Meetup and Attendance

Hey Everyone,

We use Meetup to schedule our meetings and track who is going to attend so we can provide an accurate headcount for the venue that we reserve. If we don't know who is coming, we run into situations where we don't have enough room for everyone who shows up. It makes me feel horrible if we don't have a spot for everyone to join in with the main group. Our goal is to be inclusive and welcoming for everyone, and I don't want to ask someone to take a seat in a remote corner somewhere. My appeal to everyone is to please RSVP on Meetup for meetings for you and your guests if you know you are coming so we can give an accurate headcount to the venue. Our last meeting had about 16 people RSVPed, but we ended up with about 30 people who showed up. The staff at the venue was amazing, and moved tables to accommodate us as best as possible, but I felt bad that a few people had to sit away from the main group. As always, plans change, I get it. I check the attendance a day or two beforehand as well as an hour before the meeting and I let the venue know if there have been any changes. Any update to your status would be helpful and help us welcome others. All of this said, if your plans change last minute, please don't NOT show up. We can always find room for a few more.

If you don't want to deal with Meetup, you can always create a "burner" email account to sign up with on a service like Google, Protonmail, or Yahoo. You don't *have* to give them your data. Honestly, I'd love to use another service that doesn't cost us close to $200 a year. However Meetup has has been the best option we've found to preserve your anonymity from organizers while allowing us to notify you of new meetings, message you all, and see who is coming. Please help us make the most of our subscription, and consider your fellow attendees.

Thanks, Patrick