Galway gay/bi informal social group

Jaymacc · 11-09-2015 3:14pm #1

Well, being a guy that just happens to be gay I have a lot of sound friends but few of these are gay and I am wondering if there is any interest from sound gay / bi guys in the Galway county / city area for an informal social group?

It would be a great opportunity for guys in the area to meet up in a small informal group for coffee, chats, pints and craic, meals out, walks, hikes, comedy gigs, cinema, music gigs, theatre, weekend breaks or whatever.

What do you think?

Annasopra · 11-09-2015 4:58pm

Have you thought about setting something up on meetup.com

It works well for DIGS, Running Amach and Wet and Wild

Jaymacc · 11-09-2015 10:08pm

No, I never thought of that. Just said I would try this and see how much interest there would be.

Joeytheparrot wrote: »

Have you thought about setting something up on meetup.com

It works well for DIGS, Running Amach and Wet and Wild

DonDraper · 12-09-2015 12:14pm

Hi Jay,

Sounds like a great idea, I'd definitely be interested.

As Joey said above, meetup.com might be a good place to set up a group and see if there's much interest. There's also an LGBT singles weekend coming up at the end of September on Clare Island so that could be a good way for people to get introduced.

Jaymacc · 12-09-2015 6:04pm

DonDraper wrote: »

Hi Jay,

Sounds like a great idea, I'd definitely be interested.

As Joey said above, meetup.com might be a good place to set up a group and see if there's much interest. There's also an LGBT singles weekend coming up at the end of September on Clare Island so that could be a good way for people to get introduced.

I'm not sure if the meetup website would work as a lot that are interested might not be out and so wouldn't want to post on the site as it's linked to their Facebook account. Do you think there would be a good interest in it? Clare Island sound like a good option for the romantics out there though!

Annasopra · 12-09-2015 7:24pm

Jaymacc wrote: »

I'm not sure if the meetup website would work as a lot that are interested might not be out and so wouldn't want to post on the site as it's linked to their Facebook account. Do you think there would be a good interest in it? Clare Island sound like a good option for the romantics out there though!

You can have different privacy settings on it so not everyone sees all your details and I think it doesn't have to be linked to facebook either. It works really really well for the 3 groups I just mentioned. I think it might actually work tbh.

Jaymacc · 12-09-2015 9:00pm

Joeytheparrot wrote: »

You can have different privacy settings on it so not everyone sees all your details and I think it doesn't have to be linked to facebook either. It works really really well for the 3 groups I just mentioned. I think it might actually work tbh.

Sounds good. Do you know if I set up a meet up group am I seen as the organiser? I am not out to all so won't be able to do it if that is the case!

Annasopra · 13-09-2015 10:50am

Jaymacc wrote: »

Sounds good. Do you know if I set up a meet up group am I seen as the organiser? I am not out to all so won't be able to do it if that is the case!

You can set up the group name as organiser. Have you talked as well to the people behind the new Galway resource centre?

https://www.facebook.com/pages/Amach-LGBT-Galway/113113445418635

danube · 13-09-2015 10:52am

I think a Facebook group would be the most convenient.

Jaymacc · 13-09-2015 11:36am

Joeytheparrot wrote: »

You can set up the group name as organiser. Have you talked as well to the people behind the new Galway resource centre?

Is there enough interest in Galway though if I go setting up a meetup / facebook page? Just said I would check here and see what the response would be!

Jaymacc · 13-09-2015 11:39am

danube wrote: »

I think a Facebook group would be the most convenient.

Again, does that require a page administrator and members would need to be willing to be visable. I am concious that some are not out and may not want to be visable due to the nature of their work etc.

Annasopra · 13-09-2015 11:47am

Jaymacc wrote: »

Is there enough interest in Galway though if I go setting up a meetup / facebook page? Just said I would check here and see what the response would be!

You could set up a facebook page - see how it goes. A page does not need a public administrator.

DonDraper · 13-09-2015 11:59am

I'm not on Facebook but had a quick look at their group privacy page. There are three types of group - public, closed and secret. Anyone can see the members of a closed group so that's not ideal for people who aren't out. If it's a secret group then only members can see who else is in the group. You can only join a secret group if you're added or invited by a current member.

Annasopra · 13-09-2015 12:18pm

But for facebook pages there is no need to worry about privacy settings!!!!

Jaymacc · 13-09-2015 6:10pm

DonDraper wrote: »

I'm not on Facebook but had a quick look at their group privacy page. There are three types of group - public, closed and secret. Anyone can see the members of a closed group so that's not ideal for people who aren't out. If it's a secret group then only members can see who else is in the group. You can only join a secret group if you're added or invited by a current member.

Yeah so there is another problem. Not all people are on Facebook whereas the meetup site is visable in search engines so you can spend the word easily. Meetup seems to be the best option. Anyone interested in setting it up or helping out with it?

Jaymacc · 13-09-2015 6:11pm

Joeytheparrot wrote: »

But for facebook pages there is no need to worry about privacy settings!!!!

What about those not on Facebook? Metope seems the best fit.

DonDraper · 13-09-2015 7:25pm

I'd be happy to help out. If nobody wants to be publicly seen as the organiser we could set up the group name as organiser like Joey suggested.

In terms of numbers, I think there's bound to be some interest. Making it private rather than public might encourage people to join as well. There's a private meetup group for gay women in Galway and that has over 300 members.

Jaymacc · 13-09-2015 7:47pm

DonDraper wrote: »

I'd be happy to help out. If nobody wants to be publicly seen as the organiser we could set up the group name as organiser like Joey suggested.

In terms of numbers, I think there's bound to be some interest. Making it private rather than public might encourage people to join as well. There's a private meetup group for gay women in Galway and that has over 300 members.

Great. Will send you a message now and we can see how to go about it.

Wow 300 in the women's group. I wonder why there is no men's group already?

DonDraper · 13-09-2015 8:20pm

Yeah it's unusual but sure who knows, there could be a lot of interest once it's set up. You can't spell Galway without G, A, and Y after all!

Jaymacc · 13-09-2015 8:59pm

DonDraper wrote: »

Yeah it's unusual but sure who knows, there could be a lot of interest once it's set up. You can't spell Galway without G, A, and Y after all!

GAY, good one!! We will try up up a listing on Meet Up so and see how many hits we get.

danube · 14-09-2015 9:47am

Jaymacc wrote: »

What about those not on Facebook? Metope seems the best fit.

Set up a FB account? I never heard of "Metope".

Jaymacc · 14-09-2015 10:00am

danube wrote: »

Set up a FB account? I never heard of "Metope".

People not on facebook wouldnt know about the facebook page but meet up events seem to be found in google searches so that's what meet up seems to be the best option.

Autocorrect is in overdrive, that was meant to read 'Meet up'!

swine · 14-09-2015 7:54pm

I would be on for this. Quite surprising there's a female group in the hundreds and no male equivalent!

Rachiee · 14-09-2015 7:59pm

Meetup is a really easy site to join and navigate good luck with it .

Jaymacc · 14-09-2015 8:00pm

swine wrote: »

I would be on for this. Quite surprising there's a female group in the hundreds and no male equivalent!

Well we will set one up so. What kind of activities would people like to see on it?

Jaymacc · 14-09-2015 8:01pm

Rachiee wrote: »

Meetup is a really easy site to join and navigate good luck with it .

Thanks. If you are experienced with it you could lend us a hand in setting it up!

Norcop · 14-09-2015 8:43pm

What are you going to call this Meetup group?

Jaymacc · 14-09-2015 9:50pm

Norcop wrote: »

What are you going to call this Meetup group?

No name yet. You can create one if you like!

Grey Wind · 15-09-2015 9:00pm

I might be interested if something was set up.

DonDraper · 16-09-2015 9:00am

This is slightly off topic but there's also a volunteer open evening for the LGBT helpline in Galway next Thursday 24th September. Details are on Amach LGBT's website. It's a good cause and a way to meet people as well.

Jaymacc · 16-09-2015 1:55pm

Grey Wind wrote: »

I might be interested if something was set up.

Great, any ideas about what events / activities you would like to see included?

swine · 18-09-2015 11:15pm

Jaymacc wrote: »

Well we will set one up so. What kind of activities would people like to see on it?

Honestly, all of the listed activities like hiking, comedy night, gigs etc all sound good to me. I'm not sure what would be best as the first meet up from a 'breaking the ice' point of view.

Jaymacc · 19-09-2015 7:42am

swine wrote: »

Honestly, all of the listed activities like hiking, comedy night, gigs etc all sound good to me. I'm not sure what would be best as the first meet up from a 'breaking the ice' point of view.

Good to hear. Yeah, something informal and fun could be good. How about paintballing, pure-skill, zip wiring . . ?

swine · 19-09-2015 9:46pm

Jaymacc wrote: »

Good to hear. Yeah, something informal and fun could be good. How about paintballing, pure-skill, zip wiring . . ?

It seems there is an interest in a group being setup so why not. Have you any ideas on what might work for the first meet? Bill Bailey is at the Black Box at the end of the month.

Annasopra · 20-09-2015 12:02pm

Maybe you should arrange for 3 or 4 you to meet face to face over coffee and brainstorm then.

DonDraper · 22-09-2015 6:43pm

swine wrote: »

It seems there is an interest in a group being setup so why not. Have you any ideas on what might work for the first meet? Bill Bailey is at the Black Box at the end of the month.

Good idea. The Comedy Carnival is on the October bank holiday as well so there'll be plenty of gigs. It might be a good way to break the ice.

Al Porter would be a very appropriate choice I think!

Jaymacc · 22-09-2015 7:19pm

Joeytheparrot wrote: »

Maybe you should arrange for 3 or 4 you to meet face to face over coffee and brainstorm then.

Great idea. Who is interested in a quick brainstorm over coffee in Java's some evening?

DonDraper · 22-09-2015 7:30pm

Yeah count me in

swine · 22-09-2015 7:51pm

Jaymacc wrote: »

Great idea. Who is interested in a quick brainstorm over coffee in Java's some evening?

I'd be up for that. I can't say I will have much to offer but would like to help get this off the ground as much as possible.

Jaymacc · 22-09-2015 8:08pm

swine wrote: »

I'd be up for that. I can't say I will have much to offer but would like to help get this off the ground as much as possible.

Great. Who else wants to help out with brainstorming ideas for meet ups ?

Norcop · 23-09-2015 10:28pm

I can meet up some evening next week. I think a group like this in Galway would be a great way to meet other guys and is much needed. Is there even a gay bar in Galway anymore? It would be great to organise a few nights out in Galway city where members could get to know each other first and discuss what we'd like to get out of the group. We could then decide to go on hiking trips etc together organised by other meetup groups in Galway.

Jaymacc · 24-09-2015 2:50pm

Norcop wrote: »

I can meet up some evening next week. I think a group like this in Galway would be a great way to meet other guys and is much needed. Is there even a gay bar in Galway anymore? It would be great to organise a few nights out in Galway city where members could get to know each other first and discuss what we'd like to get out of the group. We could then decide to go on hiking trips etc together organised by other meetup groups in Galway.

Great. We can look at organising an evening next week for a group to meet a discuss ideas. Who else would like to attend?

danube · 24-09-2015 3:24pm

Jaymacc wrote: »

Great. We can look at organising an evening next week for a group to meet a discuss ideas. Who else would like to attend?

I dont know tbh. Some people would feel awkward turning up at a meeting by themselves.

Annasopra · 24-09-2015 4:37pm

danube wrote: »

I dont know tbh. Some people would feel awkward turning up at a meeting by themselves.

Yes - but look at the end of the day if people want the group to be a success then they just have to let go of their nervousness and realise everyone else is nervous too.

Uberbeamerman · 24-09-2015 4:49pm

Would Friday/weekend suit people or will this be more of a midweek thing? Wouldn't mind calling over next week...
....Just what people were saying about turning up to meetings by themselves..I went to my first one in Dublin about a year ago. At the time I wasn't out and tbh the thought of people finding out terrified me. Yes I was nervous and uncomfortable at the thought of going by myself but once I got to know people it was fine (ie sit down with a drink and say hi). It was good fun meeting people and ultimately gave me the confidence to come out to family and friends a few months ago....

DonDraper · 25-09-2015 3:21pm

Will we try to arrange a meet up some evening next week then? We can PM each other about availability and location

Uberbeamerman · 25-09-2015 7:39pm

Suits me

DonDraper · 27-09-2015 10:13am

A few of us are now trying to arrange a meet up for some evening this week. If anyone is interested in going but doesn't want to post publicly in the thread, feel free to send me a private message.

swine · 30-09-2015 8:31pm

After a very enjoyable meeting last night (great to meet you all) 4 of us discussed what we thought the group could do and how it could be run. And as I'm on the computer a lot, I thought I could give the group admin side of things ago.

After having a look meetup groups can require vetting, hide event details from non-members and basically do what we need to offer people a level of privacy should they want it.

The only problem is - it's $3 a month to run a group (which gives you up to 50 members and 4 admins). Obviously it's a small amount of money. I don't mind contributing (certainly after meeting people last night) but as a longer term thing it will be an issue. Thoughts on proceeding with meetup or do we revisit the facebook route (I'm aware some people are less keen on this).

Annasopra · 01-10-2015 6:37am

swine wrote: »

After a very enjoyable meeting last night (great to meet you all) 4 of us discussed what we thought the group could do and how it could be run. And as I'm on the computer a lot, I thought I could give the group admin side of things ago.

After having a look meetup groups can require vetting, hide event details from non-members and basically do what we need to offer people a level of privacy should they want it.

The only problem is - it's $3 a month to run a group (which gives you up to 50 members and 4 admins). Obviously it's a small amount of money. I don't mind contributing (certainly after meeting people last night) but as a longer term thing it will be an issue. Thoughts on proceeding with meetup or do we revisit the facebook route (I'm aware some people are less keen on this).

Longer term you should look at raising money from event attendees to cover the costs.

That could be done in various different ways.

danube · 01-10-2015 8:48am

Joeytheparrot wrote: »

Longer term you should look at raising money from event attendees to cover the costs.

That could be done in various different ways.

If you want to increase the members, then charging even a small fee is the wrong way to go about it.

Galway gay/bi informal social group

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