Frequently Asked Questions
For those who like to understand things thoroughly...
Why is there a 'to go' option?
How do I invite guests not in my circle to a meal?
What is the best way to get started?
Answers
In short, the circle is a 'closed' network for a group of people. That means any meal you host is available to people within your circle.
A MealShare circle can take on a variety of shapes and sizes depending on if the network consists of members of a church or local club,
neighbors, or perhaps friends and families.
Invitations to join a circle can only come from members of the circle. MealShare is about tapping into your existing circles of friends.
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The most important consideration in forming a circle is inviting people that already know each other. While we have found it is not necessary for everybody in a circle to know every other member before they join, some common bond between members is important.
Also, the distance between members will play an important role to help determine who should be in a circle. MealShare is modeled after traditional neighborhoods where friends and families grow up together and share authentic community. The beauty of MealShare is that thanks to technology, geographic proximity is not as important as it was in the traditional neighborhoods. This site can help overcome some of the necessity for members to live in the immediate vicinity, although it will be more successful the less distance people need to travel.
For these two reasons, MealShare has been configured so that people can belong to multiple circles.
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You can be in as many circles as you like. Multiple circles will allow you to have a circle for
each network in your life - such as a circle for your church small group that wants to have more fellowship opportunities, and another circle for your neighbors
that like to get together when that tv show is on. You can even establish different households for each circle you are in.
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A household is a group of two or more people that join together within a particular circle. Forming a household has many benefits. Some benefits are convenient, such as being able to RSVP to events for each member of your household (saving them from having to individually RSVP). Others are functional, such as allowing households to share a hosting meter.
Users that form a household in MealShare do not have to be in the same family - they don't even have to live in the same dwelling!
When a household is established, they can "put their best chef forward" to cook meals. The lessor chefs of the family will no longer need to worry about their hosting meter.
How to establish a household:
- Sign in.
- Click on the 'my circles' button at the top of the page.
- Now click on the name of the circle for which you would like to set up the household.
- Finally, click on the 'Household Setup' button.
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Your hosting meter represents how often your household hosts meals compared with how often you partake in meals hosted by others. As you rsvp and attend meals, the spoon will move to the left, indicating you are consuming a larger share of meals than you provide. When you host meals that others attend, the spoon will move to the right.
The admins of your MealShare circle can adjust how sensitive the meter is to a single meal. If it is not sensitive, it will take a lot of meals to move the spoon in either direction. A highly sensitive meter, on the other hand, will move more for each meal. Admins can also turn the hosting meter off entirely.
Unless your circle has turned the hosting meter off, at some point if you continue to rsvp to lots of meals but never host one of your own, your meter will move so far to the left that you will be unable to rsvp to future meals until you host a meal (or more). This will prevent members of your circle from abusing the system.
Hosting meters are only adjusted when a host signs in to MealShare after their event has occured. At that time, she or he will report back on who attended and the hosting meters will be adjusted accordingly. On most browsers, you can hover your mouse over the meter to see the specific details of your hosting meter.
Important Note: When you create a household, all the members of your household will share the same hosting meter. So if one household member hosts
a meal, the meter will move accordingly for all the members of that household.
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Private meals are a way to host a meal for specific individuals. Basically, they are what you have been doing before MealShare came along. They are 'scoreless' meals in that the hosting meter will never move when you host or attend private meals.
When you are a part of MealShare, you've got this amazing piece of software for bringing people together right at your fingertips. We thought, "why not use this app to its fullest potential"? With the private meal button, you can invite individuals from your circle as well as any other guests who you would like to have over for a meal.
Only they will know about the meal - it won't show up on the pages of any person that was not invited. All the tools of hosting public meals are at your disposal - RSVP
times, email reminders, the ability to easily inform about protein source or spicyness issues, etc. So now having a little dinner party is easier than ever.
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Why is there a 'to go' option?
For many circles - often those with lots of small kids - the 'to go' option is a wonderful way for multiple busy
families to share the task of cooking hot meals for their kids. If five families with kids form a circle, each family could cook a large meal on just one week night, and the other families can
take portions home to their families for more manageable family meal time. Each family then gets to enjoy home cooked meals every night while only having to cook once! As a reminder, the
host does not need to provide any tupperware; it is the responsibility to the participant requesting the 'to go' order to bring any necessary containers.
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Potlucks, like private meals, are 'scoreless' in that they do not affect the hosting meter. There are two types of potlucks: simple ones, and advanced feature ones.
When creating a simple potluck, the host gives the event a name (or theme), and decides when it will be and how much available room there is. As each participant signs up, they will be able to see what others are bringing to help them determine what they ought to bring. When the RSVP deadlines passes, each participant will get a summary email with all the information they will need.
With the advanced feature potluck, in addition to the above options the host has a lot more control over what dishes need to be provided. The host can be as detailed as they need
to be in order to ensure that the event turns out as planned. As each participant signs up, they will pick from the available dishes that the host pre-selects.
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How do I invite guests not in my circle to a meal?
If you are throwing a private party or a potluck, the tool to invite guests is built into the confirmation page.
On the other hand, if you're hosting an open meal, you'll notice there is no tool to invite guests. In these situations, it's up to a host to invite outsiders to any open meals. Just
remember not to include those people when determining how many available seats there are for members of your circle to reserve.
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What is the best way to get started?
While MealShare does all the legwork for your circle, it still takes a little nudge from you to get the ball rolling. Begin by deciding what type of circle this will be - friends in the neighborhood, the members of a church small group, a cheese and wine club, or something else. Start by telling them about MealShare.
Once they have heard from you about the website, create a circle and then use our 'invite' page to have them join. After some of them have joined, host a meal. As they discover how
easy it is, they will reciprocate and before you know it, your circle is operating in full swing!
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We have a facebook app, an iphone app, a droid app, and other smart phone apps in the works. These will make it even easier to
schedule last minute get togethers with friends and family. Find out more about what is in development from our twitter page.
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