MEETUP USER’S GUIDE
Meetup is our home for Trip Signups, Membership Forum & Directory and Gear Classifieds
Please read through our Meetup Instruction Guide and Club Etiquette Guide below.
JOINING MEETUP
In order to be admitted to the Long Island Paddlers Meetup Group, you must be a verified paid member of Long Island Paddlers AND have submitted the online liability waiver for the current year. Once payment and the waiver are received, you will receive an email inviting you to request admittance to the Meetup Group and our private Facebook Group. After requesting admittance, if you don’t gain entrance within 24-48 hours, please let us know.
If you delete your Meetup account and open a new one, please notify us before submitting a new request to join.
Each year, in early Spring, we confirm all memberships and delete accounts that have not been renewed. If your membership has been deleted in error, please notify us.
Please use either your Full Name, or a name that we are able to easily identify from your Membership Application. This helps us process membership and helps Trip Leaders keep track of attendees when planning and managing trips. A profile photo and additional information you wish to share are nice for building a sense of community among members but are optional.
Take some time to set up your Notifications to ensure that you get immediate notice of upcoming club trips and special events, as well as Trip Reminders and notices from Trip Leaders about possible changes to trips you have signed up for.
As the date of trips you have signed up for get close, you will automatically receive Reminder notifications.
Enabling Calendar syncing (Google, Outlook, Apple or Yahoo) is handy. When signing up a trip, you are prompted to immediately add it the Calendar you specified.
Take a few minutes to review your Email Notifications under Profile >> Settings. Here you can turn off getting emails from Meetup about other groups you might be interested in, etc.
On a desktop and laptop, please use the Google Chrome internet browser. Meetup does not work in Firefox. NOTE that there are differences between the desktop internet browser version and the Smartphone App. And there are differences between iPhone and Android.
On desktop/laptop, remember that when you first log onto the site, you will see a general list of events, including events from other groups you are a member of and “Suggested” events from groups you are not a member of. On the left side of the page, under the calendar, look for “Your Groups” and click on Long Island Paddlers in order to see a list of upcoming trips and a menu of other items, including Members, Discussion and Photos, etc.
SIGNING UP FOR TRIPS
How exciting! You’re about to sign up for your first Long Island Paddlers Club Trip!
Signing up for a Trip on Meetup is simple. Click on that trip and read all the details carefully, especially the Skill Rating, Distance and Endurance Rating. Do not sign up for a trip that is beyond your ability in terms of water/weather conditions or self-rescue. Read more about Trip Level Ratings here.
Before clicking Attend, double-check your personal calendar and be certain that you are able to attend the trip. If you are not sure you can attend, please do not sign up. Allow others who are sure they can attend to RSVP.
When you click ATTEND, Meetup will prompt you to add your this trip to your personal calendar of choice (Google, Outlook, iCal/Apple or Yahoo). Driving Directions to the Put-In can be accessed any time through Meetup
PLEASE NOTE: Signing up for every trip and then removing oneself at the last minute is highly discouraged. This gives Members and Trip Leaders a false sense of trip occupancy and can be discouraging to members who repeatedly get locked out of trips, only to find that the trips opened up at the last minute after having made other plans. Please be respectful of your fellow Members and Trip Leaders. Repeat behavior may prompt disciplinary action.
Most trips have a limit on the number of attendees. When you sign up for a trip that is full, you will automatically be placed on a Waitlist. You will automatically move up the list when someone cancels, or if the Trip Leader open up the list to more attendees.
If you are moved from the Waitlist to the active list, you will receive a notification.
If you are on a Waitlist and realize you cannot attend, please remove yourself from the trip ASAP so that others on the Waitlist move up closer to the confirmed list.
If you can no longer attend a Club Trip, please remove your name from the RSVP list ASAP so that others on the Waitlist may attend. Look for “Edit RSVP”.
PLEASE NOTE: No-Shows are highly discouraged, as this prevents other Club Members who would really like to attend from getting on the list. Repeat No-Shows may result in a temporary hold on being able to sign up for trips.
You may contact your Trip Leader by clicking on their name next to “Hosted by”. A list of Trip Leaders for this trip will appear. Click on the Trip Leader you would like to message and click on the three dots next to their name. You will see the option of “Send message” appear on the drop down. A Direct Messaging page will come up that will be populated with all of the members you have Direct Messaged.
Trip Leaders may or may not include personal contact information in a trip posting, but are constantly monitoring their Trips and Direct Messages. Know that they may not see your message at the very last minute leading up to launch however. If you are lost or need to reach the Trip Leader, try messaging the entire trip group (see below in next section)
MEMBERSHIP FORUM, DIRECTORY, CLASSIFIEDS — CONNECTING & SHARING IN GENERAL
Each trip has its own comment thread. Here, you are welcome to send messages, questions and comments to everyone on the trip!
Many of us love taking photos of wildlife, the beautiful vistas… and each other! Share them with your fellow trip attendees on the trip page. There is not an automatic notification that goes out to let everyone know that photos have been posted, so you may also want to write a comment in the thread announcing to everyone that you posted photos.
All photos can also be accessed and seen by everyone under PHOTOS from the main menu of Meetup.
You are always welcome and encouraged to share your amazing photos on our private Facebook page, submit to our Quarterly Newsletter AND Website Gallery.
Meetup is now the home for our Membership Forum!
You can find DISCUSSION on the main menu of Meetup. You are welcome to post messages, comments and questions that will be sent out to the entire membership.
Meetup is now the home for our Membership Directory!
You can find MEMBERS on the main home page of Meetup. Click on the Member you would like to Direct Message and click on the three dots next to their name. You will see the option of “Send message” from the drop down. A Direct Messaging page will come up that will be populated with all of the members you have Direct Messaged.
NOTE: We will very soon have a Membership Directory with email contacts on a MEMBERS ONLY page on our website. Stay tuned…
Meetup is now the home for our Classifieds!
You can find DISCUSSION on the main menu of Meetup. You are welcome to post kayaks, gear and related items for sale, as well as wanted items and inquiries about repairs, etc.
Meetup is now the home for our Short Notice Trips… Coming Soon!
Short Notice Trips can be posted by any member, inviting other members to join them on an outing. You are invited to post other types of trips that you think members would enjoy like bike rides, hikes, lunch gatherings, etc. Short Notice Trip Leaders will be able to manage attendance via the comment thread feature of Meetup. Stay tuned for instructions.
PLEASE NOTE: Short Notice Trips are not LIP officially-sanctioned trips and are not managed by LIP Trip Leaders.
If you still have questions about Meetup, reach out to us here or ask for help during an upcoming club trip or Monthly Meeting.