Periodically, someone suggests a meet-up / fly-in somewhere.
Most of them never happen. Apathy Rules! So one has to do some work.
Start with a small “core group” of people known to you, who are “reliable”. Say 5. These will usually turn up so you are hihgly likely to have a good event – even if the other 45 stop responding 1 week before the date 
Contact these by PM, via some aeroclub structure, etc.
Remember a lot of the most reliable flyers are not really on the internet, will never join a telegram group, etc. Most of the most reliable people have an IR but that doesn’t mean they spend their life messing with IT.
If some critical mass develops, we can do an email mailing here – it goes to those who have allowed emails in their preferences; currently around 800. And I can add it to the meet-ups link on the home page. And anyone can start a telegram group; just remember that lots of people will join up who have no intention of going / have no plane / etc.
The core group is the most important thing. Most people do nothing until they see others going. And post-covid this has been the hardest thing; so many experienced pilots have dropped out of flying.
Having got all the above sorted, the location of course matters:
) and mud is a real risk with any recent rain (e.g. Venice Lido)And set the date early. Most people have incredibly busy lives and a “full filofax” for next 6 months
After my canceled flyin in Orleans I understand your frustration. In the last 24 hours before it, all the participants canceled and 2 new pilots showed interest.
Personaly, it is not apathy that make us sit in our couch (we don’t even have a couch).
It is also not a family reason, you know my wife likes to fly.
I tried to join many times before covid and it almost always failed due to weather. So now I am very reluctant to plan trips (being at place X on date D), for any reason (a fly-in, a wedding etc…).
If we did a flying vacation, it would be book N days and go where the sun shines. And even that, we will wait until the little one is a little older 
In addition, we are on a budget at the moment.
We talked about a family weekend but one has to roll up his sleeves and launch it. I hope to do it someday but not in 2023.
In my case, having “not at work/aeroplane available/aeroplane serviceable/weather OK” all line up for a fly in on a set date is …with go/nogo usually a couple of days beforehand… difficult…
I cant be the only pilot in this situation.
I agree, but what has changed since say 5-10 years ago?
Everybody I know who runs a business says covid has changed attitudes to “doing stuff”.
We have done the “how much support are people looking for on a fly-in” and similar topics before. And why some get large turnouts. Well, certain type specific groups just have a strong brand/community loyalty, especially when they have paid the (not published) sum of €400 or so And that pays for an organiser.
But I started this thread because I see various people suggesting fly-ins, like Elba Ibiza Læsø and getting almost zero interest. Somebody needs to drive it. It won’t “just happen”.
Our next one is Aero Friedrichshafen and currently we have 31 people going to the dinner on Friday 21st, so even with 50% attrition we will still have a good group. But that one took some effort.
Pre social media, my cousin used to organise yearly unofficial university reunions. He was in a couple of sports teams and numerous societies so had a large pre-existing network.
The first few years after graduating, people self-organised as they were already familiar with the restaurants and clubs, and came and went as they liked over a long weekend. The reunions got a reputation and the 3rd or 4th had 100+ people.
A few years later, people had more demands on their time (e.g. marriage, better job) and needed a lot more notice to book ahead; they also had higher standards and wanted more out of it (e.g. restaurant booking, better food, hotel recommendations). This became increasingly more work coupled with steadily declining attendance. Some people would even complain.
Regardless of the effort, at the end it was the same core people who would come. My cousin gave up, and just sent a group email and reminder saying, “I’ll be in the ‘Dog and Duck’ pub on this date next year, it would be great to see you, no worries if you can’t”. The last reunion, the 7th or 8th, he drove 1000km from Germany for only 2 attendees, both of which lived there.
There are parallels to EuroGA meetups 😀
Possible solution looking at reunions organised by the official alumni organisation. They are always in London, where most graduates end up, with chapters in such places as Hong Kong, Washington DC, Paris etc. These have a completely different focus, ostensibly networking, but in reality to get donations. They follow the successful and convince them to part with their money.
Not sure about all this stuff…
Attended the first European RV fly-in yesterday at LIKF, aka aviosuperficie Aviodelta. Little publicity, but fantastic Italian hospitality
And no less than a good dozen airplanes (yes, not only RVs, but a Sonex and 2 Big War biplane replicas) to grace the 500m grass strip.
Yes, grass, and no IFR approach, real grass root flying, so certainly a nogo for a EuroGA fly-in, or meet-up
You all draw your own conclusions.
Homebuilders is another community with a strong bond. And of course taildraggers prefer grass, not least because you can minimise the crosswind component.
The other thing is: who organised it? Must have been an Italian, and someone connected into the Aviosuperficie scene. That works: @Nestor did this with the FFA for our Carcassonne meet-up in 2016. A huge group turned up.
As I keep saying, one needs someone to drive it. It won’t just happen.
@Dan & @Peter,
France is still a little paradise with roughly 100 grass airstrips. Lots of them in scenic parts of the country : good food in traditional family-style restaurants, affordable bed & breakfast, welcoming air clubs. We have a yearly event to celebrate them, Grass cockpit Warter tour challenge.
You can Google Translate this article :
What about doing that way?
Decide that there will be one defined regular EuroGA fly-in every year on the same approved location and on the same weekend. Example: LFBH La Rochelle, first weekend of May.
Everybody will know about it, can plan the weekend and it might be possible to announce the event during the year on the homepage and on the printed flyers of @Peter.
As a special attraction for spontaneous positive response we might organize short before a special thing. Example boat trip etc.
I always look for why something won’t work and the problem with your idea, Peter, is that a lot of people from Country X will not travel to Country Y as a matter of principle. I see this on fly-ins generally.
So fixing the location would exclude quite a lot of people, unless the location was carefully chosen. I could write more but the thread would go off the rails pretty fast. It’s a tricky topic
On La Rochelle specifically, it’s a great destination but most won’t come from the rest of Europe because it is right on the far edge of Europe (well, Spain is further).
One fixed location which seems to work is Aero Friedrichshafen. Right now I am looking at a pretty big group. It works because
What I think lots of people don’t know is that the area is really scenic, with boat trips around the lake, etc. The Aero itself, well… 1 day is enough!
