From the beginning of time, people have wanted to be a part of a group in a social situation. Animals run in packs or herds, and humans are no different. Except people are much more specialized, and the concept of website and mobile app Meetup focuses on getting those groups of humans together.
Formed in 2001 as a way to bring people together to share ideas and be around people with similar interests, Meetup has found its niche in gathering for a common goal of their choice. Sixteen years later, the platform boasts more than 29.6 million members participating in 266,370 groups across 184 countries.
“It is organized around one simple idea: When we get together and do the things that matter to us, we’re at our best,” the website’s About Us page states. “And that’s what Meetup does. It brings people together to do, explore, teach and learn the things that help them come alive.”
Some groups meet weekly, some meet monthly and some meet as often as the members seem to want to gather. Although there are costs paid to Meetup, each group organizer gets to decide how much to charge each member based on the needs of the group.
Whether it is built around playing board games (Oklahoma Board Game Community), pinball (Oklahoma Pinball Enthusiasts), belief systems (Oklahoma City Witch Hat Society), non-belief systems (Oklahoma Atheists) or even those who typically want to be alone (Introverts Making Friends, OKC), the Oklahoma chapter of Meetup has a group that will likely appeal in some way to everyone out there.
And all you have to do is meet up.
Seeing stars
One of the more active and engaged organizers from Oklahoma City’s Meetup community is Andrea Foster, whose OK Astrology group has been around since 2009. She first got involved with Meetup groups when she moved back to Oklahoma City from Houston and was looking for new friends. With a marketing and event planning background combined with personal interests in astrology, writing and metaphysics, Foster seems ideally suited for the Meetup concept.
The OK Astrology group is only one of the meetings Foster organizes for Saturdays. Although less attended, Foster also hosts the Oklahoma City Law of Attraction Meetup Group. The name could be somewhat misleading, as even Foster admits to some people showing up for the first time expecting the group to be geared toward singles. This particular group, however, is on a much more metaphysical plane that that.
The Law of Attraction Group typically focuses on a book and a discussion of the details. The current topic is radical forgiveness, which is built around the philosophy of responding to situations by completely letting go of pain and sadness in a way that prevents it from taking ahold of your life. Foster said it is often about creating “miracles” by responding differently and positively to people you have problems with in typical situations.
Another group similar to Foster’s Law of Attraction gathering is the Sacred Circle for Lightworkers, which is focused on helping people find synchronicity with the laws of the universe. Organizer Patti Stice said the name signifies a circle of unity for people who feel drawn to learning the answers to their spirituality and life purpose.
“It’s helping these people who feel lost, who feel completely misunderstood,” Stice said. “I love turning on people’s light bulbs.”
Out of this world
Some of the groups look to the stars without focusing on the metaphysical side of the universe. Tracee Symes created the OKC<UFO>Meetup group so that Oklahomans with experiences involving unidentified flying objects or alien encounters could gather as a group.
Symes said her own experiences went back to 1980, when a mysterious rumbling sound led to her and a boyfriend seeing five white lights on each corner with a red light in the center.
With that unexpected encounter now ingrained in her psyche, Symes eventually joined an organization called Mutual UFO Network (MUFON), which she eventually drifted apart from as time went on. She said it seemed as if MUFON was more focused on making money rather than allowing people to talk about their experiences.
“That’s when I decided to start my own group so that other people who had experiences or wanted to talk about had a place of their own,” Symes said of the Meetup group she created last May.
The group has evolved since the initial meeting and now includes discussions on the supernatural and other topics such as Bigfoot. Symes said the group can find themselves talking about a variety of encounters and experiences that include crop circles, shadowy figures, unexplained lights and even the possible existence of microwave energy playing a role in the collapse of the twin towers on 9/11.
Embracing their inner nerd
Some of the groups steer away from the extraordinary to focus more on just having fun while providing a place for certain types of individuals to be around others who enjoy the same activities.
One of those, Nerdy Girls OKC, began in 2011 and now has chapters in Oklahoma City, Tulsa, Nashville and Thousand Oaks, California. The goal of the group was to build a network of creative and driven women who were also “nerdy.”
Shay Beezley, one of the current co-organizers of the group, said the group has evolved into having a variety of rotating meetings that include needlecraft night, board game night, book club, trivia night and movie night. She said they occasionally do something outside the box, including getting to speak at Wizard World in Tulsa in 2014.
“It was an incredibly cool and rewarding experience to talk about our group, especially with our theme of female empowerment,” said Beezley, who has been a member of the group for four years.
Nerdy Girls OKC is in the process of becoming a nonprofit so they can solicit funds to grow the opportunities for speakers and bigger events in the future. With 780 members as part of the Oklahoma City chapter and 1969 nationwide, the group is looking to expand its membership to new locations.
The co-organizers nor the members decide who will be a part of the group. Any prospective female member who considers themselves a good fit for the group can sign up and participate. The group’s “Nerdiquette,” or code of conduct, embraces all brands of nerdy or geeky backgrounds.
“As an organization, Nerdy Girls embraces respect, diversity and inclusion as our guiding principles,” Beezley said. “So basically, it’s self-identification. If someone decides they’re nerdy, they’re welcome to join the group. There is no ‘nerdiness’ test they have to pass.”
The great debate
While these groups have empowered those who have embraced similar interests, one group is focused on providing discussions for a collection of cynics. The Oklahoma Skeptics Society started in 2011 but found a home on Meetup in April 2014. James Garrison said he felt the need to create a group that would focus on questioning rather than just accepting what may or may not be true.
“The severe lack of the promotion of critical thinking in Oklahoma, and the difficulty in finding other people that put science, information and reality above their own biases,” Garrison said about the impetus for his group. “Also, many of the ‘skeptical’ groups I was looking into were either strictly anti-religion rather than scientific skepticism, or more along the lines of hardcore denialists.”
Garrison said the meetings can vary from gathering for food and beverages or will sometimes involve speakers or presentations focused on a particular area of expertise. He said that ultimately it comes down to giving the members an opportunity to learn about something new and having the opportunity to discuss the topics in an open forum.
Conquering glossophobia
One common denominator from each of these groups is the occasional speaker, which is the focus of the Speakeasy Toastmasters Club. Rich Rodgers created the group in 2015 as a way to help grow the membership of the Toastmasters while also helping people overcome their fears of public speaking.
Rodgers said he was terrified of having to make any type of presentation before any size of audience dating back to his high school days. He said he found himself taking a failing grade on public speaking assignments rather than having to actually get up and perform in front of a group of people. He said this extended beyond his days as a student and affected his ability to advance his career.
“Fighting this fear was like fighting a dragon,” Rodgers said. “Every time I said ‘no,’ the dragon grew.”
Rodgers said a friend eventually invited him to a Toastmasters meeting, and he was able to overcome a major hurdle by talking publicly and briefly about his father to a group of complete strangers. Years later, Rodgers is leading efforts to help others with the same phobia (glossophobia) that held him back for years.
“Time makes a difference,” he said. “I have seen people who were terrified as I was to speak before groups, who became confident speakers.”
Home-bodies
For some of the groups, the get-togethers are built around creating a social situation for individuals who might otherwise not have an outlet for desired activities. The members of the Edmond Stay-At-Home Moms focus on uplifting and inspiring other moms in the north Oklahoma County area.
Jasmine Puefua Parks said the moms gather weekly with their children in a setting that allows them to socialize, interact and connect with other children outside of the home. Parks said the moms also meet on occasion without the kids so they can be around each other in a less controlled environment.
“In short, we are all striving to obtain the same goals in life in terms of raising our children to be the best they can, and enjoy doing so with other like-minded mothers along the way,” Parks said.
A member for the past eight months, Parks said the gatherings typically include four to six members and have provided an invaluable opportunity for her and others to engage with moms who face similar situations as part of their daily lives.
“I would say the interaction amongst like-minded mothers and our children are what impact me to continue on with the group,” Parks said. “The relationships I have formed have helped to mold me into the mother I am today, and I am thankful for that.”
