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Show IH: MeetingPlace.io - an alternative to Meetup

After the $2 RSVP test Meetup announced, I decided to build a replacement for the React group I co-organize.

If anyone is interested, it's up and running! https://meetingplace.io

At least one Indie Hacker group is already trying it out: https://meetingplace.io/indie-hackers-of-sd

There's a big update coming out this week (including a new homepage, pricing, more group tools, etc) - but I wanted to get the word out in case any other groups were looking for a new home.

Let me know if you have any feedback or advice for me :) The biggest problem I see is overcoming the huge network effect that Meetup has - so any suggestions there are appreciated. Thanks!

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    Hi, Chris - I've signed up for meetingplace and am looking forward to using it.

    One advice I'd give is maybe write a blog post on how to move from Meetup to MeetingPlace. That would also be a useful piece of content marketing for you. Like mentioned by @harrydry here https://marketingexamples.com/seo/competitor-comparison
    Even if the process is very manual, it would still be beneficial to know.

    Or maybe spend a little bit of time to see if there's a way to automatically import from a Meetup page into MeetingPlace? Even if it's only for parts of it?

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      Cheers for the mention Valentin. Good luck Chris. I'd possibly look at trying to get some twitter / press / Hacker News momentum also.

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        Thanks! Yes - I have a soft launch of the new features tomorrow, with a "real" launch planned for Thursday, and then I'll start wanting to get as many people as I can to see it to "fill out" the network effect :)

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      That's a great idea - thanks! I thought about some kind of import tool - but a blog post would be a great first start.

  2. 2

    Nice move! Will share with my friends organizing meetups here in Switzerland!

  3. 2

    On a separate note, I know Meetup have announced that the RSVP payment change isn't definite. As far as I understand they were only A/B testing it so they might back down from the actual change. Something to keep in mind as you're working on this.

    1. 2

      Yes, they backed off of it a bit - but a lot of people who I've talked to are basically expecting that they'll just roll it out later... They didn't say they were stopping the test, only clarified that it's just a test for now: https://www.theverge.com/2019/10/17/20919125/meetup-ceo-apology-confusion-paid-rsvp-test

      So that made me really feel like I wasn't in control of my group... which is why I started MeetingPlace.

      But yes - if they really back off completely, then many groups would probably not switch.

  4. 2

    Tools or guides to replace the network effect? I keep thinking about this and it's super handy that it can help people reach an audience quickly, but it also makes meetup organisers lazy. Really they need good tools to communicate with their members and be proactive in getting the word out.

    1. 1

      That's a good point and something I've been thinking about as well.

      One thing I'd really like to do is have an "organizer's community" with guides, video courses, tools, etc that help organizers do their own marketing, outreach, etc. There is a lot of low hanging fruit that group organizers could be doing, if they just had some tools for it!

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          Oh, that's great - thanks!

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            Thanks for the mention @rosiesherry.

            The website is mostly a brain dump today. Happy to explore what else could be done.

            Send me an email [email protected]

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              Great! I'll reach out.

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