Does anyone watch online that lives in my city?

I get asked this constantly from people part of our online community. I can’t connect everyone. There was some privacy issues with sharing geo data and scalability problems. I needed a strategy to release and not micromanage. 

My first attempt to solve this problem was by hosting Meetups back in 2015. I actually wrote a post after the trip and shared some initial learnings, and vlogged a year later too about the evolving strategy.

The issue from the conception of the strategy was being staff dependent. We had a growing audience and couldn’t jump on a plane enough to scale the need. I honestly tabled the idea for the sake of focus on a few other initiatives, but recently started to explored round two of Meetups.

Attempt two needed to be volunteer-driven, cost-effective and aligned with our online strategy. Here is how we are framing Meetups to our community.

Meetup with People in Your Area!

A Meetup is simple. All it requires is a little F.A.I.T.H.

• First, FINALIZE when and where you will have your Meetup. Pick a public place. And be sure to tell us about it so we can promote it in your community.
  

• Next, ARRIVE early and leave last. You will have some people show up early and others will trickle in later. Hang around expecting for conversations to linger.
  

• Then, INTRODUCE yourself at the start of the meetup. Then, have everyone share where they live and how they are connected to our church. We’ll provide some icebreaker questions as well to help get the discussion rolling.
  

• Be sure to TAKE a group photo at the end of the Meetup and post it in the Facebook community group. This will make more local people aware of what is happening.
  

• Finally, HAND out connection cards so you can follow up with next steps within the next 24 hours. Help people get into a small group, take our CLASS 101, or just let them know we are praying for them.
  

You can make a difference in the lives of our online community by leading  your own Meetup in your community. Get started and sign up today!