Meetup Summit & Official Houston Community Meetup Day
You may have noticed, posting has been a little light these past few days. Part of the reason was due to the ramp-up for the big Southwest Meetup Community Summit that took place in Houston, Texas this past Saturday.
The Southwest Meetup Community Summit was a special event we put together that brought together dozens of Houston-area Meetup Organizers (and some Organizers who came in from as far as New York City, San Diego and Albuquerque) to help them learn from one another about how to run great Meetups. In addition to Meetup organizers connecting with each other, Senator Bill Bradley and Houston Mayor Bill White gave speeches about the importance of community as it relates to the overall health of society. In all, very moving and inspiring stuff.
As part of the event, we worked with the City of Houston on an extra-special double announcement that Mayor Bill White embraced and promoted on behalf of the City of Houston.
First, Meetup and the City of Houston formed a public-private partnership to help Houston form more long-lasting community groups on issues near and dear to the issues Houstonians care about. According to the City: "This public-private partnership represents a great step forward in using technology to foster volunteerism and civic-engagement. The City will sponsor Meetup groups that focus on policies, ideas, and activities to make Houston an even better place to live and work." We should see some great new civic-minded Meetups thriving in Houston soon.
The second announcement was an official city Proclamation that stated how Saturday, May 20, 2006 was official Houston Community Meetup Day. This proclamation is a wonderful show of support for not only local Meetups -- but for Meetups everywhere, as a testament of how a municipality recognizes the power of the people -- and how Meetups can help make society as a whole better. (To take a closer look at the Proclamation, click the image to the left to enlarge it. You can also click "Read More" below to read the text.)
Thanks to all Houstonians for their support and energy during this event -- and thanks to the City of Houston for being such a wonderful host.
If you're a Meetup Organizer and would like to band together with other Meetup Organizers in your city, you may want to check out http://organizer.meetup.com to find or start one near you.
If you work in city government and would like to learn more about how your city can embrace Meetups to help your city thrive, drop us a line at myless@meetup.com -- we'd love to hear from you!
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PROCLAMATION
Houston Community Meetup Day
Meetup helps everyday people form lasting, influential local community
groups that meet regularly, face-to-face, and has more than 2.5 million
people joining local Meetup groups for over 4,500 different interests.
Meetup believes that the world will be a better place when everyone has
access to a people-powered local Meetup.
Houston is the first of many cities to host an event to recognize and
support leaders within the community that have organized Meetups to enhance
community involvement in Houston. Meetup organizers from Houston and
surrounding areas will attend this event to share and learn from their
experiences. In Houston alone there are more than 230 Meetups occurring
every month on topics ranging from single moms and animal lovers to weight
loss and fine dining.
On Saturday, May 20, 2006, Meetup Inc., which provides online tools from
offline local communities, will host a Houston community event that will
include keynote speeches from Mayor Bill White and former Senator Bill
Bradley.
The City of Houston salutes and commends the organizers and participants of
this worthwhile endeavor, and extends best wishes for continued success.
Therefore, I, Bill White, Mayor of the City of Houston, hereby proclaim May
20, 2006, as Houston Community Meetup Day in Houston, Texas.
In Witness Whereof, I have hereunto set my hand and have caused the Official
Seal of the City of Houston to be affixed this 18th day of May, 2006, A.D.
Bill White
Mayor of the City of Houston