I removed your test page, and added a link to the front page. Welcome aboard. Anyone else want one?
Kat, do you want Joe to create a SOLO Illinois page for you even if your Meetup votes against aligning itself with SOLO? It would still be a good way to meet other SOLOists in your state.
katdaddy Solo Illinois Coordinator, SOLO Romance Leader
Luke: Sure, that would be great. Can I get a corner office as well? Sorry I didn't get back to you earlier, got crazy busy at work making those damned bubble charts. BTW I like your charts. That might be a good thing for shared club resources, along with discussion topics, your covey/outlook stuff, event calendar, recommended book lists, etc., basically the kind of stuff you find on yahoo groups....I'll try to put together somewhat of a list for you.
Luke Setzer Club Coordinator, SOLO Florida Coordinator
Kat, I am happy you like the charts. By the way, Meetup reports that the best way to promote your Meetup is to print the business cards using the "Promote Your Group -- Group Cards" option. So your Meetup can consider this strategy to alert others of your Ayn Rand Meetup.
Luke Setzer Club Coordinator, SOLO Florida Coordinator
Hi, I wonder what are you guys experience with local groups? Is it good? How many of them are also at SOLO? There is an active Ayn Rand meet-up group in my area, but I am apprehensive in getting involved. It is a weird idea to me to make friend based solely on one's ideology. Besides I always feel uneasy at big parties full of strangers...
Luke Setzer Club Coordinator, SOLO Florida Coordinator
Hong, my experience has been positive at Meetups across various topics -- Ayn Rand, Atheism, etc. I even attended a regional "Meetup Organizer Meetup" in Orlando last fall at which the Meetup founders appeared and spoke at length about their company and future plans. Please consider attending an event. You might want to see if there are other Meetup topics of interest near you as well. Meetup offers thousands of topics to attract people of similar interests and their format serves that purpose well.
katdaddy Solo Illinois Coordinator, SOLO Romance Leader
Well, last month's Chicago meetup had its strongest attendance ever.... a whopping 3, yes you heard me right 3 people. I put a little tiny bit of marketing effort and we have 6 people and at least 5+ possibly coming.
We are meeting Saturday at Clarkes restaurant and will be talking about the Solo/Meetup alliance. Please, if anyone is from the Chicago area let me know. I know there must be more than just Pete and myself in this town. C'mon, stand up and be counted so we can get the local club thing going. And if we get too big for Clarke's we get to start going to Ann Sather's across the street and they have the best cinnamon rolls.....mmmmmm.
I just posted another message at meetup. Here it is...
I think Solo, and Luke in particular, may be misunderstood. Solo is not trying to hijack Meetup or anything of the sort. He is quite active in both. There is no Solo/Meetup dichotomy... If you take a look at the Solo Florida site http://www.solohq.com/Florida/ you will see that it contains links for all the meetup groups in the state as well as resources. He has also put together a lending library for materials.
I am aware that there are other objectivist groups Chicago and Illinois and I have talked to Luke about making a Solo Illinois spot where members of Meetup, Solo, New Intellectual Forum, Chicago Objectivists and the other groups in the state can share their activities, discussions and come together. If you are a member of a group and would like to fly your link on Solo, please let us know.
And about that image.... Luke spent some time in the time out chair for that one. Here is the link to the real logo so feel free to make the switch.
Thank you, Joe. How do I set it up? Do I have to send you links and graphics and stuff or do I just download the page code and go at it in my web editor? Is there anything I need to know....FTP, etc.
Your humble foot soldier,
kathy
Luke Setzer Club Coordinator, SOLO Florida Coordinator
I'd rather not have too much variance on the SOLO logo, since it adds to confusion.
I have replaced my SOLO graphic with the standard SOLO logo wherever I could on Meetup and deleted the other ones in groups that already have organizers under non-SOLO names.
I have revised my "sales pitch" and sent it to Katdaddy to try at her Chicago Meetup today. Here it is. I shall wait to read her results here on this board before using it on other Meetup Organizers.
My Fellow Ayn Rand Fan and Meetup Organizer:
Imagine yourself focused with the intensity of an industrial laser.As you blasted through obstacles and forged your own destiny, what elements would you credit to your success?Most likely, you would discover that your solid integration of reason and passion powered your ability to act with laser-like focus.Your effective employment of the Objectivist values of Reason, Purpose and Self-Esteem drove you to success.
I want to invite you to form friendships with a growing community of such "laser thinkers" who have a passion for intellectual growth.Better yet, they have a desire to meet others who share that passion!These practitioners of rational passion compose the Sense Of Life Objectivists (SOLO).
The people of SOLO focus like searing lasers to attain "total passion for the total height." Each member follows the SOLO credo: "to thine own self be true."The extensive and impressive list of notable "laser thinking" Objectivists at SOLO include Tibor Machan, Chris Sciabarra, Barbara Branden, and many, many others, all passionate about ideas and staunch defenders of their values.
Since its inception in 2001, SOLO has grown steadily.It now posts new articles with accompanying discussions daily at
Recently, SOLO created its "Local Clubs" division to help local SOLO participants to meet for live discussion.As SOLO Local Club Coordinator, I want to invite all Ayn Rand Meetup organizers to fly the SOLO banner.The following three factors offer overwhelming reasons to do this:
Fun.The importance of the Objectivist theory of aesthetics, romantic realism, gets great attention in SOLO.For Objectivists and especially SOLOists, good art serves as a crucial source of spiritual fuel.Through the reviews of books, movies and other art forms at SOLO, your Meetup can have a rich source of ideas for enjoyable outings such as plays, films and concerts as well as book discussions.
Fellowship.Many learning opportunities exist at SOLO. If you seek to interact with interesting and intelligent people, look no further. The wonderful cast of characters from which to choose has no equal anywhere on the Internet.Furthermore, at no other site will you find such a wide and growing range of special interests discussed and applied from an Objectivist viewpoint.These range from Education to Law, from Romance to Parenting.
Free Web Space.The Webmaster at SOLO will offer you free Web space where you can post material well beyond the limits of Meetup. This gives you additional visibility to like minds and kindred spirits so you can invite new participants and expand your pool of potential friends.
In short, SOLO greatly multiplies your chances for attaining the three social values that Objectivists most seek from others of like mind: Friendship, Romance and Knowledge.So, the question is not: "Why should our Ayn Rand Meetup join SOLO?"The question, quite properly, is: "Why in the world would we not want to join?"
To team your Ayn Rand Meetup with SOLO involves two steps:
Rename your Ayn Rand Meetup with the new SOLO Local Club name in the format of "Sense Of Life Objectivists in [State or Province] at [City]," e.g., "Sense Of Life Objectivists in Florida at Merritt Island."
David, placement of a SOLO Spain page at the main SOLO site, along with a link to your Meetup page inside it, will help to draw more traffic to your Meetup. I recommend letting Joe create a SOLO Spain page as soon as possible and then editing it accordingly.
I also wanted to know if you could name your Meetup as "Sense of Life Objectivists in Spain at Mallorca" in keeping with the naming convention of the other SOLO Meetups.
I really appreciate your willingness to create a SOLO Meetup!
OK, please go ahead and create a SOLO Spain page. I've emailed an announcement to a Spanish libertarian Yahoo! Group, so lets see what comes to the surface.
Cheers David
Luke Setzer Club Coordinator, SOLO Florida Coordinator
Chicago Update: Well, we had a meeting over the weekend and 7 people atttended. It was a really good group and we ended up hanging out from 4:00 till 7:00. The discussion was informal and friendly, much like Solo. We didn't not take a vote on the changing the name from Ayn Rand to Solo Chicago yet. People want to check it out first. We will probably have a vote on that either next month or as an online poll for the group. I gave everyone a meetup contact card I customized for Solo Illinois.
I wish I could have met some of the Solo people from Illinois, hope you guys can make it out next time. We are changing the meeting time and dates so it doesn't conflict with Marsha's group, The New Intellectual Forum, which is a very well-established group on the Southside of Chicago. Many of the people just went straight there after our get-together. Our Meet-up is on the Northside and super convenient to public transportation. So now Chicago Objectivists basically have groups meeting on the Northside and the Southside as well as some campus clubs in Illinois. (BTW...Adam, this is your engraved invitation to join Solo Illinois)
Anyway, Solo Illinois is well on its way. Thanks again for all your support.
Kathy
Luke Setzer Club Coordinator, SOLO Florida Coordinator
Kat, that is great news! Your Organizer may want to consider adding the NIF events to the Meetup Calendar just to keep Meetup members in the loop. I do that with some of my Meetups, adding relevant local events people may want to attend. For example, my SOLO Florida at West Palm Beach Meetup has talks by John Stossel and Ed Hudgins on the Events list even though other groups sponsor them.
