I've talked with a bunch of people who want to put on a meet,
and finally wrote down what I said.

A lot of things affect a meet turnout....including reading this thread...
Feel free to post your own thoughts. If offended, don't read this.-Bob
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Below are some things which I've seen.
Some of this is psychological and related to human behavior.
These are just observations and not criticisms and if someone disagrees,
they believe what they believe and I don't plan to argue.
I don't have to prove what I have seen and I don't "have to be right"
and you should run your meet the way you think you should.
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Here goes with some general principles of meets:
1.Not every person can make it to every meet....work/other conflicts/etc.

2.Last minute postings have lower turnouts than meets with six week advance .postings. Meets with more postings are believed by some people to have more interest than meets with fewer postings.

3.Sometimes meets conflict with other meets. People will go to
A.A big meet.
B.A fun meet.
C.A convenient meet.

4.Daytime meets in the same location are more successful when held about every 3 months. Meeting every month is too close together.

4.1. Evening meets during the hot summer months will be more successful
that a daytime meet as long as there is plenty of lighting.

5.If people had a good time at the last meet in a certain location, they are likely to return to another meet in the same place. A repeating "annual" meet will usually be successful. A meet as a benefit will usually be successful.

6.Number of people "signing up" is not always accurate as to how many will actually show.

7.If the meet organizer wavers as to whether the meet is going to happen, or makes frequent changes, people start to have doubts,
and won't show for an uncertain meet.

8.If a meet organizer bails out/cancels a meet/doesn't show himself,
people have doubts about whether his next meet will be held or not.

9.People sometimes arrive at a meet late because
A.they want to be part of something successful, and
B.they psychologically will give time for others to show up, since
C.they want to be seen by people when they arrive and
D.they don't want to show for a meet where "ain't nobody here".

OK, folks. People who put on meets can tell us what you learned and which meet you learned from...
If this will help others, we might sticky it so others can read it and benefit.-Bob