Do you have a hobby or an interest and wish more people would participate with you?

Do you want to bring people together around a fun or meaningful activity, project, or community service?

Great news! You can create your own meetup through the Arkansas Society of Freethinkers!

Every one of our meetups began as someone’s idea.

Ideas for Activities:

Here are some examples of the kinds of events secular groups around the country are offering:

• Cultural Activities, such as reading, movies, theater, culinary adventures, or concerts!
• Sports Activities or teams, such as cycling, kickball, running, dog-walking, yoga, etc!
• Community Benefit activities such as litter pickup, volunteering with other orgs, or helping the less fortunate!
• Activism such as letter writing campaigns, social media production, protesting, organizing, etc!
• Outdoors Activities such as camping, canoeing, hiking, back yard marshmallow roasts, etc!
• Special Interest sub-groups for women, LGBTQ, language practice, elders, or singles!
• Hobbies, such as arts and crafts, game nights, making or appreciating poetry/music, and all sorts of creative work!
• Family Meetups, such as playdates, going to the zoo, arcade nights, or meetups at parks!
• There are templates and organizations for people to help one another, such as Recovering from Religion, grieving, substance abuse recovery, and more!
• Potlucks are always a big hit! Want to host one?

Your event could be a one-time get-together, a reoccurring event, or a series of multiple unrelated things. And no, it doesn’t have to be super-formal.

Want to take the dog for a walk at Allsopp Park tomorrow? Make it a meetup and see if anyone can attend with you!

Is your birthday coming up? Invite us over for a potluck party!

Want to meet up with friends to do 2nd Friday Art Night in Little Rock or Argenta? Just post where to meet.

Getting the urge to go camping, perhaps at Petit Jean or Lake Oachita? There’s a good chance someone wants to go with you.

Spread the Geography!

The Arkansas Society of Freethinkers welcomes new hosts in towns and cities outside central Arkansas. Want to get something together in Hot Springs, Pine Bluff, Jonesboro, Searcy, Arkadelphia, Morrilton, Fort Smith, Texarkana, etc? We want to help you out, because we envision an ASF activity in every town and city in Arkansas. Just reach out and we’ll help you make something happen where you live.

Feeling Shy?

That’s OK. Some tiny fraction of 1% of people in our world have ever organized an event. Very few of us who are current event hosts have ever done anything like this. We just took the plunge. It went great.

Being an event host doesn’t mean you have to be extroverted, outgoing, charismatic, or have a bubbly personality (almost none of us fit this description). It’s an opportunity anyone can pursue. Many of us find it’s a lot easier to get our friends together and make new friends within an organization’s context. In other words: This is a way for shy people to get their friends together and make new friends!

The Reward

Imagine having a regular event you host, with 8-12 people show up every month (or week, if you prefer). Imagine multiplying your social life and finding people with whom you meaningfully connect. And imagine all this while you’re doing exactly what you want to be doing.

These are the benefits we organizers enjoy. It takes work, persistence, and determination, but together we’re making a difference in our own lives, and in the lives of others. It can be quite fun to be the organizer!

Some Notes:

We only post events for organizers we meet and get to know in person, so drop into our events, make some friends, and talk to the host. They will be happy to put you in touch with someone who can get your one-time or reoccurring event online. We do not accept requests over email or social media rando posts, for example.

Also, this is not the right format for trying to sell stuff, charge admission, involve people in multi-level marketing schemes, or proselytize. Wrong crowd!

We are a friendly, family-welcoming, and inclusive group, who like to maintain a positive reputation in our community. If your event idea supports these general points, we’d love to talk to you!

Be Persistent

Finally, let’s talk expectations. Sometimes we host a new event idea and nobody shows up. Then, on the 3rd or 4th attempt, several people appear. That’s the way it goes. People are creatures of habit and schedules. It takes a while to get the word out.

But this is not failure, it’s what success looks like! Sometimes it takes persistence, and other times a new event idea is a big hit. The good news is you’ll have a close-knit community of fellow organizers who can help your event get started.

Take the Next Step

Let’s do a quick recap about how to start hosting events:

1) Attend ASF Meetups

2) Meet the organizer and ask about how you can become an organizer too

3) We’ll follow up to help get your event(s) posted!