.html

Heath Row's CoF Roadshow

By Heath Row

. . .

I headed to the south of Houston offices of Meetup, an online service that helps people organize and participate in face-to-face events. There, in a cramped office housing nine staff members, I sat down with Scott Heiferman, Meetup's cofounder and CEO; and Matt Meeker, cofounder and VP of strategy.

Since the company's launch in July, almost 60,000 people have signed up for the service. More than 10,000 people have participated in about 1,000 meetups in 225 cities. While other team members lunched on pizza, the three of us discussed Meetup's business model -- and what other event and meeting planners, much less people leading team meetings, can learn from Meetup's work. . .


Just some examples of meetups around the world

. . .

Lower Barriers to Involvement
"In online communities of all sorts and sizes, people raise their hand and say, 'Hey, does anyone in Dallas want to meet up?' When something is happening, people like to hear it, but it takes a lot of iniative to stand up and say something is happening," Heiferman says. "The Net does a great job of connecting people, but there's nothing happening locally. It's hard to be best friends with someone in China. Meetup's idea is that media can cross borders between the real world and the online world."

More: http://www.fastcompany.com/roadshow/2002/100902.html