<html><body style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; -webkit-line-break: after-white-space; ">Folks:<div><br></div><div>Very new guy here, so just take my opinion with a metric ton of salt.  :-)</div><div><br><div><div>On 02 Apr , 2009, at 11:24, Theresa Hepburn wrote:</div><br class="Apple-interchange-newline"><blockquote type="cite"><br>> At our last meeting we decided to investigate a few possibilities for<br>> a new meeting location.<br>...<br>> * The Rate is $40/hr for nonprofit groups. For 4+hours, $30/hr. 50%<br>> deposit to make a reservation.<br> <br>This is crazy! We shouldn't have to pay to all meet together! Why don't we hold meetings at different member's houses? I think that would be a positive experience for a couple reasons:</blockquote><div><br></div>While Theresa hits some good reasons and points, I have to say with my experience as a meeting coordinator that meeting in peoples homes is, in general, a VERY bad idea.</div><div><br></div><div>1) People like a stable meeting place. They know where the meeting place is and don't have to continually find next months meeting place as it rotates between people's homes. Not having a stable meeting place in general is a recipe for having meeting attendance plunge.</div><div><br></div><div>2) New people appreciate not only a stable meeting place, but a public meeting place.</div><div><br></div><div>3) A public meeting place gives a more professional and stable impression of the group.</div><div><br></div><div><blockquote type="cite">I know there are a lot of people in the Boston area without cars but the commuter rail reaches all the way to Worcester and Providence,RI. I don't think it'll be an issue to have someone pick people up from a commuter rail stop to get to meetings.</blockquote><div><br></div>While the commuter rail does reach into some interesting, far-flung areas, due to its schedule it is probably not a stable way of getting to meetings in the evenings. The fare on the commuter rail itself, depending on the distance, would be about half the meeting cost per person, round trip. Getting to from point A to point B via the T (including buses) is, in general 45 minutes to an hour. You need to double those times with the commuter rail.</div><div><br></div><div>Again, please take with a metric ton of salt, but these are the issues I see.</div><div> <span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: separate; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: auto; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-decorations-in-effect: none; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0; "><div style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; -webkit-line-break: after-white-space; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: separate; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-decorations-in-effect: none; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; "><div style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; -webkit-line-break: after-white-space; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: separate; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-decorations-in-effect: none; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; "><div style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; -webkit-line-break: after-white-space; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: separate; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-decorations-in-effect: none; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: separate; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-decorations-in-effect: none; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: separate; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-decorations-in-effect: none; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: separate; -webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 0px; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; -webkit-text-decorations-in-effect: none; text-indent: 0px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; text-transform: none; orphans: 2; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: separate; -webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 0px; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; -webkit-text-decorations-in-effect: none; text-indent: 0px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; text-transform: none; orphans: 2; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: separate; -webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 0px; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; -webkit-text-decorations-in-effect: none; text-indent: 0px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; text-transform: none; orphans: 2; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; "><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; "><font face="Helvetica" size="3" style="font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Helvetica; ">---</font></p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; "><font face="Helvetica" size="3" style="font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Helvetica; ">Richard "Doc" Kinne • Rikardo «Dokĉjo» KINNE, BA, MSc., AMAAS</font></p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; "><font face="Helvetica" size="3" style="font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Helvetica; "><kinnerc @ gmail.com> </font></p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; "><font face="Georgia" size="3" style="font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Georgia; font-family: Georgia; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia; ">"I'm the Doctor, and you're in the biggest library in the universe. Look me up!"</span></span></span></font></p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; "><font face="Georgia" size="3" style="font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Georgia; font-family: Georgia; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia; ">- The Doctor<br></span></span></span></font></p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; "><font class="Apple-style-span" face="Georgia">"Forests of the Dead,"<span class="Apple-converted-space"> <i>Doctor Who</i></span></font></p><br class="Apple-interchange-newline"></span></span></span></span><br class="Apple-interchange-newline"></span></span></div></span></div></span></div></span> </div><br></div></body></html>