Back when I lived in New York, I grew fond of the Reach for the Miles Meetup group organized by Mike from Upgrd and Stefan from Rapid Travel Chai. And I miss that now that I’m based in Dallas.

There currently isn’t a Dallas points & miles meetup, but I’m interested in putting one together if there’s enough interest. It costs time and money to organize, but I’m willing to put in the work if peeps want to show up to network and talk about all things points & miles.

I’m also currently engaged in a Slack channel organized by Dan from Points With a Crew. And I had a thought to start a new one.

Calling anyone who might be interested in either!

The Meetup

First things first, the Dallas metro area is obviously huge. I’m based in Oak Lawn, Dallas – near Uptown, Downtown, Deep Ellum, Knox/Henderson, and Highland Park. So any meetups organized will likely be in those neighborhoods.

I realize lots of folks live in the surrounding cities of the Metroplex, but… if I were to start a Dallas miles & points meetup, would those neighborhoods work for you guys?

Ideally, I’d like to find one to three regular joints, arrange a happy hour, and reserve a room or other area for us to meet in every 6 weeks or so.

The timing here is a bit funky because of the holidays coming up all in a row (Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Year), but if there’s interest, I’d like to organize a meetup before the end of 2016. And resume a fairly regular schedule going into 2017.

The idea is to find a place to host us, and whoever wants to join can RSVP through a Meetup group I will create. We’re all travelers of course, so you might not be able to make them all, but that’s fine. Right now, I’m just wondering how many of you guys are in the Dallas area and interested in an idea like this.

The Slack channel

• Link: Slack

Slack is pretty dang nifty. They have an app for pretty much every device. And it’s a great way to interact with a team of people.

As mentioned, I’m currently in the Points With a Crew Slack channel, with ~700 other people.

I’m grateful to Dan for organizing it. But I find the sheer volume of material to be overwhelming. Every time I log in, I’ve missed 1,000+ messages. It requires constant monitoring, and I simply cannot keep up. Although I will try better, Dan, if you read this!

I had another idea to create an Out an Out Slack channel – but strictly limited to 100 members.

That way we can have deeper discussions that move at a slower pace. And because I want it to be limited, I was thinking of having a very quick and easy questionnaire for membership. Because I’d like to get peeps who are interested in manufactured spending, reselling, award travel, credit cards, and of course points & miles.

Ideally, we’d form a little group and give one another tips and tricks, share ideas, and take some of the heftier content to a safe space online where it won’t get out or be leaked.

Are you interested?

If you’re game for either (or both!), please leave a quick comment here with something brief and be sure to leave your email (only I can see it).

Let me know which idea you’d like to see happen. And anything helpful you want to add (a venue you know of, a topic to focus on).

Depending on the demand, I’d like to start one or both pretty soon.

This will require my time and energy, so I just want to be sure it’s worth pursuing. If they work out, I’ll update with more details and sign-up links in a future post and keep the emails to reach out that way, too.

Bottom line

This is my first big step in potentially moving Out and Out to different venues, so I’m excited. And I wonder if I should give it a go.

Please leave a comment – it can be very brief – with which idea, the Meetup in Dallas or the Slack channel – you’re interested in. And be sure to leave your email. Again, only I can see your email.

Thank you guys so much – I’m continuously blown away by the amazing people I’ve met so far. Hopefully this leads to new ways to meet and interact. And if not, I’m grateful to have this little slice of online space to keep up with you. 🙂

Thank you thank you thank you!

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