Planning My Next Meetup [hopefully not MIS] Adventure (Part 5)
Posted by Mark on July 30, 2019 at 06:42 | Last modified: January 28, 2019 05:55After further review, I like the Meetup proposal I wrote last time. One concern is that its intensity may scare people off. I discussed this in the paragraph following the first excerpt here as well as the third-to-last paragraph here.
Another possible approach is to lighten it up by leaving specifics for an initial orientation meeting. I would then be using the website to get people in the door for a detailed PowerPoint (?) presentation. I might also be able to do some screening at the orientation by going around the room and having people answer a couple questions about what stokes their interest, past experience (if any), and available time for group work.
I can imagine one potential downside being attendance only by people for whom time and place is convenient. I can try and offset this by crafting an alluring pitch to encourage sign up. I can also offer the orientation different times in varied locations. Since the bulk of our activities will be online (something to explain at the orientation but not on the website per paragraph #2 of Part 4), I don’t want geographic distance to rob me of potential group members.
Here’s a rough draft for a revised Meetup pitch:
A pharmacist by training, I have been trading options full-time for a living in my own account for the last 11 years. I have been happy with my overall results, but I aim to be better.
Such is the motivation for the Michigan Option Trading Work Group. The purpose of this group is to teach option trading strategies and to develop option trading systems.
I believe this group has lots to offer beginner and advanced traders, alike.
Regardless of experience level, this group needs people who will participate on a regular basis. Those planning on lurking in the shadows and gleaning pearls of wisdom will not be welcomed.
This group also needs people with spreadsheet, programming, and/or statistical expertise. Data analysis and backtesting will be cornerstones for our trading system development.
In return for your participation, I hope to deliver substantial education about the fundamentals and intricacies of option trading and investing. Nobody can guarantee profitability (see SEC website), and I will not be trading for you. However, if the content discussed and activities pursued do not help you understand self-directed investing on a whole new level, then I will truly consider the group to have failed.
My vision for this is like no other trading group I have seen in 15 years. Since prediction is an endeavor that sees professionals fail time and time again, we will spend little time discussing events pertaining to world economies or debating stock selection. Instead, we will spend our time planning actionable trading strategy to prepare us for whatever the market throws our way.
The sentence in bold is debatable. I think it is honest. If I want to make this more enticing, then perhaps I leave it out. On the other hand, perhaps leaving it in will give people more confidence by preventing them from misinterpreting the group as being something it’s not.