There is something special about the people that are drawn to Body for Life or Transformation.com There is a fire in their hearts. They believe in the Universal Law of Reciprocation. They are taking care of themselves - mind, body and spirit.
We had a very active Dallas Body for Life group that closed up around 2002. I really missed that group. I got curious about what was going on with Bill Phillips. Seems I got a message or saw a message about an update on his web-site. Transformation.com had begun. I joined this site in May of last year.
I started a thread on the central section of t.com http://www.transformation.com/forum/transformation-central
I wanted to gauge interest. I also posted on the Bodyforlife.com web-site and there was also a yahoo e-mail group for Texans.
I also started a meetup.com group. ***This does cost a few dollars out of pocket but we have had several great new members of Transformation.com from the people that were BFL fans. This is something I have chosen to do and not required to start a local group. When I came to t.com this was a very small community. It will continue to grow. I will probably close the meet up.com group when Bill’s book is published because the publicity will draw plenty of people to the site.
The first few meetings I chose a location such as a restaurant that had the capacity to have tables pulled together. Booths get us all split up. I would go to the restaurant about 30 minutes in advance and let them know how many people to expect. Anyone that RSVPd would get my cell phone number so they would feel comfortable (if a little shy) or if they got lost.
Now that we are getting larger I have asked around and found a few places that have a community room or some group members are asking if they can host an event at their home. My house is very hard to find and is not something you will find on Mapblast.com or Map quest.com It’s also a bit small (aka cozy)
To invite people that are not on t.com you can create business cards, flyer's etc. I always put a disclaimer of posting on Craigslist or on Meetup.com that we are Transformation Friends or fans of Bill Phillip’s. There are not official Transformation sponsored events. Don’t want there to be any possible liability issues.
To further pull in interested people create an e-mail group – Post on Tracker or any other BFL related web-site that allows cross-posting.

Once you have set a date for your event be sure to add it to the Calendar of events group
http://www.transformation.com/groups/Calendar-of-Events
This group is only for meetings that are established and have a date and time set.
As you group grows you might want to consider adding some assistant coordinators.

VERY IMPORTANT - Don't forget your cameras!!!!
Relax and have fun!
Realize you can’t make everyone happy.
Each meeting can wildly vary in attendance. We started with about 15 people in August. We only had about 4 in October. January and Feb we have about 35-40. When the groups are big there are lots of pockets of conversation. When the groups are small we get to know everyone a little bit better!

Please contact me if there is anything I can do to help

Awesome...thanks
Ron

I would also love to add tips from others here. I did a poll for our group and found there was not a huge interest in doing half-marathons but an interest in doing some workouts and workshops with speakers. Things to think about for future events.

Be sure to look here for people looking for a group or posting a meeting

http://www.transformation.com/forum/...togethers.html

A great new feature has been added that will help you grow your groups

If you go under member search area and put in the state - for example Texas it will pullup the members for your state now

Pretty awesome!!!!

Thanks so much Kathy. Just what I was looking for!
~Brooke

Don't make your groups to small - I started a North Texas group to capture a larger audience. People that understand the value of a Tranformation meeting will make the time to drive or carpool to your meeting. Our Christmas party was attended by not only North Texans but also peple for Oklahoma, IL, PA and Toronto.

bills announcement of the local group meetings got me so excited i got to TOPS Taking Off Pounds Sensibly and let me tell you group meetings can be so fun. Id love to see a local transformation one here that gathers once a week. i cant wait to see the book come out as well. your right the publicity will surely grow and people are gonna be blown away! im so glad i am a part of this community!

Danielle glad you are here - Look at some of the tips I have posted here and let me know if you have any questions or if there is anything I can do to help. You can search on your state to find other t.com members in your state.

What a great idea Kathy! Thanks for starting this group. We learned the hard way in Omaha...the one thing I can say NOT to do is to plan a restaurant for part of it. It limits the people who can go. If you have someone who doesn't mind sharing their house; it is much more pleasant and more people can participate.

My house is too small to hold gatherings. Also my house cannot be found without a treasure map! LOL! I literally would have to give someone with a GPS the actually coordinate of my home to get them there. You can't find it by just plugging in the address in a GPS or Mapquest.
I am going to start encouraging hosting especially for our summer get-togethers. We primarily do ours at restaurants. It depends on the economy in your area. In our area even if you want to do a cookout you have to pay a deposit for the parks and pavilions in our area. The recreation centers are the same way you have to pay deposits and per hour for meeting rooms.
Each area will have different situations. Joan who hosts the Houston meetings has access to a country club - Some people may have a church meeting room that would work great!
Most of the fitness centers around here are a little iffy on giving free passes because they want people to use those so they can sell a membership.

Kathy what a a great thread and such good info here. Thank you!

Kathy this is some great information and ideas!
There seems to be so few MO people in here, and maybe I'll have to change that!
mlou

Have you done a search under the members list for people in MO??? Use the keyword of your state name.

WOW! Thanks! I have searched but I had to re-think how I did it.
If I search St. Louis, or MO, I get nothing, or thousands from all over.... but if I search Missouri, I get us all. YAY!
Then I can rearrange the display.
OK MO! I am looking for YOU!