Here in Oakland, CA, I attended the meetup at the Starry Plough pub, where there were about 80 or so people. The best part was the showing of the California Democratic Convention Dean speech video on a big screen. The crowd was clapping and cheering like Dean was with us!
About 1/3 of the people were not committed Dean supporters when they walked in and were there more to find out more information about Dean. I think that after watching the speech they walked out ready to do whatever it takes for Dean to win.
There was also a musical performance at the beginning, someone else talking a bit about Dean for the uninitiated, and lots of announcements about things people can do to help get the word out.
While the crowd was large, I was surprised that it was mostly older--there were few people under 35. I attribute this partly to the fact that the Meetup was a long way from the Berkeley campus and that finals start next week.
All in all I was amazed at how this self-organized group has come together over the Internet, and I left confident that his support will really take off as more people learn about him. Seeing his speech his crucial--I'm going to send around one more e-mail harangue urging people to watch the California Dem Convention speech on the net.
Finals are definitely a big factor--I go to law school in Boston & am in the midst of them, or I would have been in Nashua for sure. (My only complaint about Governor Dean is that he schedules all of his Boston/NH appearances at rare times when there's no chance of my going!) Ah well, back to Administrative Law.
Milwaukee:
Borught in a crowd of between 35-40.
Raised a modest sum for the local campaign and the national campaign.
The best part of the event was that there were many many new faces.
The word is getting out - our primary goal.
...
shux
Last month we had 6 people this month we had 25.Howard Dean is starting to get know in Pennslyvania.We had a great time and every one is going to help get the Dean word out! GO PRESIDENT HOWARD DEAN!!!!
Back from MeetUp in New Haven, CT. We had a turnout of perhaps 40 people, including some folks were are pretty well connected in CT politics.
Dr. Dean's brother, Jim Dean, was at the event. He's been doing a great deal for the campaign. It sounds like the campaign has started to build the nationwide infrastructure it needs, especially in the last 3 months since real donations have started coming in. Money will be critical in the next 4-5 months in particular, to root that infrastructure before the real "political season" hits.
With regards to the debate, and to complaints that some of us had that Dean doesn't come across as impressively in Q&A formats, Jim Dean assured us that this is a priority of the campaign. I was pleased that it seemed the campaign is honestly addressing this, and aims for his interviews and debates to have the same effect of inspiring and drawing people as his convention speeches. I personally think that Howard Dean is a quick learner once he puts his mind to something; if he's making this a priority, I suspect we'll see positive results soon.
This was my first MeetUp, and I was impressed that this grassroots effort is the real thing. A large variety of people, and not lacking in clout. One senior citizen tonight told us that we should attempt to reach seniors who don't use the internet. "I think you'll find that seniors will come out for Dean," she said.
That's not all who will come out for Dean.
Seniors. Students. The Democratic Base. Environmentalists. The Uninsured. Labor. Civil rights activists. Pro-choicers. Democrats who vote with the NRA. Fiscal balanced-budget conservatives. Progressives. Populists. Greens. Some Libertarians. African Americans. Arab Americans. French Americans. McCain "tell-it-like-it-is" Independents. Wellstone "integrity" Independents. Santorum/Lott critics. Free Media advocates. Folks who prefer government checks-and-balances. Separation of Chuch and State advocates. Parents with kids in public school. People who lost jobs. Veterans who lose benefits. Iraq War skeptics. Election 2000 Skeptics. Anyone who understands George Orwell and/or the Bill of Rights.
Can Dean get 51% in a general election?
If we really reach the American people, he'll do it with room to spare.
I've never put a bumper sticker on my car before. Can you guess who's name is on it tonight?
I had an interesting conversation with Joe Trippi at the Burlington, VT Meetup (about 50+), with another held 35 miles away in Montpelier. I was curious about the total number of campaign contributors in the Dean, Kerry, and Edwards campaigns.
You all know the dollar figures, so here's the rest of the story...
Dean
oops, sorry for the suspenseful double-post...
Dean, 14,000 contributors
Kerry, 14,000
Edwards, 9,000
This is inspiring grassroots news. Spread the word to watch out for even better second quarter numbers.
We have 6 meetups Statewide and the my local meetup had 40 people - half of them new. We had a question and answer period to help the newbies.
Most of us were a buzz at the meetup because we just had a Statewide fundraiser on Sunday which raised $100,000. The Good Doctor was there and set the place on fire - folks had tears in their eyes!
Thank God for Howard Dean.
Columbus, OH at Scottie MacBean's:
Wow! More than 55 this month, up from 40 last month and 20 in April. Lots of good ideas and interest in helping Governor Dean win the nomination. It's wonderful to hear from some folks who have never before had any involvement in political activity and to meet others who haven't had this much excitement for a candidate for many years.
Despite a thunderstorm just as it was beginning, the DC meetup was a great crowd of over 100, about as big as last month. Only, this time it was only one of 3 venues in the Capital area! Also, a show of hands revealed that it was the first meetup for a lot (I would say over half) of the folks there. So, the momentum is certainly growing.
Also, the meetup's are getting more coverage: we had CNN there taping the event. Not sure what segment it was taped for, though. We had only last minute word from the campaign that they were even going to be there. Joe Trippi, do you know?
I think we all realized that the biggest challenge facing the meetups is turning the enthusiasm and energy into action (and in turn, money and votes!), but it looks like this is beginning to take shape. We have a group here that is planning the next phase, and we were getting the word out to all those at meetup. Great job everyone!
Meet up in Cincinnati:
We had a nice-sized group of 21 in Cincinnati. It was truly amazing how diverse the Dean supporters are.
In Cinci, it was a group that included: students, corporate types (like me), doctors, former political campaigners, software engineers, mothers, reformed Green party members (If they support Dean, I might forgive them for Nader), and many others.
We raised money, brainstormed ideas, and will be trying to get Dean here to give a speech.
I've never been in on a grass roots campaign like this. This truly is what it must have been like for the Bobby Kennedy campaign.
GO DEAN!!!!!!!
The DC Meetup had 150+ in just the DC venue (there were separate MD and VA ones as well). Lots of first-timers at this one (at Hawk-N-Dove, as seen on West Wing). We heard from several speakers and the crowd was quite enthusiastic. We have started a DC for Dean grassroots campaign and we signed up 75+ tonight. We will concentrate on fundraising, lit distribution, phone banking and visibility for now, and will later move into sending people to NH and IA to knock on doors, as well as organize for the DC primary.
I attended a small Meetup in Springfield, MA, a split-off from the Western Mass Meetup which last time was around 50, and this time was around 100. We only had a handful of people there, but it felt good. Constructive. And we got some passers-by to take literature, too.
Now I'm looking forward to the Mass State Democratic Convention on June 7.
Norm, you're right. We definitely had at least 150. I shouldn't be so conservative 
Alex,
Thanks for helping me pass out the DC for Dean info tonight.
(Norm was my nickname in college)
San Diego had so many people RSVP that we had to have two separate venues! By my count, there were at least 45 others with me at Farrell's tonight, and our excellent host Joe Ross said we were almost all new faces from last month's meetup down in Hillcrest..... woo hoo! 
-M
Here in Cambridge we had around 80+ people show up to Fire and Ice at Harvard Square. We split the Meetup in Boston three ways because of the huge turnout in April and from the looks of it this was a good thing. A good portion (if not majority) were new to the meetup and had not worked on any kind of campaign before. A testament to just how unique and powerful this grassroots for Dean has become. We broke up into 5/6 groups to discuss fundraising, visibility, group outreach, get out the vote, and technology for blogging and campaign organizing. It was a good time and we are really hoping to combine with all the other Meetups in MA and the surrounding states for a thunderous show of support at the Massachusetts Democratic Convention on June 7th. We hope to have several hundred enthusiastic Dean supporters in Kerry's home turf so if you are or anyone you know can make it please do. You can email us and we can setup some coordination and planning at the massfordean.org website and associated mailing list. Hope to see all of my fellow Dean supporters on June 7th.
I'm embarassed in the company of such substantial numbers, as we had but a handful. (We have a problem with location, plus a lot of students in the middle of finals, etc., etc.,) In fact, I wasn't even going to report in.
And. . .to be honest and frank. . . following the debate, my displeasure over the handling of the Dean/Kerry thing, and the rah-rah-ing over Bush as Top Gun. . .well, I was a little low. I began to doubt, and second-guess and really wonder if it wasn't true that Bush was unbeatable. Then, I get to the Meetup and I'm the hostess and, and, and. . .we have a handful. So, I should have been doubly despondent, right? But our small group was so energized, and it was new people so grateful to have found us and so eager and. . . we shared and laughed and ranted and. . .well, it was wonderful. Maybe not in attendance numbers, maybe not in folks with a lot of money to donate, maybe not even in people that will make a big splash organizing, but it gave me a tremendous boost. Coming from a state (OH) that is viewed as hopelessly Republican, with a late primary, sometimes we feel like we're lost in the wilderness.
But I left tonight thinking that it's the "handfuls" that will make a difference, for Dean and the country.
After all, it's many, many, many "handfuls" of donations that added up to 2.5 million raised in the first quarter.
After all, it was a "handful" that kept Gore from winning Ohio.
After all, it was a "handful" on the Supreme Court that put Bush in the White House. (Although, it will be more than a handful that will kick him out!)
And, so, it occurred to me that I really DID need to report in. So, on behalf of the "handfuls", please know, Governor Dean, that we are out there. A LOT of us. Thousands and thousands and thousands of us who believe that you CAN help us take back our country.
eileen
The Portland Meetup was divided into three separate meetings this time. The total who RSVPed was around 150. I was a host at one of the meetings and about 50 people showed up at our venue which was just outside of Portland. There were only about 8 people there who had been to any of the previous meetups! That tells me that the word IS getting out and that having a meetup out in the suburbs allowed some to come who couldn't come in the past.
We showed the campaign video (it's getting a little old so I think we will have to retire it) then started passing around signup sheets for putting on a House Party, providing support for the Iowa and New Hampshire teams, and organizing a small rally to greet the Governor when he comes to town on the 14th.
We then broke up into two groups. One to talk about things to do to promote Dean and whatnot. The other group to talk about campaign issues and put together a list of questions that people had about Dean's stand on those issue. I have to type up those questions now, which should be fun.
Finally, we got a visit from Bill Bradbury, one of the co-chairs of the official Oregon Dean campaign (he was travelling all night between the three meetups).
All-in-all it was a pretty good night. But I can definitely tell we are starting to move beyond the "who is this guy" phase and more into the "okay, what can we do now?" phase.
Greeting from San Jose!
I just posted a photo of the San Jose group to the Meetup pages, but if you want to see the full-fledged photo in a larger format, to directly go...
http://www.octalouie.com/dean/SJ...etup-0507-
A.jpg.
Do you realize that the San Jose Dean group is almost as large as both the nationwide Meetup groups for both Joe Lieberman and Dick Gephardt combined?? HA! And to think San Jose is one of the "smaller" groups at #23.....
Everyone's asking "When is Howard Dean coming to San Jose?"
Patience, patience.....
We hit critical mass last month on the day of the meetup, so we didn't have one...we tripled since then. 17 of our 24 showed tonight for the first Medford Oregon Meetup at Barnes and Noble. We had a decent mix of enthusiastic Dedicated to Dean folk and Anyone but Bush folks wanting to know more about the good doctor. Marcia Chaiken was the presence on behalf of the national organization - she came laden with bumper-stickers and buttons. Everyone left with contribution info, position papers and a mission to grow the group by a factor that will overwhelm our veune in short order, and to link Dean support to local issues in the nationally famous (thanks, Gary Trudeau) state of Oregon
Whee!
I want my country back!
Los Angeles was divided into seven subgroups and then our subgroup (west LA), due to overwhelming demand, was re-divided into 3 more venue groups. At the meetup I hosted, we had 20 people and were at a slight disadvantage b/c the venue was hosting a Laker game party, but we made it work.
It seemed to mostly be people insterested in finding out more infomrmation and that is exactly what is great about this. At the end of the night we have 19 names signed up (I didn't bother signing up again) to send to HQ and people who left with a better understanding of Dean, the candidate.
Thanks for all these reports -- and I hope everyone else takes this in the spirit in which it is meant -- but the "handfuls" report from Eileen is really moving -- thanks to all -- and hopefully more people will report in during the day tomorrow -- what a great nite for Dean for America thanks to all of you.
"the great unspoken truth is that the future of our nation rests in your hands -- not mine."
--- Gov. Howard Dean
Thank you for making the words Gov. Dean speaks true.
Joe Trippi
Campaign Manager
Dean for America
I co-hosted one of the other Portland meet-ups, this one at the Goodfoot Lounge in SE Portland. We had about 70 people, which was inspiring, but I left feeling that we could do better for next time. The decision had already been made (due to our ever larger numbers) to split this meet-up among three venues. I think this was a mistake, as the smaller venues lacked the buzz of last month's larger crowd. Our numbers are high enough - we can fill a larger hall. I would like to see all supporters in one larger raucous hall for next month.
Secondly, we had to turn away at least two individuals at the door who couldn't get in as they were under 21. We need venues that don't leave out the 18-20 year old voter set. A previous meet-up occurred at the Bridgeport Brew Pub in downtown Portland. Can we get this venue back? Their upstairs accomodates about 300 and, as it is as much a pizzeria and restaurant as a brewpub, they accomodate all ages.
There is real enthusiasm out there. We need to make sure that we don't turn people off through poorly chosen meet-up sites. I realize that we're just getting started, but the overall feel is that we can do better.
Woo-hoo! I am so excited! After two meetups with ~15 people, Nashville had 40! 41, if you count the kid! We're trying to figure out how to get him registered, but he's only about 18 months old.
We passed the hat and raised $300 for an ad in the Tennessee Jackson Day dinner program, and a banner for parades, booths, etc.
And everybody was bursting with ideas and enthusiasm.
I am still high.
Viva Nashvegas™!
we in seattle also split into 3 groups. our site had 100 people i'd say. we talked a lot about the caucus in washington state. regular citizens like you and I can become precinct committee officers who are responsible for holding precinct meetings to decide whom to select for the nomination. it is an excellent system for grass roots candidates since a few dedicated campaign volunteers can make a huge impact on the selection process.
the session was primarily q&a as well over half the audience was at their first meeting and still had questions. altogether, people were upbeat. we talked a little about the debate and how we though dean could have done better. in the end we decided that he had done ok and everything was still going to work out fine!
we are really pumped up for HD's visit to Seattle next week 7:30 May 14th at Town Hall. If you're in Seattle, please come by and come by early because it will get crowded!!!
lastly, we had a young woman at the meeting who first admitted she was not of voting age. i thought perhaps she would be old enough to vote next year??? but she was only 14! and attending dean meetups! she was wondering how she might turn around most of her schoolmates who are pretty darn apathetic. we consoled her, it doesn't get any better as you get older!
TED, SEATTLE
SF Here.
We had a challenging but very successful night. Our meetup was split into three groups as well, but we had enough coordinators to cover all three venues.
It was distressing that two of our three venues heard from us first that a meetup was happening there. One of them was closing down as we arrived but had enough goodwill towards us (we had the meetup there last month) that they kept a small staff there.
At the third venue we were in the general bar area where we had to compete for space with the general public. It was too noisy to understand speakers very well.
Nevetheless, we were able to roll with the problems and pulled off solid meetings at all three venues. There were many new faces and we were able to show the video from the Ferry Building event.
I'm just concerned that later on there is going to be a major screw-up where Meetup doesn't communicate with a venue and a bunch of people have nowhere to go. I'm afraid that would reflect badly on the campaign no matter how much we explain they're not affiliated with meetup.com.
The SF coordiators tried to work more closely with the meetup folks but without much luck. The creation of mulitiple venues within SF took everyone by surprise and caused a lot of extra work last week.
This situation will likely be repeated as more cities grow in size. After a certain point, the larger urban groups are going to need some special treatment from meetup with regard to venue selection. I think we can make it work for all parties involved, but there's going to have to be some give and take.
Other than that it was a wildly successful night. We have three more events scheduled in before the next meetup and lots of work to do. There are lots of talented, enthusiastic folks to help out.
Let's keep it rolling!
Paul Hogan
I was at one of the Other Seattle Meetups tonight, in Lake Forest Park (just NW of Seattle). Like Ted in Seattle proper, we also had a lot of first-timers, and spent a good amount of time discussing where to get flyers, what to do to keep in touch... fortunately there were lots of people there with answers, including one of the moderators for our seattle4dean Yahoo group, who was gonna sign everyone up so we can keep our local group together.
We had about 75 people. Also none, I would venture, under 35, oddly enough.
The only part that was a little lacking to start was that we had some "undecideds" there who wanted to hear more about Dean before "jumping in ($$)", and were looking for someone from the campaign to do a speech. Many others echoed how it would be best to have someone give a speech to go over the issues. Others fortunately pointed out that this campaign is still quite small, and the notion that we'd have campaign people here is slightly premature... I wanted to point out the meetup host's kit, which I think includes a speech video, but the conversation got sidetracked. We had lots of issues flyers, perhaps we should have read some of these aloud to get everyone pumped up. (Humm, maybe next time!!) But we did eventually have the leaders go into the issues for everyone, so I think we got the issues questions answered. This is definitely a part of the purpose of the Meetup that we need to pay primary attention to: if anyone cared enough to come out, we need to answer all their questions so we can keep them hooked in at this critical stage.
Considering we were right next to the food court of the local mall (LOUD!! Got some quasi-Fundie stares!), it went off well. I really enjoyed trading anti-bush barbs in person for a change! Next month if we get to use the sound system it will probably go a lot smoother.
Went to my first Meetup last night in Tampa. Brought a friend of my mine (an open-minded Republican). There were a little more than twenty present -- a very heterogenous group but uniformly enthusiastic about Dean.
A complaint:
There was NO representation by anyone even remotely connected to the Dean Campaign. I feel this undermined the ability of the group to be anything more than what one participant termed a "cheerleading section". We could not even watch the Meetup video to fire up those less familiar with Dean, like my friend. Apparently, a fellow who basically ran last month's meeting and is tied to the campaign did not show up despite emailing many the night before. Frustrating...
I was overall impressed by the amount of organization present this early in the campaign. I think one of Dr. Deans' real potential strengths is the possibility of his tapping into a heretofore silent part of the population -- as he puts its, getting young people excited about voting for someone. Grassroots organizations like Meetup can be incredibly powerful instruments.
But only if given guidance/resources by the larger campaign. The experience left me thinking that maybe the campaign doesn't consider Florida too important to their strategy, with a late primary and a fovorite son like Graham running. That would be incredibly short-sighted, in my opinion.
Hopefully, someone in the campaign will read this and correct this problem for next month's Meetup -- or it will be my last.
The great thing about the Meetup in Burlington is you get to rub elbows with the campaign staff. I posted a few pics on my site.
Cris, there's a lot that can be done by a Meetup without the direction of official campaign staff! At the Baltimore Meetup (60+ people last night, and this was only one of several in the Baltimore-Annapolis area) we haven't had any visitors from the national campaign either, but we're organizing on our own.
Here are things your Meetup can do right now, without help or money from the national campaign: make or download flyers and distribute them at public events; write letters to the editor of your local newspapers, to get the word out about Dean; talk to your local and state Democratic power structures and encourage them to support Dean; distribute bumper stickers and buttons; hold fundraising house parties (get the kit at the official campaign website); register people to vote; make a local webpage to coordinate efforts in your area (click on the "Homepage" link in my signature to see ours).
Right now, the national campaign needs to focus on the states whose primaries are first. That doesn't mean that other states are considered unimportant, it just means that our time has yet to come. We can best help the campaign by organizing ourselves, and not waiting for anyone else to come along and organize us.
I hope these ideas inspire you to get something in motion for next month.
I attended my first Dean Meetup last night in Charlottesville, Virginia. We had about 20 people, about a third of which had not yet decided to support Dean. Our discussion leaders were very well organized. They are working on building Meetup groups in smaller cities in the area—Waynesboro, Harrisonburg, Culpeper, and Staunton (Woodrow Wilson’s home town).
We discussed how best to spread the word, and someone said that a bumper sticker on a car is equal to about $5000 in advertising. That’s an extraordinary figure if true!
I’m ready to go door to door this summer, particularly because Virginia’s February 10 primary could actually play a role in the nomination.
If anyone from Dean headquarters is listening, I would suggest that you find ways of getting LOTS of campaign materials to Meetups. I’m all for downloading and copying campaign information, but bumper stickers, Dean for America pins, and signs would be great to have.
Minneapolis report
This was my 4th Meetup. The original was 10 people, then 35, then 75, and this month there were so many people RSVPed that the meetup was split into 3 venues. I attended the Pizza Luce one in downtown Minneapolis.
Apparently no one from Meetup contacted the venue, because they didn't know we were coming. But it actually worked out better because we just used Luce's counter service and didn't have to bother with a waiter and dividing up checks and stuff.
We had over 40 people at our meetup. David K. and I started the meeting by talking a little bit about what meetup was and what we've been doing here lately (Dean visit and rally on 4/27, May Day parade). We asked how many had been to a meetup before. It was only a handful. All these new faces. So we talked for a few minutes about why we support Dean, then took questions about Dean's positions on the issues.
One of the participants talked a little (ok, a lot) about the Minnesota caucuses and what we can do for Gov. Dean in them.
Finally, we talked about some of our upcomming events: the DFL Debate with all 9 candidates in June, possible trips to Iowa to support the campaign there, and a house party on May 24 with a conference call with Gov. Dean.
One guy was generous enough to buy a stack of bumper stickers to give away, and they went pretty quick.
We handed out literature (both national and locally made) and split into small groups to talk. David K. and I stuck around to talk and wait for stragglers, and about 5 or 6 people did wander in (really) late. So we signed them up too and talked to them for a while.
All in all, a very rewarding experience. I'm curious out the other Minneapolis and St. Paul meetups went.
Cris, you're not supposed to have anybody even remotely connected to the campaign. You're supposed to do it yourself.
This whole campaign is DIY, ad hoc, improv shit. You have to come up with stuff.
One thing we've come up with is to lurk around our city's free concert series.
Of course, we're Nashville, so our free conert series (we have a couple) are bettah, but you must have some free hang-out thingie.
It's a start.
Jtsantella,
I'm one of the hosts of the Chicago Meetup, and we had the same age problem at one of our two venues (and this has happened in other cities in the past). Several of us from Chicago worked with Meetup to try to get them to only have Dean Meetups at venues that everyone can attend. We didn't quite manage that, but we did get them to put a note on the Meetup page next to the venue's name stating that it was a 21+ only venue. This can also be done during the voting stage so that people know they're voting for a restricted venue. In the future, everyone should check whether any of the venue options in their cities are closed to young adults, and if so, email William at william@meetup.com and ask for a note to be put on the Meetup site. Hopefully, we can eliminate the bar problem in the future.
Shane here in San Francisco. Well, all-in-all things are going well here in San Francisco. We're definitely going through some growing pains right now and are a little frustrated with the people at Meet-Up. We had planned on having a big MeetUp at one venue, but with less than a week to go they split us into three venues. Two of the venues were not prepared for us and we were not able to show the video presentations that we would have liked to do. However, of the 180 people total that showed at the three venues about 100 of them were new. We now have about 300 people signed up in our database and from that about 7 committees.
We're doing great work here in San Francisco and I am really proud of my community coming together like this.
I would like to add one thing. San Francisco is a VERY diverse place, yet our groups tend to be very white. A couple of Asians, maybe a latino or two, but that is about it. The problem with MeetUp is that we do not know where we are going to be having our meetings until the very last minute practically. It doesn't allow us enough time to promote the MeetUp in some of the ethnic neighborhoods like The Mission (latinos), Chinatown, Japantown and Western Addition (African-Americans). Many of these people are not likely to have access to computers and therefore are not able to learn about Howard Dean. We're trying to address this issue.
Some Outreach events we're planning on doing.
Bay to Breakers - We're working with other MeetUp groups in the Bay Area to have a HUGE contingent of Dean supporters participating in the annual event.
Pride Weekend - Over 1 million people attend the Pride Parade every year here in San Francisco and we're going to pass out Dean literature to as many people as possible.
Guerilla Dean Bar - A spontaneous gathering, advertised via the Net, of Dean supporters at a different bar every week.
BTW - Big thanks to Katrina, Tulin, Avery, Paul, Tom, Dexter, Brian, Alane, Anne and Buffy!
Bumper Stickers: great idea.
Someone brought bumper stickers to our meetup. One ended up on my car. It'll be there for 300 days of downtown traffic, with countless cars stuck behind me at red lights, curious about this Howard Dean guy. I know several others ended up on cars. It would be quite powerful if all the MeetUps had them.
I prefer the plain Howard Dean for America flag stickers, over the ones that mention Meetup, just because they make more sense for the general public.
One question maybe someone could answer for me. Is there anything we need to be careful of so that we don't inadvertently become confused with the "official" campaign? I wouldn't want this self-organized volunteer army to be subject to all the legal restrictions that "official" campaigns might face. For example, at our MeetUp the idea of opening our own bank account so we could fund activities was raised, but there was concern that this would complicate our legal status. If there are such risks here, it'd be good to get the word out as to what we can or cannot do as an independent group.
BALTIMORE
Last night we had our best Meetup ever! We had a head count of 60+, most of whom were new to the campaign!
We held it at a great location, The Baltimore Brewing Company,had plenty of bumper stickers, buttons, flyers, etc.
We covered the latest campaign news (NH polls #'s, Meetup membership tops 22,000, SC debate) to stir up the crowd. We introduced the campaigns new "Primary & Caucus Corps" efforts and signed people up. Then we had a member show the new video clip complements of the folks in California off his lap top.
We then turned it over to the volunteer committees we established from last time. We talked about the community events we'll start tabling and flyering this month, we plugged our new (and AWESOME)website maryland.fordean.org, how we will communicate as a group, a letter writing campaign, local fundraising, and organizing our own not-for-profit group.
We had great feedback, and I think everyone left ready to work to win Maryland's primary! I must say I came away from this Meetup feeling pretty invincible working with the folks we have here in Baltimore!
Hey Joe Trippi! I'm not sure if you'll ever read this, nor have the time to help us out, but we've been trying to communicate to the MeetUp folks that there are SEVERAL places here in San Francisco that can hold very large groups. Thirsty Bear alone can take up to 700 if we work with them. I definitely agree with the guy from Portland who said that the smaller groups lack the buzz...perception is everything. If new people show up to the MeetUps where large numbers are in attendance, they are likely to leave more energized. A lot of people showed up saying that they liked Dean, but didn't feel he had the numbers or support behind him to be electable. I, of course, know this not true, but others who are not aware of the vast grassroots campaign occurring on Dr. Dean's behalf are likely to leave the small MeetUps less energized. If we're able to plan for a MeetUp that has hundreds of people we know that we could get reporters with cameramen there.
After 130+ in Boston last month, we split up into three locales (Boston, Cambridge and Andover). I helped host the Andover Meetup with a small but enthusiastic group of about 20 -- any potential attendees went 20 minutes to Nashua to hear from the source! Some uncommitted, many like myself new to campaigning. We shared our positive views on Dean, our (viscerally) negative views on Bush, and showed the short video from the California group.
Two key pieces of feedback for the campaign and supporters:
1) We need to add "Democrat for President" to the "Dean for America" literature/signs/buttons -- many people don't know what he's running for, and it's not helping name recognition!
2) We need to let the DNC know that they have to be inclusive of Dr. Dean --- the SC debate was anything but. There were several Nader voters in our Meetup who felt that our votes must be earned; we won't tolerate lack of support for our candidate in favor of the "pre-ordained" choices. Make your voice heard at democrats.org.
It seems to me like the best thing you can do is make sure someone gets e-mail/contact info for everyone who's attended a Meetup in order to get back to them later. You may need to do something like starting a Yahoo group for them. Other articles I've read have pointed out that even Meetup (the company) wasn't prepared for an interest group as large as Dean2004. That's probably a big reason for so many problems with venues, 21+ issues, etc.
Also, I think because of its privacy policy Meetup will not share e-mail addresses with anyone, which is why it's especially important to get people's contact info when you see them face to face at a Meetup.
Out here in Eastern Washington state, the Tri-City Dean Meetup finally happened. We had enough RSVP's but only 2 of us were able to show up. But I see it as progress. It's nice to read the comments from other areas and get ideas on how to make a more successful event next time. And that's where my energy is going between now and then.
Shane -- I may not have time to respond to everything -- but Matt, Zephyr, myself read most everything that we can. Zephyr has been calling Meetup to try to work on better and more appropriate venues for the Meetups. There tend to be two view from the netroots we are hearing 1. is to keep them under 100 -- so people can get work done and really organize and not let the meeting turn into a rally/social event. 2. Others want bigger -- and more energy. We've taken a let Meetup be Meetup approach -- in other words we are trying to come up with a way for each local Meetup to decide for themselves -- hopefully that will work out soon. The press and the other campaigns are all focused on the wrong "invisible primary" (big money) -- but I think we are getting to big to keep this invisible primary "invisible" for much longer --
Thanks
Joe Trippi
Campaign Manager
Dean for America
I understand what you are saying Joe, but those of us here in San Francisco would like to see our Monthly MeetUp evolve into a Dean Orientation/Progress Report of sorts where we can have an introduction, followed by a Q&A panel for 20 minutes or so, a new Dean video presentation, updates/progress from each of the committees, annoucnements of upcoming Dean Outreach events and lastly, a socializing/rally event (it keeps the troops energized, which is VERY important this far away from the primary.) We're getting very organized here with several committees that meet weekly and that is where the real work is getting done.
The MeetUp format is not that conducive to actual planning because we have no way to communicate with those that are going to attend.
I've been with the Dean MeetUp here in San Francisco from the beginning and 70% of the people who show up are expecting something to be in place. They want info, they want to see and hear Dean, and they want to know what organization is occurring.
BTW, I'm not knocking small groups, they too have their advantages.
I was at Oakland Meetup #2, the Pacific Coast Brewery, with about 50 people. It started with Dan Lewis showing the great video from Dean's S.F. visit which he created. There were lots of free bumper stickers and flyers for everybody, there were questions about Dean from many of the newbies, someone wanted to host a house party, and a fund raising pitch brought in $1,041 for Dean for America! We had some growing pains too, and the excitment level was down from last month, but California has strong volunteer organization to keep the ball rolling for next month!
Reporting in from the other Oakland/Berkeley Meetup at the Pacific Coast Brewery: it was excellent! I'd say there around 70 people there. The organizers did a great job with having an agenda and some very knowledgable people to answer questions. We had attendee signup forms, information packets, flyers about tabling at the Bay-to-Breakers race, and voter registration forms. Somebody brought in a bunch of bumper stickers and plunked 'em down on the signup table for people to take. Somebody else brought a hundred Dean posters she'd paid for herself and we sold those at cost.
They showed everyone the video that Dan Lewis made of Dean's appearance in SF last week interspersed with comments from Dean supporters; this video is now being linked on Dean For America's home page. Dan has also the very cool site CaliforniaForDean, which is where you can find the video.
After the video, we had a fundraising pitch and some Q&A, then we all broke up into groups for things like tabling and a letter-writing campaign to Rep. Pelosi urging her to endorse Dean, or just schmoozing. There were LOTS of people who had never been to a Meetup before who were mostly just seeking information. Luckily, unlike the other Berkeley-Oakland group, we had plenty of time to answer just about all their questions.
Hey Shane - Have the Meetup people been just blatantly ignoring your communications? I had to contact them a couple of months ago regarding a venue change and they were VERY responsive. I guess times are changing fast. I heard from a few people in outlying areas (spec. Lafayetter-Moraga-Orinda and Fremont) that they'd requested Meetups be set up in their areas, and they had not gotten any responses.
It seems like a lot of people are having some problems with Meetup. (I can't really fault Meetup; I imagine they've got to be in a weird position with how much energy this campaign must be taking from them.) I would think the Dean campaign should either drop Meetup altogether and come up with its own similar system that is more responsive to what we need, or contract with Meetup to provide a dedicated service. The democratic nature of this movement means we must have more control on how these Meetups will work.
When you are making the choice to split venues in a single city try to make sure at least one of the venues does not have an age restriction. And see if meetup can have these restrictions listed next to the venue choices (along with information about smoking/non-smoking, etc.)
I am not knocking MeetUp at all. I think that they are a great company and several of us here in S.F. have discussed the fact that MeetUp is definitely going through some growing pains as well...there is no way they could have anticipated what Dean's supporters would do for and to them. We understand that and we do feel that they are working hard to try and alleviate most problems.
Our concern is that they are not working closely enough with their users. In the next few months the smaller cities are going to have huge numbers too and if they address problems now, they won't have to deal with it later when there are hundreds of cities with the same issues.
Theresa, I believe that I read somewhere that MeetUp is being paid by the Dean Camp already. Last night we discussed exactly what you've stated, that they work with the official Dean HQ more closely on what their users need. Afterall, most of MeetUps press has come via Dean's supporters. Dean's success and MeetUps success are linked.
I second what Shane just wrote.
I think meetup is a FANTASTIC concept and organization. Unfortunately, like many good concepts, the problems arise when it's taken to an extreme.
In our case, once the size of our the groups start topping 100, we start to put a lot of pressure on the meetup folks to find appropriate venues. Cafes that can hold 50 people are plentiful and easy to get on board.
Once you start getting requests for big spaces that can accomodate 200+ bodies that are also quiet enough to have a discussion and will allow a decent AV presentation with decent amplified sound are relatively few. This forces meetup to do extra legwork that is a drag on their time and money.
When it was clear that our April meetup was going to be huge, they were great about switching the venues for us. This month, though, we got much less response. The splitting of us into three locations was totally out of left field and had never been brought up with us beforehand.
In the cases were there are large groups that can't easily be subdivided geographically, we need to with work with meetup on a slightly different model that allows for input from the local organizers.
We have a half dozen people in our group who can spend time scouting out locations and make recommendations. If we can get meetup on board, I would rather have our location scouted and set rather than voted on so we can more effectively promote it in the press.
I think we could make it less of a headache for meetup and get better venues that are ready for us and where we can do what we need to do.
Then meetup can bask in the glory of all the free advertising they're getting via the campaign, and we can have a better tool for organizing. It's a win-win all around.
I think a lot of folks are looking to the Dean HQ to run these meetups or organize them - we need to understand the meetups worked originally because they belong to US, not the campaign! We have ultimate responsibility to take advantage of this *free* service. If you want more organization, why don't you provide more organization?
My point is that the campaign has taken off because of a completely new phenomenon, the netroots support. Now people are trying to turn back to the old way of doing things, with formal meetings, agendas and structure and campaign direction. We need to continue to embrace the completely new opportunities we've been given here - what campaign has ever before interacted with supporters the way Joe Trippi, Matt Gross and Zephyr interact with us? They give us plenty of information, we should be using it, not waiting for them to come tell our friends for us!
In Washington state, we found the local Dean campaign "quasi-official" reps and forced (okay, we didn't threaten them or anything - they came peacefully) them to come to a Meetup; now they try to get to each event in the area to disseminate whatever information is requested. Ultimately, though, these are grassroots meetings and should be treated as such. You want organization, as I said, why don't you organize? If you can't or don't know how, then go to your Democratic party and find Dean supporters in the leadership (they exist) - have them come organize for you.
The campaign is doing a lot with a little, and the rest is going to be up to us. Of course, this is all just IMHO.
Evanston, IL --
Exponential growth -- you bet! Morphing into new Meetups around the region -- absolutely.
We had 7 folks in March, 25 in April, 45 last night with at least 20 new people. Dean's first cousin -- Patsy Felch -- showed up! We are organizing to have tables at the farmer's markets and neighborhood festivals, to march in the Evanston July 4th parade and gay pride parade (HUGE numbers of people see these in Evanston and Chicago and it's a great way to show support and get the word out about Dean). We also brought a videotape of Dean speeches and interviews and screened that for the group. We plan to have a new tape at the next Meetup and to make copies for lots of people, whom we are encouraging to hold "Friends and Family" coffees at their homes to raise awareness and spread the word. There's a LOT of energy and excitement here.
can i ask a stupid question? Why can't someone with a nice house offer to host meetups? i just find it hard to listen to people in a bar or restaurant and it gets so crowded and noisy.
i had a friend in Alabama who was all psyched to go to his first meetup, but then they cancelled it because less than 5 people RSVPed. oh well. that's still progress in the Bible Belt....
IHL we are working on making this work a lot better with more local control -- don't give up -- keep working at it -- by the next meetup in June -- we will have this working a lot better.
Joe Trippi
Campaign Manager
Dean for America
Update from Champaign-Urbana, Illinois; I wasn't able to go to the MeetUp last night, but have a sort-of progress report: two months ago there was a total of 10 people signed up via MeetUp, then it jumped to 21 for last month, and now after last night's MeetUp the number of people signed up is over 30. Can't say how many were actually at the event last night since i wasn't there, but it is definitely good to see the numbers growing even in our small little college town. I read our jump in numbers to people coming out to see what the Dean message is and, having seen it, being impressed enough to get behind him on the spot (or, at the least, willing to take to the time to go through the MeetUp process and interested enough to want more information about Dean). A good night all around.
I have to think attendance would dramatically improve if the Dean meetup was not on a work night. It's not just the parents and laborers who have a problem, but also the high school and college students. Many of the College Dems/Young Dems organizations meet on Wednesday night.
Joe, is it at all possible to move the day of the meetup to Friday or Saturday night?
Daytona Beach, Florida checking in:
In March we couldn’t field a team (less than 5). In April we met for the first time with 16 in attendance (typical venue problems) but high-energy meetup. Last night we had 45 to 50 in attendance. Lots of energy! Our new venue, Stavro’s Pizza House, was a big improvement; they were very accommodating and welcomed us back.
We greeted new people with bios and issue papers. Announced campaign news (new polls, meetup numbers, etc.) and handed out recent articles. We also passed out a sheet about using the web that included “must see” websites (this one included, of course). Our only disappointment was AV equipment failure that prevented us from showing the Cal speech (we rescheduled for next month). We broke out into 3 Local Action Groups (media, flyering, and constituency/outreach). Things are moving along at a fast pace.
We have hit the same happy fork in the road described by other groups. We had a mix of new/curious folks, new but ready to work for Dean folks and the “hard core” faithful. We can’t use one venue and time slot to meet all our needs. We plan to use the meetup as our intake/orientation pathway and as a social connection for area supporters and to promote scheduled activities.
We are scheduling one monthly planning meeting to coordinate the activities of the action groups, evaluate where we are and do more long range planning. The Local Action Groups will work outside the meetup in ways that best meet their needs, checking in at the planning meetings. Feels like we are over the start up hurdle.
Funny anecdote: at our local Democratic Executive Committee meeting last week 5 of us newbies were being sworn in as precinct leaders, we all happened to be wearing our Dean for America buttons which prompted one of the old timers to ask my friend “Why are they all pushing this Howard Dean stuff? Isn’t anybody voting for Kerry?”.
terry
We just had our very first Dean Meetup in Eugene, Oregon last Wednesday evening. We attracted 11 attendees, and all exhibited great excitement, insight, input, and involvement! We have had a 35% growth rate in the past month, which places us in sixth place nationally, according to the Dean For America website page. We are going to pass the word, organize, write letters and articles, and create city, regional, and statewide blogs to better coordinate the State of Oregon. We are also looking forward to Mr.Dean's visit to Portland on May 14th, and hope to caravan a Eugene contingent to the event. We are SO proud to now be a REAL part of the Dean Meetup boomlet! Watch us grow......
Richard Batson
Eugene, OR
SF: -- again!
Joe, I see that Paul and Shane have expressed their views. I want to add my own, most of which corroborate Paul & Shane's comments. Overall things are going GREAT in SF... We are well organized since the April meetup, we're having committee meetings, we're producing a variety of materials including the videos many of you saw which were shot April 29 at Gov Dean's fundraiser in SF.
I've been active on smirkingchimp.com for about 6 months, and have participated in the various DEAN related threads ("Ask the Dean Campaign", "Dean Monthly Meetups" and a few others). One thing is coming up time and again now-- and some great viewpoints are being expressed there. And that's the point where the 50-100-200 people Meetup cities transition from casual, informal -- to more structured meetings. There are pros and cons each way. You don't want to clip the momentum of a group growing to critical mass size only to have it chopped down too soon into multiple venues before Committee structures gain traction.
At same time, there's the point of view that once there are hundreds of people at ine venue, it limits the effectiveness of getting anything done other than some video, some inspirational somments, and a lot of meet & greet.
SF is a good case study. It actually did not work well for us at all this time to be split into multiple venues -- not just 2 but 3. We didn't want to -- yet. Next month yes, but for May we really wanted 1 venue to have our break-out Committee group presentations -- then solidify and expand the ranks of those 5 committees which we formed at April Meetup.
One of the 3 venues was very small, and I haven't talked to Alane (host) yet about how it went. The 2nd was where we had it in April -- a great space -- Kelly's Mission Rock Bar. That's the one Shane ran.
The third and largest venue was "Thirsty Bear"... but unfortunately that was the least successful of the three May 7 SF meetups. Because as noted above,the space did not accomodate our needs at all. We couldn't project the very video we shot & produced which was shared around the country! We had about 200 people corralled around a bar -- loud -- and no space to break out for Committees. This was too bad, because, for one thing, our Media Committee is very well organized and we have substantial plans. We were counting on being able to present some of our project plans to entice new volunteers to sign up -- but no go..
I had a discussion today with the folks from Meetup in NYC and in SF, because I just wanted to talk by phone, not just email. And there are two issues... one which I didn't know about til today. Namely, that the National Campaign had directed Meetup to split venues. Myles (of Meetup-SF) told me this was a directive from Joe -- and I'm sure done with the best of intentions.
Maybe Paul & Shane were told this, but most of us weren't. (CONT'D)
PART 2 of 2 - SF
We had chosen that new venue as one of 3 to vote on based upon its large private rooms -- where we would have been able to project video, make our breakout Committee presentations, as well as mix socially. The snag is that somehow this logitical/ space requirements info was not passed on to the venue management -- and instead of our getting one of the private spaces -- we were dumped into the corral with no space to carry out our planned agenda. Matt Meeker explained via email that WE chose that venue, and they BOOKED it -- which is obvious. But the snag was who ensures that the venue reserves the kind of space we considered when submitting that venue for voting. I'm still not sure, even after talking to Myles from Meetup whose job it is -- since it is Meetup who makes the reservation with the venue.
Paul did a fantastic job of rolling with the punches, and we carried on, some of us standing on a table top to shout and address the group. Many people remarked, as the formal portion of the meetup ended, that they couldn't hear, they couldn't see the laptop (Paul improvized with a poster board held against the brick wall), and couldn't connect with the Committee leaders to discuss the projects, find out more, and sign up.
These SF posts are not to whine. We all want others to prepare and avoid this kind of snag. The reason I added my voice here is that Myles just told me about this blog today on the phone. I didn't know about it prior.
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Now, on with the show! Photos from the May 7 San Francisco 'Thirsty Bear' Meetup are now posted!
http://dean2004.meetup.com/photo...ca/
sanfrancisco
Go Dean!