Naturists And Nudists, Portland, Or
This group is for nudists who live within a reasonable driving distance of the greater Portland Oregon, Vancouver, Washington areas, who are interested in meting others for platonic nude recreation and friendship. Please use this group to organize local nude events, groups and/or carpools to the local nude beaches and other nude places. Also feel free to post events for local nudist clubs or plan...
- created by ShyTiger6
Portland Nudist Meetup.com
Return to DiscussionsHey all,
Judging usage for a PDX nudist meetup.com group. Apparently they are charging by the month to start a group. Before I shell out money, I wanted to get feedback from this group on whether it would be useful or worth it to set up for those outside of TN, as well as those that are on it, that might use meetup.com or would be interested in supporting the group in the form of organizing groups. Let me know, thanks!
I've been monitoring meetup.com for naturist/nudist groups for a while, and there have been a few people who have tried to start them. What usually happens is that the person realizes that organizing events is very time consuming, and they are also paying money to keep the group going and the groups usually die within three months, usually without having organized even one single event.
My advice would be to find at least two other people hwo ware willing to help organize events and are willing to drive for carpooling. Once events are organized people will show up and be willing to go, but the main problem is that everyone wants someone else to organize the events for them, and too often they are not too appreciative.
As far as monthly costs for owning a meetup.com group goes, Last tiem i checked it was about $18, if you go month to month, hoever if you commit to a full year, the costs goes down to around $12 a month.
I myself a partially blind, don't drive, and it woudl be way too much trouble for me to start up a group myself, but if I did, this is how I'd do it.
I'd contact all of the local AANR clubs, telling them you are wanting to form a local meetup.com group for naturists and nudists, and you woudl like a member of their event planning board to list the events of their club in the group, listing day use fees for AANR members and nonmembers and any other costs. That way you have a lot of events listed, with no work on your part. The only events you woudl have to be concerned about woudl be events outside of the local nudist clubs, such as nude hikes, nude bike rides, days at one of hte local nude beaches and so on. The peoele at the clubs that you work with may also want to organize events away from their club, like nude white water rafting, nude camping trips or nude hiking. The point it to not try to reinvent the wheel, but use resources and events that are already being done by others.
You may also be able to get one or more of the local clubs to help sponsor the group, which woudl reduce your out of pocket costs. They would definitely benefit from beign able to post their events in your group. You may also possibly inquire bout getting sponsored by Common Grounds.
BTW, the local AANR clubs are
Nonlanded
Hidden Springs
Sun Rovers
Landed
Squaw Mountain Ranch
Mountaindale Sun Resort
Wiollametans
Anyway, as I recall there are 30-40 people waiting for a nudist/naturist group to form on meetup.com, and that is just the waiting list. If you consider that the World Naked Bike Ride has over 10,000 participants a year and the smaller naked rides earlier in the day have 30-60 riders each There is probably enough interest to make a nudist/naturist group work, if doen right.
I have looked at nudist groups in other parts of the country. It seems the largest and most active ones dont' just have clothign optional events but also clothed social events as well.I think the re4ason for this is becuse those who are curious, bu nervous abotu what kind of peopel are in the group. would likely prefer to meet adn get to know some of the group in a less vulnerable setting or situation.
I myself had had a bad experience checking out OMEN, a local group which caters to gay men, which claimed to be nonsexual, but I was groped pinched and rubbed by some of their members. My point being that people wan tto be sure that the group is not of the swinger mentalty, and tht members do NOT hve a sexual agenda and they dont' wan tto have to worry about sexual advances. I am gay, but I find unwanted sexual advances annoying and they put me on edge making it impossible for me to just enjoy being naked. My experience is that any club affilited with GNI (Gay Nudists international) tolerates the swinger mentality, while AANR (American Association for Nude Recreation) does not.
I'd make it clear that people with sexual agendas do nto belong in the group and suggest they try the group "Sex Positive" if that is what they are looking for.
Well, there is my input and suggestions. If you don't do it yourself, perhaps someone else will see potential and run with it.
Good Luck, and if you start a group,Ii will sign up to participate.
I keep my AANR membership, as it costs less than $50 a year, and the discounts at the landed clubs help off set that cost. However if there were another nude recreational organization that did a better job, I' d support that instead. For now, AANR is the best we have, so i will support it until there is something better.
having no organization at all woudl probably be worse and we'd find the few places were nudity is legal disappearing. I am workign with what we got, as imperfect as it is.
I am hoping that eventually YNA members who get too old for YNA will eventually move to AANR leadership positions and modernize and change things.
Meetup is Great. I have been involved with meetup since 2007. I started my own fitness meetup group 1.5 years ago and now have over 350 members and 4 active event organizers. Meetup gives me the incentive even in light rain to get out doing things! It would never replace AANR. A Meetup group is simply a collection of like minded people. Someone has an idea to do something like camping at a Hotspring, posts it and the next thing they have 6 people signed up! Always remember that one person can not do all the work. A person needs to have an assistant organizer and multiple event organizers. Meetups die a quick death if one person tries to do it all.
The Meetup dues are a bargain. Now about $200 yearly and I raise it quickly once a year in October by donations. Meetup provides you with your web page, communications to and between members, forums, unlimited picture uploads (pictures less than 10 MB) and a calender for your events. The number of members you have is limitless. If you had 1000 members and each contributed 20 cents, your dues would be met!
Having an event organizer from each AANR group or other nudist club is an excellent idea and is a formula for a successful one.