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Worldwide Squidoo Meetup Day!

MeganCasey by MeganCasey
Last updated: 05/25/2010

Meet face to face with your Squidoo friends on June 10, 2010

Squidfriends, mark your calendars! Squidoo Meetups will be happening everywhere on June 10, 2010. This one-day-only, face-to-face, worldwide event lets you volunteer to join or start a local Squidoo Meetup in your town. Doesn't matter to us if you get together with 3 fellow lensmasters or 30, for coffee, ice cream or something stronger! Just organize it to happen on Squidoo Meetup Day and feel the cosmic connection with other Squids around the world. Have fun.

Meet your Squidoo friends

for a special one-day-only, face-to-face Meetup day in your town.

FAQ: All the details

Q: When is the big day?
A: Squidoo Meetup Day is happening everywhere on June 10, 2010. One day only. Offline only. Anywhere, everywhere, any time of day or night.

Q: Do I have to live in the US?
A: Meetups can happen all over the world, from Dublin to San Francisco, from Cary North Carolina to Pendleton South Carolina, from Sydney to Toronto.

Q: How do I find out where a Meetup is happening?
A: To see where Squidoo Meetups will be happening please visit the official Squidoo Meetup Everywhere page. You can step up to be the organizer in your town (awesome!), or find a Meetup that has already been organized and join it, or just put your name on the list as someone interested in attending if someone else will coordinate.

Q: Who can organize a SquidooMeetup?
A: There aren't many rules to organizing your Squidoo Meetup (though there are some ideas and best practices, below). We hope that the people who choose to organize a Meetup will be existing lensmasters who know and love Squidoo, and we just ask that you run the Meetup in a fair, fun, safe, honest way. In other words, no selling tickets, no forcing people to buy your ebook, no axes to grind. Just good old fashioned Meetup fun. Otherwise, it's up to you to set the rules for who should attend, what they should bring (if anything), what they can expect, where the Meetup will be, and go from there!

Q: Does it cost anything to start or join a Meetup event?
A: Nope. It's free to RSVP for a Meetup, and your Organizers should make sure it's free for you to attend.

Q: Can we change the time of the event?
A: Yes! The event organizer can change the time and set the specific location of the event.

Q: What if no one has started one near me?
A: You can find your city, then put your name on the list as "interested" and hope someone else will organize the event. Or, you can decide you want to be the one to make it happen, and become the Organizer yourself.

Q: Can I add a new Meetup to the map, even if my town already has one?
A: Go for it. If the current Meetup is too far away, feel free to schedule another. But try not to throw too many parties in the same zip code -- you'll make it hard for your guests to choose!

Q: How do I know if there are any lensmasters near me?
A: Ask them! Squidoo doesn't geotag our lensmasters, so we don't automatically know where they're from, but you can always ask in the forum or on your blog, or start the event and get the word out via the Meetup page.

Q: Can Squidoo see when I step up to organize a SquidooMeetup? Do they have to approve me first? Do I have to be a Giant Squid or something?
A: Yes, we can see when you sign up to organize a Meetup and will be able to send you a note about your event if we need to. No, we don't have to approve you first, and no, you don't have to be a Giant Squid. You can be a Squidoo newbie!

"At the end of every computer is a real person, a lot like you, whose birthday was last week, who has three best friends but nobody to spoon at night, and is personally affected by what you say." -- Derek Sivers

Why meet in person?

A few stories

Over the last few years, I've gotten to meet a handful of illustrious lensmasters for tea and fun conversation. Sometimes I'm surprised by the enthusiasm or concerns they voice to me in person, face to face, that they were too shy, too polite (or sometimes, too truculent or too cynical) to talk about virtually. Other times I find special insight into what makes that person tick, and I always get new ideas for ways to run the community just a little bit better. And I can promise you that for the most part, the person behind the lenses is far more interesting than you'd ever guess!

Some of us make such good friends online, and forge such real connections with our virtual colleagues, that we're more than a little curious to meet them face to face... in real life. In the Squidoo community, many lensmasters are already hosting monthly get-togethers in coffeeshops, bookstores and diners across the globe. (Check out what these 3 well-known lensmasters in the Raleigh-Durham area have been up to!)

Virtual friends and coworkers are so much more than just an entity on the other end of the computer. As I've written before, and as Derek Sivers said best, there's a real person, a lot like you.

6 ideas for fun Meetups on Worldwide Squidoo Day

  1. Meet in a local bookstore. Have every person bring their single favorite book to the table. Talk and share. If you have lenses you've made about the book or the author, write the URLs on a napkin and swap it with someone else.
  2. A coffeeshop is always fun, quick (and totally unscary). The good part about coffee is that you can drink a single cup in 15 minutes or less, so if you're tight on time or a little shy and skeptical about meeting up, you can hedge your bets and stop by for 'just one cup' and see how it goes.
  3. Make it a picnic! I think this is my favorite idea. Here's how this works. Pick a local park. It's summertime, so weather should be decent. Ask each person who RSVPs to bring just one favorite food item that he or she has made a lens about. Could be cupcakes. Could be guacamole dip. Could be your mom's homemade chili recipe. Write down the url of the lens where everyone can find the recipe and dish it out. A Squidoo smorgasbord. Fun.
  4. Go to the movies. Why not? The pressure is off. If you don't like each other, you can shut up and watch the movie. Worldwide Squid Day is on a Thursday, so make it a Thursday night out. Then, you can write mini reviews of the movie on SquidFlix lenses and share them with each other when you're safely back online later. :)
  5. An Irish pub. They don't call it a public house for nothin' -- pubs are always a great place to meet and greet and be merry. In fact, they're designed for just that. Squidoo Pub Night. Extra special organizers might even put together a Trivia challenge for the group.. all about weird Squidoo facts!
  6. BONUS: Other places that might be fun for a Meetup: A local museum, a greenhouse, a teahouse, a magic shop, a retro diner, a bakery, at a landmark, at a playground (if you want to bring your kids along).

There's also a CONTEST!

The Squidoo Meetup that has the most RSVPs gets a PRIZE! (in the US only)

The Squidoo Meetup that puts together the most creative lens after the fact, telling the story of your day together, gets a prize too. (Worldwide okay).

Extra: More ideas for organizers

  • Take pictures! If you do, send them in to megan at squidoo.com. We want to see and help you share your souvenir with the rest of the Squids who couldn't make it.
  • Host a secret santa: with lenses. Have everyone show up with her single FAVORITE lens written on a piece of paper. Throw all the papers in a hat, mix 'em up and dish them out. Each person has to go visit and say something nice on the lens she gets.
  • Run the Meetup kind of like PechaKuchaNights. Each lensmaster gets 2 minutes 'on stage' (no more, no less) if she wants to introduce herself, say hi, talk about how she uses Squidoo, and share something interesting.
  • Write a lens about the event, after it's done, as a memento for your members. Ask them to sign it.
  • Make goofy nametags. Or not.
  • See the potluck idea above. If your group has a foody theme, try asking everyone to bring a dish or a food that they've written lenses about. Could be tasty and a fun icebreaker!
  • Super serious Squids could even turn Squidoo Meetup Day into a lensmaking workshop for newbies in the area... Meet in a coffeeshop with wifi, bring laptops... wow. Geekfest? Sure. Fun? You bet.

Will you meet up?

If you want to meet with any of your fellow Squids on Worldwide Squidoo Day on June 10, 2010, please be sure to start or join a Meetup on this page.

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This SquidooHQ page written by

MeganCasey

MEGAN CASEY is Editor in Chief of Squidoo.com, the popular publishing platform she started with Seth Godin and a small incredibly talented team in 200... more »

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