As a complement to our Frequent Miler Insiders Facebook Group, we have started a new meetup / seminar series: FM to Go. We have often had readers ask us to visit their town, and we’ve wanted to. But we didn’t previously have a good way to pick where to go or how to organize a gathering in towns we don’t know well. FM to Go is the answer. Our next FM to Go is going to be in Philadelphia on February 16th and there are still some spaces left. Read on for the key info and a link to register.
We held our first FM To Go in February 2019 in San Diego. We met at a local library that had free meeting space, which was available from 1pm to 5pm. We presented various topics and answered lots of questions. Afterwards many of us went to dinner at a nearby pizza place. Other than the fact that everyone had to pay for their own dinner, there were no charges for this event.
We then continued with FM to Go events in Minneapolis and the San Francisco Bay Area last year and both went very well. We had a good time and readers seemed to enjoy both the presentations and the opportunity to network with others “in the game”.
Frequent Miler Insiders and now Meetup.com
FM to Go events are intended to be extensions of the Frequent Miler Insiders Facebook group. Our Facebook group has proven to be much better than blog comments as a way for people to interact with each other. We’re now taking it a step further to hopefully get to know you personally. Side note: if you haven’t yet joined, you can join the Frequent Miler Insiders Facebook group here.
However, we recognize that not all readers have Facebook. For that reason, registration for our latest event is via Meetup.com. Attendance at this one is limited to 60 people based on the venue space, so please do not sign up unless you are sure you will attend. Here is the key info:
Next FM to Go event: Philadelphia
Date: Sunday, February 16, 2020
Place: Parkway Central Library, Philadelphia
RSVP Here: https://www.meetup.com/FM-to-Go/events/267973905/
How we decide where to go
The primary approach to picking the FM to Go date and location begins with Greg and I picking a weekend when we’re both free to travel. We then post that date on the Frequent Miler Insiders Facebook Group and ask for proposals. Who wants to host us? Group members who are interested can then discuss ideas via location specific chat groups within the Facebook group. Finally, once a rough plan has been established, they post the proposal to Facebook. If there are multiple proposals for the same date, we will pick the proposal we prefer. For example, if we have to choose between Wisconsin or Florida in January, you can bet we’ll see you in Florida, but a summer FM to Go would have the opposite result.
The second approach (which was in-play for the Philadelphia event) is for Greg and I to realize that we will be in the same place at the same time anyway and might as well do an FM to Go while we’re there. It happens that we will be in Philadelphia for a separate event anyway, so yeah. We’re doing it.
We’re not looking for anyone to pay our way. We have our own miles for flights and points for hotels. We’re doing this because we love meeting with group members and sharing things that we don’t cover on the blog. This is a way for us to connect with you. Hopefully we’ll see you soon!
Other upcoming events
FTU Washington DC (+ Travel & Adventure Show) 3/7/20-3/8/20: Greg will talk about our 40K to Far Away challenge and I’ll talk about Awards worth MSing for. Find more detail and a link to registration on our events page.
Ann Arbor Art Fair Do July 2020: I’m not sure whether we’ll be able to make it this year, but I highly recommend this free event to all miles & points collectors. I don’t believe that 2020 information is out yet, but keep an eye on Flyertalk for info. This was last year’s thread.
Chicago Seminars October: We will likely present in Chicago at this annual event, which I believe will be held from October 16-18, 2020 . Once details are released (typically around mid to late summer), we’ll update our event schedule page with a link. I highly recommend this one too. It’s not free, but it’s cheap.
We always add events like these to our Frequent Miler Event Schedule page, so bookmark that page if you are interested in keeping track of future events.
[…] travel times, attending conferences like Frequent Traveler University, the Chicago Seminars, or our FM to Go sessions can help to make connections within the community and learn of opportunities before they are gone. […]
[…] Frequent Miler in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Greg (the founder of Frequent Miler) is hosting the FM to Go event on Sunday, February 16, 2020, and I cannot wait to learn more about making the best use of […]
Please come to Dallas!
Genuinely curious what you both are doing in Philly that weekend.
I’m too busy [re: too lazy] to organize an event in Houston, but maybe someone else will take charge. I lived in Philly and would love to go back for a short visit but can’t make it happen due to other travel plans.
HOUSTON Is an under-the-radar awesome city, with incredible food bring the main selling point.
Come to Htown!
We were invited by a university group to do a presentation, so we were going to be in Philadelphia for that and figured we’d see if there was interest in a Frequent Miler event for readers since we were already going to be there.
Thanks for the tips on Houston. I’ve actually been there a few times, so I know you’re right that it’s a cool place to visit! That said, thus far, we haven’t been choosing FM to Go events based on our desire to visit one city or another though. There are tons of great places to visit, but if there are only five readers in a great place, it doesn’t necessarily make for a good FM to Go event. Besides, Greg and I are typically flying in for these events the day before and flying out the day afterward — the draw for us isn’t so much in which place would be a cool place to visit but rather where is there a group of readers interested in having a miles-and-points event (and with a person or two willing to do the legwork in terms of finding a venue and dinner options for afterwards). So if you find that you know a number of people in Houston interested in having an event, keep an eye out for the next time we post looking for proposals.
Seattle area! Eastside – Bellevue
No one ever comes to south florida…sigh.
Now that’s not true – everyone around me wants to be in South Florida this time of year! :). It’s just a matter of getting a group of people together to propose it.
Philadelphia came to be because Greg and I needed to be in Philadelphia for something else and thought we’d see if there was interest among Philadelphians in doing an FM to Go since we’re going to be there, and there was/is.
But generally speaking, I love the idea of South Florida at this time of year!
I second South Florida!
Come back to SF! Are these events free to attend?
FM to Go events are free unless there is a fee for the facility or food (in the Bay Area, there was lunch that could be ordered ahead for whatever the cost was per person for sandwiches). So far we’ve done these at spaces like libraries since they tend to have free or very inexpensive meeting spaces. Greg and I don’t charge anything for our travel or time.
FTU and the Chicago Seminars both have registration fees. I think the Chicago Seminars were $125 last year. FTUs are usually something like $230 I believe, but this time around it is less because it is one day (though your ticket includes admission to the Travel & Adventure Show both days).
I believe the Ann Arbor Art Fair DO is free.
I’ll see you in D.C. Looking forward to it.
Is there even one person in that room that is under the age of 40?
I mean, I was in that room.
Not sure what that has to do with anything though?
[…] before the weekend. But I felt confident Uf === that this was correct that I talked about it at our FM to Go Minneapolis event that weekend, telling people that I was reasonably confident that Hawaii could be booked this […]
[…] for sunnier skies when the arctic freeze sets in at home (hence why I was in Hawaii in January, San Diego in February, and Japan in early April for cherry blossom season. Ok, so I did hit up some snow on that last […]
Link to the Bay Area Sept 7 meetup is broken. Anyone have a good link to RSVP?
[…] all of the Citi Transfer Partners. I recently stumbled on a gem that I shared over the weekend at FM to Go Minneapolis: you can fly from the mainland US to/from Hawaii for 7.5K each way in economy class. If […]
[…] of my friends and family because of just how true this piece is. Maybe that’s why events like FM to Go are so much fun: surrounding yourself with others who enjoy this stuff can be just the breath of […]
[…] the coming months, we have FM to Go events scheduled in Minneapolis and the Bay Area. While I had assumed I would fly award tickets to those […]
[…] the tune of exactly 16%. One of the things I enjoy most about going to meet ups and now doing our Frequent Miler to Go series is learning about the ways in which people with the kind of mind attracted to miles and […]
I must have missed the announcement about the SAN meetup. Would have definitely tried to come out and meet you guys in person.
Same here….I missed the event 🙁
Me too!!! I’m disappointed I missed the event!
Yayy Bay Area…but I guess I have to re-activate my facebook account…
Why do use facebook? Facebook is evil.
I guess my choice to not use FB because of their terms and data breaches means I’m not ‘in the club’. I’ll still use comments even though it’s just for us paranoids or data privacy conscious folks. And yes, I realize there’s data privacy I give up everyday even in this comment, but FB is a whole other animal/beast.
^ This
I actually joined the group, but deleted Facebook early last year and haven’t logged in since. If running a forum is too much work, Slack can be a decent compromise.
Hmm, does this mean I have to start using Facebook?
Cool! You guys and Doc are the only bloggers I’ve any real interest in meeting!
PDX Please
I’ve got a spare room you guys can share
See you in San Francisco!
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