You can oblige fellow postcrossers to contribute to room rental if you have to pay room rental at a location
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Hi, everyone! I have some questions about organizing meet up that I was wondering if somebody who has experience in hosting them could help me out. Someone might have asked these before so I apologize if they’ve already been answered prior.
Alongside posting information about the meet up in the meetup forum for my country, how else can I possibly let people near within neighboring towns near me that might be interested in attending that I am hosting it?
Do majority of the meetups hosted have a postcard created to commemorate the meetup or have there been some without one created for it?
How long ahead did you plan ahead for your meetup?
Thank you!
Hi Matthew
I’d suggest posting the meet up notice at least 2 weeks in advance, so people can plan. Also, this gives the mods plenty of time to review it and let you know if you’ve missed any details. Once they approve it, it will appear on the main site as well.
You can use the search function on the main site to find users who are in the area - I recommend limiting the search to people who have logged in recently. Then you can send them a message to let them know about the meet up.
Meet up cards are popular, but not essential. Especially for a first meet up when you don’t know yet how much interest you might have, you don’t want to have too many things to worry about. You can also just have everyone sign whatever cards people have to send out.
Good luck and have fun!
Good questions! In my experience having hosted meetups in three countries (so far;-), it’s definitely helpful to reach out to people on other possible forums as well. When organizing in Switzerland and Hungary, I also posted in the dedicated Facebook groups. For Poland, I didn’t know where the community is active and several people only found the meetup a few days before the event. The challenge of this is if people want to order cards, it’s too late for that.
I’ve never been to a meetup that has not had its own cards and highly recommend creating one. (If you need help with the design, I’m happy to lend a hand, I love designing cards.) Ask others in the local community about printing options or search online. Use services that offer bulk discounts otherwise it’s too expensive. Some people order 5, others 50, it’s hard to know, which is another reason to ask early.
I’d post as soon as possible, two weeks is going to be too short for people who have busy schedules or may need to travel to the event (my understanding is that 2 weeks is the minimum required here). I’ve advertised mine at least a month in advance, but many get posted several months in advance. I already have one on my calendar (that I’m attending) on Oct 12. That is not necessary of course, but the sooner the better.
When showing up with cards, it’s helpful if you have attendees names printed on a small piece of paper for each batch of cards to be signed (plus a rubber band), that way everyone can keep track of who has signed what.
Above all, enjoy the process. I’ve found it to be a super friendly community and I’m eager to host more in an ever-growing number of countries. 
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Hello,
I need your help.
I created a meetup in the forum 14 days ago. How long does it take for it to be on the meeting list?
Thanks
Hello @Mundoo! I registered a meetup 4 days ago. Can you add it to a calendar? How long does it usually take to verify information? There are already people wanting to attend the meeting, I’m compiling and editing the list, so I’m a little worried that the meeting hasn’t been added to the calendar yet… Thanks for your reply.
@Julchen70 and @an-foxy
Please be patient.
Vicky/mundoo is very busy and it can take a little time, but you can be sure that your meeting will be entered in the calendar in sufficient time.
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There are several reasons why your meeting is not on the calendar yet.
The main one being priority is given to the meetings that are happening sooner (current month for example) rather than the later ones (think later in the year). Meetings for this month are being added each day by members, many with only a couple of days/hours notice!
I am working my way though the lists, I am adding this month’s ones straight away (after checking) and have started to check and process next months ones.
I will get to your meeting. It is in my queue. It will be added well before October, most likely in the next few days.
All valid and complete meetings are added to the calendar as time permits.
Vicki
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It can take up to a fortnight. Depends on my workload and the date of the meeting and how many listings are in my work queue.
Earliest dates are added first then, next month, then as the waiting dates comes to the top of my queue.
Vicki
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I was just wondering - do any postcrossers ever meet informally?
What I mean is - if you have to travel to another town or country for whatever reason, do you put it ‘out there’ if there are any postcrossers that want to meet up for tea/coffee/whatever and chat? 
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I have also done a few. Most recent with @dollart when she visited Kraków and with @Knirin when I was on vacation in Munich.
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Yes, occasionally. I’ve met some nice people that way already!
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I haven’t yet but definitely would. There are several postcrossers that I exchange cards with regularly and if I plan to be in the cities that they live in, I’ll definitely send a message in advance inviting them to share a meal and a chat!
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It wad great meeting old friend @delenn_mir after long time. Always when i travel i contact local postcrossers to meet and shop postcardsm Usually people can help you find best cards and show you places. I have met unofficial meetings in Poland, Netherlands, Hungary, Austria, Canada, Dubai, Portugal, Northern ireland,
And after these small meetings you are friends for time.
in Brazil unofficial turn into lovely bigger meetup. Just reach out and ask who would be intrrested meeting over postcards 
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I had another postcrosser message me and wanted to meet up in my city. I had no connection to this person and found it interesting. Ended up not meeting up with them. I didn’t feel well that day and my husband wasn’t crazy about the idea to begin with. 
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@YellowButterfly76 - Yes, I had that sort of thing you talk about in mind too, when I asked my question …. We humans do need some kind of connection and, postcrosser, or not, I would have to feel okay about any meet-up.
Call me old-fashioned, but it would also depend on gender - being female, I would feel happier meeting a female than an unconnected male, even if the meeting was in a busy, public place.
Not out to cause any offence to anyone, just trying to be honest. 
It’s why I asked the question in the first place really. There is plenty of information about formal meet-ups in the forum, but I didn’t see anything mentioned about informal meet-ups and I did wonder if people did ever meet up informally and what people’s thoughts on it were because I am just curious about it! 
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Hello
@paulo @Mundoo @meiadeleite Is it actually allowed to offer old cards from previous meetup for a new meetup ? I‘d like to have stickers for the backside with the current date .
As long as the participants are aware that they are from a different date and are updated with a sticker with the new date and are unused I can’t see any issues.
Vicki
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