I organize the Monday night winter meetup for Rock Climbing Boston, a meetup.com group with over 650 members. If you live in the area or are just visiting on business, stop by and climb with us. You can rent shoes and a climbing harness at the gym, but you need pass the gym’s belay test before you can join us. We climb at Metrorock in Everett, MA, conveniently located within a mile of my house.

I started indoor climbing just last year and really got hooked because it’s such a great mental and physical workout. But as a beginner, I had trouble finding a climbing partner who was consistently available 2-3 times per week, and picking up single climbers at the gym felt a bit awkward to me.

I joined the meetup group that frequents this gym, so I’d always have a belay partner when I wanted to climb. If you’re not familiar with how a meetup works here’s a quick summary: Organizers schedule meetups at a time and place on a meetup group’s calendar. This is an online portal for the group that has membership profiles, a discussion board, and a shared calendar. Every meetup group has a chief organizer and they can in turn authorize co-organizers that have the permission to schedule an event. If you are a registered member in the meetup group, you can RSVP online to the event or just show up at the designated time and place. It’s really that simple. You still have to pay the gym fee to climb, but our group doesn’t charge any additional fees.

Running a meetup like this is very rewarding for me and this is the second season that I’m doing it. An the organizer, I am always guaranteed a climbing partner and I get to meet a lot of new people, including young people. Let’s face it, I’m in my late forties and it’s great to be able to socialize with people in their twenties who share a common interest. It makes me feel a lot more connected with the larger world. I also get to mentor new climbers if I feel like it and I often climb below my level with them when I want to practice my climbing skills and form on easier routes. Plus, I’ve met a lot of advanced climbers who have encouraged and coached me in turn. We have some solid 5.11 climbers who attend regularly and top rope with us.

I am vigilant about safety in my meetups and make sure that people are qualified before they climb with the group. But unlike other organizations and clubs, the stress level associated with my meetup is a lot lower than other groups I co-lead for, like AMC whitewater trips. I guess this is because the risk level is a bit lower and I’m technically not a leader, but a co-organizer who pairs people up when the meetup starts and then gets to do their own thing after that. The gym where we climb also has strict safety rules and qualifications that attendees must agree to.

But in general as a meetup co-organizer there are liability issues that you need to be aware of and suggested ways to mitigate your vulnerability to being sued if someone gets hurt during an event that you organized. The best way to protect yourself is to add the following text to your meetup group’s About Us page and to tailor it to match your activity. In addition, you can add this text to your individual event postings or additional conditions such as required skills or certifications that all attendees must have to participate.

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Is there anything I need to sign? I know some clubs have liability forms and such.
Please re-read meetup.com’s terms of service, especially section 6. You agreed to it in order to use this site. You may not have read it, but you had to check the box that said you did. In general, section 6 says if an organizer or any member places a event on the calendar and you get injured or something at it, it’s your own fault. If you can’t live with that, this group isn’t for you.

Who runs this group?
This is a group of people who like to climb indoors and outdoors. There is no one in charge. If someone starts telling you what to do and you don’t agree with it, don’t do it. Use your own common sense and leave the event if you think it is too risky for your taste.

So who is this Lopa who is the organizer? Isn’t she in charge?
Lopa runs the web site. She can post calendar entries and moderate the message board, as can the other organizers. (Moderate means if someone puts something up that is inappropriate, she can delete it.)

What are the rules?
If you want a group that has rules, you don’t want this group. Ok .. there is one rule, and that is to be safe. That means if someone does something you think is unsafe, don’t climb with them. If that isn’t good enough, tell them about your concerns directly or whoever organized the event that you are uncomfortable. Or email the organizers. Nothing may get done about it, so be prepared for that. No one forced you to go to an event, and no one will force you to stay on one. You can leave at any time.

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There are a tens of thousands of meetup’s for all kinds of social, art-related, and sports activities, so if this is new to you, it might be best to join a group in your area. But if you have an organizing bent and want to guarantee that you are always surrounded by people with a similar interest, becoming a meetup.com group organizer might be for you.

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