My Meetup Misadventures (Part 5)

I left off in the middle of my e-mail reply to the IBD Meetup organizer from December 2014.

My message concluded:

     > Finally, maybe people interested in trading the same strategy
     > will be interested in working together to propose trades. I
     > think what I described as a trading concept for my IRA could
     > work wonderfully with a team if everyone were to present
     > one trade idea per day, for example. I’ll be interested to

I occasionally mention “do X once per day” thinking it’s a minimal ask. For many people, though, this may be anything but (as mentioned here with regard to brushing teeth). If I sounded demanding earlier in the message then this may make it worse.

     > hear if you find more interest in the options group. I think
     > $10/meeting is steep. I’d cap it at $5. I don’t think we need

Two or three points is the limit for what many people can digest at once. I already listed four points (after announcing there would be two) and each of those points is further explained by at least one or more details. The message is already overflowing, in other words, and now I am piling on by going on about something else.

To make matters worse, I am disagreeing with his cost proposal.

     > a large room because I’m guessing there won’t be more than
     > 5-10 attending.

Next I disagree with his mention of room size. Some people shut down when others disagree with them. Given that I’m a complete stranger, he may find it easier to ignore me altogether rather than expending perceived heavy effort in pursuit of an agreeable solution.

Why even mention cost or room size here, anyway? Besides the fact that I’m not really in any position to disagree since he’s an experienced organizer, it’s nothing that needs to be addressed now.

     > How much do attendees pay for the IBD Meetup? I agree with you,
     > by the way, about keeping the options group separate from the
     > IBD Meetup. Nice to read from you!

I thought my agreement on his suggestion to keep the groups separate would be a nice thing to say. Reading it now, he may have found that condescending. He has been the organizer of his group for a long time. Does he really need a pat on the back from someone who doesn’t know a thing?

I will present his reply next time.