Tuesday Training: How to re-activate an inactive Meetup group

Are you a WordPress enthusiast and would like to attend a MeetupMeetup Meetup groups are locally-organized groups that get together for face-to-face events on a regular basis (commonly once a month). Learn more about Meetups in our Meetup Organizer Handbook. event in your city?
If the answer is yes, great!  The next step is to check the official chapter program of WordPress Meetups to see if there is already an existing group in your town/city.

If there is not an existing WordPress Meetup group, you can follow these steps and apply to start organizing a new WordPress Meetup group in your city.

But… What if there is an existing Meetup group in your city, but it hasn’t been active for months?

Once every 6-12 months, the WordPress Global Community TeamGlobal Community Team A group of community organizers and contributors who collaborate on local events about WordPress — monthly WordPress meetups and/or annual conferences called WordCamps. deputiesProgram Supporter Community Program Supporters (formerly Deputies) are a team of people worldwide who review WordCamp and Meetup applications, interview lead organizers, and keep things moving at WordCamp Central. Find more about program supporters in our Program Supporter Handbook. try to contact the organizers of inactive groups (no events in the past 6 months) to see if they are still planning to organize events in the future. Deputies also help find a new organizer in the case no organizer has such a plan.

If you’re checking a group, and you find something like this:

If the group has not had any event in recent months, and you’d love to share your interest in the group and/or you’re willing to help with organizing more events, these would be the next steps:

1. Contact the current organizers: 

The first step would be to contact the current organizers and to share with them your interest in seeing more events. All organizers of Meetup groups are volunteers and you’ll help their motivation if they discover that there are people interested in the meetup! Many times, organizers lose their incentive when they don’t see interest from the members of the group.

So, sending them a message, letting them know that you’re interested in the group, that you’d love to see more events, and even better, that you’re willing to help them with the organization (topic, speaker, etc.), is enough, in most cases, to reactivate the group.

2. Apply to become an organizer of the existing inactive Meetup group: 

Perhaps you have contacted the current organizers of the group already and you didn’t hear back from them, or they replied to you letting you know that they’re no longer interested in being organizers of the group. 

In that case, a possible next step is to apply to become an organizer of that existing group (if you’re interested in organizing meetup events).

1. Read carefully the WordPress Meetup Program Basics to see if you are aligned with the values and philosophy of the project (Pay special attention to the sections “What does it take to be an organizer?” and “The Five Good Faith Rules”).
2. If after reading, you’re enthusiastic about reactivating the existing Meetup group and you’d love to help organize Meetup events, read the guidelines and submit your application following the link at the end of that page. A community deputyProgram Supporter Community Program Supporters (formerly Deputies) are a team of people worldwide who review WordCamp and Meetup applications, interview lead organizers, and keep things moving at WordCamp Central. Find more about program supporters in our Program Supporter Handbook. will then vet your application and be in touch.

3. Start organizing events!

Remember that due to the COVID-19 pandemic, most WordPress events are online. Please refer to our online events handbook.

For communities where COVID-19 has been more effectively contained or have access to COVID-19 vaccination and/or testing, returning to hosting an in-person meetup event is possible, with caution, using the resources provided.

If you plan to move forward with an in-person meetup, you must use the provided checklist.       

4. Building and growing your Meetup group:
   Now that you’re an organizer of the group and you’ve re-activated it, don’t forget that it’s important to find new organizers, the more, the merrier. That way, the activity of the group will not depend only on your shoulders or on a very small group of people.
   
   Check our resources to create and build your team of organizers and to create a diverse and inclusive group of enthusiastic WordPress lovers!

And now it’s your turn! Give me your opinion in the comments and/or answer the following questions:

1. Do you have any questions about this process?
2. Am I missing any steps or edge cases that you’d like to mention or ask about?

Don’t hesitate to become a new organizer just because there is an existing group. Chances are, other community members are also waiting for the group to become active again 🙂

Thanks for reading and hope this has been helpful! 🙂 

#tuesdaytrainings