1. RSVPs

There is a limit on the number of people venues can accommodate so everyone attending an event is required to RSVP. Please only RSVP YES if you are fairly confident that you - and your guest if you are bringing one - will be able to attend.

Events are usually full, so if your plans change or your guest cannot come please update your RSVP as soon as possible so that someone else can come instead. Both you and your guest count towards the attendance cap.

When you arrive at an event find the welcome table to receive your BAFOE name badge and make your contribution to the BAFOE Operating Fund.


2. Waiting List

If an event is full, you can select the option to be put on a waiting list. You can take yourself off the waiting listing at any time if your plans change. You will be notified by email when a spot opens up and your RSVP will be automatically changed to YES.

Note that if you indicate that you are bringing a guest, the system will change your RSVP only when spots open up at the same time for both you and your guest. If only a single spot opens up, a person lower on the waiting list who is not bringing a guest will leapfrog you!


3. Final 24 hours [currently not applicable]

Events will be closed to new RSVPs 24 hours before the start of the event.

You can change your RSVP without any problem up to 24 hours before the start of an event but if you cancel your RSVP within the final 24 hours you may be recorded as a no-show if nobody claims your spot. If you are recorded as a no-show but feel there were extenuating circumstances that should be considered, please contact the organizer.

If the event is full and you join or are still on the waiting list 24 hours before the start, you will remain on the waiting list but you will not automatically be moved up and notified if a spot later opens up. You can, however, claim a spot when someone cancels by posting a comment to that effect on the event page. The place to post comments is located beneath the description of the event. When the first spot opens up post the comment "I claim spot #1" to claim it. That spot is then considered "taken" and nobody else should claim it. Claim the second spot with the comment "I claim spot #2", and so on.


4. Attendance List [currently not applicable]

When you arrive at an event find the welcome table to receive your BAFOE name badge and have your name checked off on the attendance list. Make sure that your name has been correctly checked off otherwise you will be marked as a no-show on your Meetup attendance record!

If you RSVP YES but do not come to the event you will be marked as a no-show on your Meetup attendance record. (See potential consequences below!) Event crashers - people who do not RSVP but still come to an event - will be marked as if they were no-shows.


5. "Early Boarding"

Active members who have accessed the BAFOE meetup site within the last 2 months, reliably attended previous events and have no recent history of no-shows, may receive early announcements of new events allowing them to RSVP before events fill up. Also included in early boarding will be recent newcomers to the group who have not yet attended an event. All members, including those not in "good-standing", receive event announcements but after the early boarders.


6. Egregious no-shows

"Three strikes and you're out!" People who have a pattern of no-shows within a relatively short period will be removed from the group and will no longer be able to RSVP for events.