How to create your own body positive meet-up!

Hi yinz!

First off, if you want to join in on body positive meet-ups with Yinz Bopo, click here to read all about it!

In this entry I want to share a bit about the latest Yinz Bopo (that is our official name now!) meet-up at Sandcastle and how you can create your own in your city!

Do you wish your city had events that other cities do?

I do too!  I encourage you to create that thing that is missing. It doesn’t have to be body positive, anything you can think of!  I created Yinz BoPo without investing money or finding sponsors! That means you can too! You can read about our first meet-up here.

I think many of us get caught up on idea that an event has to be huge! Such as organizing an event that requires a lot of capital and time: renting a space, obtaining caterers, photographers, special guests, etc…  Larger events are fabulous and I hope to organize my own BoPo event one day.  I even used to organize academic conferences at a university, so  I know all the work that is required to create a successful multi-layered event.

I didn’t want to dive in head first without first creating or finding the local bopo community. Not just a friend group, but people with different backgrounds and interests that intersect in that body positive life. I wanted bopo community that reaches out to the larger community to be part of movement. I am not a fan of cliques.  I want bopo folks to feel comfortable coming an event alone and understand that they will (probably) have a great time!

With that in mind, I highly suggest creating meet-ups in public places where folks can meet-up stress free and have fun. See below tips to create your own!

How to create your own meet-up:

1. Choose a public location that can easily support the amount of folks that you think would attend. Be mindful of accessibility and financial limitations some folks might have.
2. Consider not announcing the date and location publicly. I didn’t. I want the group to be as inclusive as possible, but I also don’t want predatory types who might arrive just to take photos or stare.
3. Have folks sign up for an email list to share event details. I use Mailchimp. It’s free and has totally been great.
4. It is not time efficient to respond to each text, email, message, etc that asks for time and location info…  direct people to the mailing list. Continue to direct folks to your mailing list. I don’t think people realize the shear amount of messages the organizer gets for the these events/groups.
5. Create a private Facebook group! This is a great place for people to discuss anything local and bopo oriented. I encourage people to reach out on FB if they need transportation to an event.

Feel free to join mailing list above or contact me if you want to join or have any questions!

Share this post on social media so we reach others who might benefit from our group.

All the best,

Jamie

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