posted by John

I discovered MeetingWave after its alpha launch in June 2007, and the concept behind it led me to create my own social networking initiative. Launched almost as immediately as I discovered MeetingWave, Coffee With Ian is my effort to meet the many people who are my "friends" on LinkedIn, Facebook and other social networks, yet have never met with in person. MeetingWave provides the interface that allows such opportunities to happen. Using MeetingWave, I list the times and locations where I schedule my daily "Coffee With Ian" sessions. And people have signed up! Thanks to MeetingWave, Coffee With Ian has quickly developed from a simple idea to network into something bigger!

Regards, Ian Isanberg, CoffeewithIan.com

Ps – MeetingWave tip – You can easily export your own public invites to another site such as your blog or Ning page. Using the simple “widget-builder” on your Profile page, you can customize what it will look like and then copy-and-paste the code into your website or blog.

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posted by John

10. Get offline. Unlike other networking services, MeetingWave is focused on bringing people together offline. Now is the time to go beyond online networking so you can build lasting relationships with others through face to face meetings. Check out our post on The Value of Face to Face Meetings to understand why you need to meet people offline. Regards, John Founder, MeetingWave.com
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posted by John

9. Meet your neighbors. If you are new to your neighborhood, or just looking to meet some new neighbors, MeetingWave allows you to post Invites just within your zip code. Try posting an invite to see who you can meet!

Regards, John

Founder, MeetingWave.com

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posted by John

8. Find a new job. MeetingWave gives you the tools to expand your network of people, including potential employers in your community. Get connected so you won’t miss out as people look for valuable employees. Remember, it’s usually not what you know, but who you know. Start expanding your real world contacts today.

Regards, John

Founder, MeetingWave.com

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posted by John

7. Discuss topics with like minded people. New issues and topics emerge every day. Whether it’s politics, renewable energy or local issues, MeetingWave can bring together people interested in learning more about current events through discussion groups. By creating a Meeting Alert (available to registered members using Advanced Search) using keywords related to your interests, you’ll be notified about upcoming meetings in your email inbox.

Regards, John

Founder, MeetingWave.com

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posted by John

6. Start a book club, poker night or find a golf foursome. MeetingWave is unique in that the tool helps you connect with people in your area with similar interests. Whether you are looking to start a poker night, a golf foursome or a book club, posting an invite on MeetingWave can help you get together with the right people, where you live or where you work.

Regards, John

Founder, MeetingWave.com

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posted by John

5. Form a carpool. By helping you connect with people in your neighborhood, you can use MeetingWave to form carpools for work or school or elsewhere. This is especially useful if you are moving to a new neighborhood or a new area. Post an invite to see who is looking to carpool where you live.

Regards, John

Founder, MeetingWave.com

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posted by John

4. Request feedback about your business and your ideas. MeetingWave can get you in contact with people who can help you define an idea, perfect a business plan, offer insight into an opportunity or provide valuable feedback. Click here to see how our founder, John Boyd, uses MeetingWave to discuss how to improve our website!

The MeetingWave Team

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posted by John

3. Make professional contacts and meet new clients. Use MeetingWave to create a valuable social network within your profession or industry. Moreover, by finding people you want to meet with near where you live and where you work, it’s easy to continue to meet with your new acquaintances so you can build valuable relationships. Remember to create a Meeting Alert (available to registered members using Advanced Search) so you stay on top of new meetings of interest that are being posted in your area. In the meantime, try posting a Public Invite at the coffee shop down the street. Describe who you want to network with and only approve acceptances that fit that description.

Regards, John

Founder, MeetingWave.com

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posted by John

2. Find a new lead. Our tools and member profiles enable you to identify leads in your profession, or to promote an idea or service. Since our members always have control over who they meet, and can review a profile before meeting anyone, you won’t waste your time meeting the wrong people. Remember, when searching for Invites using Advanced Search, you can search for keywords found in the Invite description or in the profile of the member who posted the Invite.

Regards, John

Founder, MeetingWave.com

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posted by John

1. Discover business partners, mentors and investors. Take advantage of our service to find potential partnerships locally. You can also try to find mentors in your community that might be willing to assist you as you pursue your business idea or your career path. As always, you can review any member’s profile before meeting with them, so you can make sure you are meeting with the right people. It's easy to use and free.

Regards, John

Founder, MeetingWave.com

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posted by John

MeetingWave – Our Goal

MeetingWave provides a service that allows members to meet with other members in person. We provide a means for preliminary online communications that are followed up by an in-person networking meeting. One of our guiding principles is that our members should have a high degree of control over who attends their meetings and, on the flip side, they should have a high degree of control over the posted Invites they choose to accept.

If you’re concerned you might end up wasting your time meeting with people who end up not being able to satisfy your networking goals, remember that you can set up meetings that last for as little time as you would like. Try setting up a meeting for half an hour, 45 minutes … the time you invest in your networking efforts almost always pays off in the long run, if not in the immediate future.

Networking is an investment that certainly can have short term pay-offs. However, we think that most of us approach networking as a long term investment in getting to know people who can help us professionally or in any business or social context – and often when we least expect it.

So, just to summarize, it is important that you use common sense and always keep your safety in mind when using MeetingWave. We also ask that you use the guidelines set forth in our Safety Tips. A little common sense can go a long way online and offline. Please keep it safe.

Let us know if you have any Feedback about MeetingWave, including how to make our members feel even more comfortable about meeting new people offline. We have many improvements in the pipeline, but your feedback helps us prioritize our efforts and provide us with new ideas.

Regards, John

Founder, MeetingWave.com

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posted by John

We receive a good mix of feedback about MeetingWave. We’ve gotten a lot of good suggestions to add even more user-friendly features to the site. We’ve also received a lot of positive feedback about how MeetingWave has helped our members make new business and social contacts. Your thoughts and success stories about using MeetingWave are always helpful and much appreciated.

We do get some surprising feedback, however, from people who are concerned about using the Internet to arrange face-to-face meetings with people they have never met before. Some of the questions or comments we’ve gotten are:

“What if I don’t like the people who show up?”

“I’m scared a sociopath or crazy person will show up at my meeting.”

In any context where you are meeting new people (even, for example, an event sponsored by your company, a tradeshow, or a business conference), there is always some remote possibility that you will meet someone ‘scary.’ The common-sense precautions you would take in most situations would apply to MeetingWave meetings. We have some suggestions in our Safety Tips which include things like setting up meetings only in public places, bringing a friend to your networking meeting, and reviewing MeetingWave profiles of the people who accept your meetings (and asking them for more Profile information if you do not think their profile is robust enough).

Just remember that on a regular basis, you probably make at least a small connection with new people at work, at your regular coffee shop, at the grocery store, at your kid’s playground … and all the other places you frequent. The common sense things you do to keep yourself comfortable and safe with strangers apply to MeetingWave as well.

The point about networking is that every new business or social relationship starts with two or more strangers meeting. With MeetingWave, you control the type of meetings you arrange. You can be as specific as you like about who you want to network with or the purpose of your proposed meeting. You can approve or decline any acceptance and thus control who will attend your networking meeting. You can choose the location for your proposed meeting and can keep the location private -- if you choose this approach, MeetingWave will only disclose the meeting location to people you approve to attend. You can also communicate via double-blind email with anyone accepting your Invite and ask follow-up questions or otherwise facilitate meeting planning.

If you are not setting up a meeting, but rather, browsing to find an interesting one to attend, you too have a lot of control over the meetings you choose to accept. You can review the profile of the member who posted the Invite as well as the profiles of those members already approved to attend the meeting. Using our double-blind email system, you can email the meeting organizer with follow up questions. For example, if you don’t like the meeting location of a posted Invite or do not want to attend a meeting unless it is at a more comfortable location, you are free to communicate with the meeting organizer and try to work out an alternative.

Watch for Part II of this blog article further explaining how we acheive our goals, which in turn should help you acheive your goals.

Let us know if you have any feedback about MeetingWave, including how to make our members feel even more comfortable about meeting new people offline. We have many improvements in the pipeline, but your feedback helps us prioritize our efforts and provide us with new ideas.

Regards, John

Founder, MeetingWave.com

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