ChicagoPriusGroup.org

First I must thank Tony for letting me kick him around.

Take a look around us. BobZ, mrbigh, terri and others have the Long Island group growing-even have their own logo. Michgal007 is getting some good response to getting an AnnArbor, MI. group going. Sleeka in Brisbane, Australia has 11 people to start-if someone wants to pay my airfare I would volunteer to go there and support them. The OC and San Diego groups have been around a while.

Then let's look in our backyard. Eric Powers in Madison has had a hybrid group up there for years. Bradlee has had the Milwaukee Hybrid group since the beginning of the year, last meeting had over 30 people. And their groups created Hybridfest.

Now for Chicago, one of the 10 largest metropolitan areas in the country. There have to be 1,000's of Prius in this area. There are some darn smart, funny, insightful, talented people who post on PriusChat from the area. There are some great lurkers who read PriusChat. Let's get together.

Recently I posted to POL, yahoo ChicagoPrius, yahoo MidwestPrius, yahoo Prius2G, yahoo toyota-prius about a meetup through GreenHybrid. We had 4 PriusChat members show up.

What Tony is talking about is getting together, sharing about the Prius we have in common, and everyone taking a (very)small part in helping running the bigger group. Can't hurt anyone, could probably benefit most. Let's try it!

Wayne

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(FireEngineer @ Sep 22 2006, 09:25 AM) [snapback]323345[/snapback]</div>

I think this is a good idea, and we should reach out beyond PriusChat members. There were 4 PC members at the Schaumburg meetup, but how many total were there? It was in the teens I think I read. So online Chicago Prius drivers include more people than what are affiliated with PriusChat (for some unaccountable reason ) Obviously there were more PC members at PC-only get-togethers, but the same might hold true for GreenHybrid, etc.

That being said, I unfortunately cannot help. I'm already slacking in my other volunteer commitments. If I could get paid for volunteering and hobby work, that would be great.....oh well, maybe this car will last 20 years and then I'd have enough saved to retire.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(nerfer @ Sep 22 2006, 09:55 AM) [snapback]323361[/snapback]</div>

Agreed.

Have you also thought about expanding beyond Prius owners?

I began the Madison Hybrid Group as a way to include all hybrid owners. When Bradlee approached me about starting his own hybrid group in Milwaukee I encouraged him to do the same.

I think Hybridfest would not have had the same flavor had we limited it to only on type of hybrid. I think hybrid owners of all kinds often have similar issues and have a lot to offer each other.

I'm sure you'll get suport no matter what you choose but I just wanted to add my two cents.

Lastly, have you thought about the name Chicago Hybrid Group?

 

thats fine as long as we play by Roberts Rules (newly revised)... kidding.

Looks like its a good idea, but we would need to somehow put someone in charge of coordinating this... co chairs?

and fire engineer stop kicking tony when he decides to nap.

 

Just popping in to say "hi."

Wish I could be an honorary member...I was born and raised (sounds like corn ) in Evanston...35 years in Chicagoland....I still miss my "home" territory...

I do hope the group gets up and running....I've only been to one meetup in LongIsland, but it really is fun and quite informative to share on a personal level...and it's awesome to see all the Prii lined up.

We have NYConrad (Emile) to thank for our logo....and, I understand, BobZ and others are working on t-shirts for iron-on logos...



terri

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(terri @ Sep 23 2006, 11:01 AM) [snapback]323891[/snapback]</div>

Hey! I'm a former IL resident as well. As a kid we grew up in Chicago on the very last street north and the very last block east. Our alley backed up to Calvary Cemetery.

As parrot_lady said, someone really needs to step forward to set the dates and times, etc. I've offered to set dates and times for groups before (and then not show up) just so that they at least got together!

Bradlee of the Milwaukee Hybrid Group has some great ideas and the full support of his family including his wife and teenage son. This really goes a long way in keeping family harmony so the hybrid group can keep meeting. Don't try to do this if your family doesn't support it! It will take some time, but is a lot of fun.

You can make you group as formal, or informal as you want. And then once a year head up to Hybridfest for the huge national hybrid meet up with all the other hybrid groups. (Terri, the Long Island Prius Owners should start making plans for the trip!)

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(terri @ Sep 23 2006, 11:01 AM) [snapback]323891[/snapback]</div>

Just backwards! Living in Evanston but born on LI.

Heaven knows there are probably more Priuses per square block in Evanston than in any place short of the HOV lanes in the state of California so I could find people to attend meet ups. Not a big job, admittedly, but with limited time, resources, & knowledge, at least it would be something.

 

Sounds like a good idea. I'm sure I can help out some how, even though the position of supreme ruler doesn't exist. We've had fairly good turn out at the couple things I've been to. And there area alot more Prii and other hybrids in the area.
The Chicago vintage Mustang group operates in an informal manner like you were mentioning. They get together loosely for cruise nights and made arangements with a Ford dealer that lets them use a couple service bays on a Sunday every couple months, and have a picnic in the fall, and in the winter they get hold tech get togethers at somebody's house to go work on their car. They have a web site http://chicago-mustang.com/ .

Mike

 

One thing though that I've seen come up before, is where to meet. Chicago is a big enough area when you include the suburbs, that either the south-siders or the north-siders are going to have a long haul. I don't want to be divisive, but maybe we need to have two groups, or have a system of alternating locations.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(TonyPSchaefer @ Sep 29 2006, 03:10 PM) [snapback]325727[/snapback]</div>

So Tony,

How is this coming along? Have you and Wayne formulated anything yet as to getting this project up and running?? Just curious as I have not heard anything more about it....

Teresa

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Fineagedwine43 @ Oct 31 2006, 11:03 AM) [snapback]341224[/snapback]</div>

Also, has anyone stepped up to fulfill some of the roles Tony described? Speak up if you did you so you can be congratulated! To make the group run smoothly we are going to need people who are willing to pitch in. As you mother always said, "Many hands make light work."

Here's the orginal list of open positions.

 

http://www.tripod.lycos.com/compare/compare.html

its slightly larger than what geocities allows (for the free end at least).

its a nice clean site... the only thing I can think of is that as time goes on, you might want to link to an external photoalbum (ie: photobucket) to save bandwidth and have a lot more pictures.

also I'd add a stat counter-- statcounter.com has a nice free one so you can see where your traffic is coming from. Other than registering with search engines and getting a list of search terms together, its a good basic framework.


got an old junk computer laying around? you could buy a domain name and convert it into a server-- thats what my clan did, they stuffed it in a basement of a clanmember's house and just leave it run it all the time, its cheaper than renting server space somewhere. I had no part of setting it up.. thankfully the guys did that.

oh and if you get wildly popular I'd go ad free and put google ads up there.... those things can generate money like you wouldn't believe.