Monday, 18 January 2010 by Dan O'Donnell

So please don't let this description overwhelm you, you can start as 3 people at Starbucks, and still have a lot of fun!  Feel free to "ease into it" :0)

Here's what has worked for me, and what running a typical local group boils down to (remember, it's up to you, we want you to have fun and be creative): 

1- Get a location (anything from your living room, to a coffee shop, to a conference room/auditorium, or even online?)

2- Get a topic/speaker/activity (informal socializing, motivational speaker, local author, book discussion, use your imagination)

3- Get people there

Getting people there: The first step is to create a group in the "groups" section of this website, here's the address/link http://www.positiveatmosphere.com/my-community/groups/create . I recommend naming your group "Your Area Positive Atmosphere" like Boston Positive Atmosphere, Vancouver Positive Atmosphere etc. have done. That way we all help each other out in the long run with better name recognition and a sense of continuity and community. Make sure to do a search using the search bar in the upper right of the site, you can search for people in your state, and your city that way. By creating an "announcement" for you group, each member will receive an email of the announcement, so you can give updates on meeting dates etc that way. 

After that, you can put ads on craigslist under "groups" (in the community section). This works very well and is free. Meetup.com is also very effective but costs a little bit of money (something like $72 for 6 months), but it's worth every penny. I suggest a $3 donation from attendees, so we only need about 4 people to attend from Meetup.com and it pays for itself. Word of mouth is hugely effective, so tell all your friends. Facebook is also a great way to promote, I recommend creating a facebook "group" (not a fan page). This allows you to send an email to group members about upcoming meetings etc. 

Getting a location: Libraries, parks etc. tend to be cheaper than private facilities, and often have everything you need. I pay about $25/hr for the library in my hometown and it can hold about 100 people. Many speakers like to use powerpoint, so a projector that can be hooked to a laptop is a big plus. We ask for a $3 suggested donation to help cover costs of the room, meetup.com etc so that the organizer is reimbursed for everything. Also, when the weather is nice, I've had a couple of meetings in a covered area at a local park, which is a nice change, and was even less expensive than the library. People seemed to really like it. You could also start in your living room or a coffee shop and see how it goes from there.

Getting a topic/speaker: Local life coaches, personal trainers, business/non-profit leaders etc can be great speakers. I try to preview them somehow if at all possible (many have audio or video on their website) or at least get the scoop from others who have heard them speak. When I first began looking for local speakers, I searched google for things like "Bellingham Inspiration", "Motivational speaker Bellingham" etc, and found several local speakers.

You could also get creative and do different types of interaction/activities/discussions etc. When we have a speaker, I like to keep it to 30-45 min's so people tend to stick around and chat after it's over, instead of just leaving right away. The networking/connecting is the most important part in my view. 

I'm excited to see new groups form, and I know you will meet great people and learn useful things to improve your life. I hope this helps, please feel free to call or email anytime, 360-220-7157 is my cell phone. Thanks so much!

Dan O'

Thursday, 20 August 2009 by Dan O'Donnell