'Twas brillig Sunday 09 July 2006 11:15 pm, when Kelly Martin scrobe:
One of the problems we have is that the US is much larger than most other countries with national chapters, and we are probably going to need to consider establishing regional subchapters.
My first thought on this was to start with the various WikiProjects for states (I'm active with WikiProject Wisconsin, for example). It seems reasonable for smaller and mid-sized states to arrange quarterly or semiannual Meetups within the state (larger states like Texas or California may have trouble organizing such events for everyone in the project to attend).
Reading further, it seems we might be able to organize annual regional Meetups based on, perhaps, [[en:Template:U.S.Regions]]...
For comparison, I'm also very active in the National Model Railroad Association. That organization holds a national convention at one location in summer (this year's convention just concluded in Philadelphia, next year is in Detroit and 2008 is in Anaheim) and one or two annual conventions for each region located within a city in the region (the Midwest region convention was in Chicago this year and will be in Muncie, Indiana, next year). Local divisions (such as the South Central Wisconsin Division, based here in Madison) hold monthly meetings normally September through May.
I think for this organization, national conventions and monthly local meetings are probably out, but we can look somewhat seriously at annual regional meetings. The local organizers can usually get space at a local school on a weekend for cheap (which will often include wireless access); the Madison school district makes its school gyms available on weekend days for as little as $25/day, for example. Our meetings may even be small enough to be privately hosted at someone's home, further reducing the costs.