Meetup is an Internet-based service that organizes free local gatherings about anything, anywhere.

Anything: From "Accounting" to "Zwan", any shared interest can become a Meetup topic, and over 1500 have already been suggested. Best of all, if there's a topic in need of a Meetup, you can recommend it.

Anywhere: Meetups happen in over 500 cities in 43 countries all around the world. In most cases, a local Meetup is only a short drive away at a venue voted for by members.

Once a month, people get together over a coffee, soda, or beer and talk about a shared interest, organized online by Meetup. It's a great way to meet new friends - over half a million people have already signed up.

Meetup, just like ezboard, it's all about helping people connect. To learn more about Meetup, please visit their website.

Meetup is a perfect compliment to your online community since it facilitates offline relationships centered around a shared interest. By letting you choose the topic, the real-life meet ups will mirror what your members are talking about. This added enthusiasm and involvement in a real-life setting translates into more activity online at your community.

Drive traffic to your community for FREE with Meetup! Your community will be listed in the "Related Links" section of the Meetup topic you choose. This is a great way to attract new members since each and every person clicking the link is already interested in what your community is talking about.

How do I enable Meetup for my community?

In your Control Center under the My Community tab click the "Meetup Settings" button. This screen allows you to turn Meetup on or off for your community, select a topic that best fits your community, choose where the Meetup link is placed on your community, and view examples of how Meetup will look once enabled.

You can select any current Meetup topic for your community, but are limited to one topic at a time. Changing topics is as easy as the click of a mouse button - no action is required other than selecting the new topic and saving changes. If there's no Meetup topic that fits your community, we encourage you to suggest your own by clicking on the link provided.

We've provided this sample post for your members:

There's a great new way to make friends offline who are interested in the same things we talk about here. Meetup organizes local gatherings of people just like us at local coffee shops, bars, bookstores, and other places in cities all around the world.

Our community has been invited by Meetup to join one of their topics so members have easy access to local groups with a common interest. I've selected TOPIC as the Meetup topic that best fits our community.

By clicking on the "Meetup With Friends" link next to "Invite Friends" you'll be taken to our Meetup topic where you can sign up and choose where the next Meetup should be in your area. Meetups happen in over 500 cities so there's a good chance you'll be able to other people interested in TOPIC in your area.

Meetup also places a link to our community in their "Related Links" section. This means people interested in TOPIC will be able to find and participate in our community easily.

I encourage you to check out our Meetup topic and sign up - you never know whom you might run into.