Do you want to meet social changemakers and web innovators in your town? Consider starting a Net Tuesday.

There are 16 Net Tuesdays being organized at the moment. You can see them all on our new NetSquared Meetup Alliance page.

If you're interested in starting a Net Tuesday, here's what you need to do:

1. See if there is a Meetup already happening in your city, or if there are people in your city who would like to start a group with you at http://netsquared.meetup.com/about.

2. Email me at bbravo@techsoup.org so I can help you getting started. Once you have had one Net Tuesday, and your group decides that it wants to continue meeting, we will set you up with a NetSquared Meetup group.

3. Find another person to organize the event with you. We've found that Net Tuesdays with two or more organizers last longer than ones with one organizer.

4. Pick a Tuesday to meet. We recommend keeping the same time each month (i.e the 2nd Tuesday of the month) so people can add it to their calendars ahead of time.

5. Decide what you want your first meeting to be about. Take a look through the groups in the NetSquared Meetup Alliance to see what kinds of topics other groups have used. Some groups have speakers, some have hands-on trainings, some have discussions, others have "Pimp My Nonprofit" sessions where the group brainstorms how a local nonprofit can take their web presence to the next level. You can try different kinds of topics and formats each month to see what suits your group's needs the best.

6. Find a venue for your event. Ideally it will have WiFi, be near public transportation, and be wheelchair accessible. If they sell food and drinks, it is a plus, but not necessary.

7. If the venue doesn't sell food and drinks, see if you can get food and drinks donated. Let the sponsor know you’ll put their name in all of your outreach messages, and that they can have a sign at the event. If you have alcohol, be sure to have non-alcoholic options and food too.

8. Spread the word. Once you have a date, time, place and topic, start letting people know about your Net Tuesday at least 2 weeks beforehand. I can post about it on the NetSquared Blog (and so can you). We can also list it in the Net2 e-newsletter and let the members of our NetSquared Facebook group know about it. In addition to letting friends and colleagues know about your event, list it on nonprofit technology related list servs, social networks and other technology and social change related sites. Try Twittering it too!

Here are some of the places we list Net Tuesdays in San Francisco:

Craigslist
Eventful
501 Tech Club (NTEN)
Going.com
Idealist
Laughing Squid
Progressive Exchange
Upcoming
SF Station
SF WoW
Tribe
WorkingAssets Newsletter
YNPN
Zvents

9. Ask people to sign in with their name and email when they arrive at your event and have boxes to check if they:
• Would like to be added to your NetSquared Meetup group
• Are already a part of the group
• Do not want to be added to the group.

10. As your group grows, ask members if they would like to blog, take photos, videotape or podcast at the event.

Whether you are a nonprofit, a techie, or a nonprofit techie Net Tuesdays are great ways to meet like-minded folks who want to use the social web for social change.

Questions? Email me at bbravo@techsoup.org