Organizational Communication Audit 1. Provide a brief history of the organization Meetup.com is the largest and fastest growing social networks online. The CEO of meetup.com came up with this social network because of 9/11. Meetup was born in New York just shortly after the twin towers fell down. The CEO Scott Heiferman never talked to his neighbors before 9/11 happened but after that incident, he “found himself talking more to his neighbors. He also noticed that other people were talking more to other people next door and across the city who they'd normally ignore.” (Heirferman) After 9/11 there were a lot of people who were wondering how they could keep a long lasting bond that had been formed. Hence as to how meetup was born. (Heirferman) “Meetup was a place on the internet to get off the internet and grow local communities.” There was a lot of doubt with this idea. Yet nine months after 9/11 meetup was launched. (Heirferman) Yet here we are ten years later and meetup is thriving unlike any social networking group out there. Meetup.com makes it easy for anyone to organize a group or find a local group that is already meeting face to face. There are more than 9,000 groups that get together within the local communities. The primary mission of meetup “ is to revitalize local community and help people around the world to self-organize groups. Heirferman believes that people can impact the local community by organizing themselves into groups that are powerful enough to make a difference.” (meetup.com) Meetup.com has 13.5 million members, there are 125,957 meetup groups in 196 countries. Meetup has monthly meetings which averages approximately 377,104, the monthly RSVP’s are somewhere around 2.31 Million. (meetup.com) The best thing about this online social networking group is that it involves real time with real people. There are a bunch of Meetup Groups that consists of individuals within the local community that like to do anything and everything possible. This is a highly organized organization. (Richmond and McCrosky 2009 p. 1) Meetup allows people to find things to do within the community on the internet first then get off the internet and meet with each other off line. There are individuals who become organizers that set up a meetup and host an event for other people to come enjoy themselves and meet new people. There are three big local social meetups within Hampton Roads area. They are Hampton Roads Friends Event Networking (HRFEN 2,849 members), the Hampton Roads Runners (1,116 members), and Active Youth Social (AYS 1,292 members). I belong to HRFEN and AYS as well as a few other meetups. However I am very active with HRFEN I actually became an assistant organizier because I hosted few events in the past. 2. Offer an analysis of the current communication climate Meetup is a unique system, it gives individuals the opportunity to be leaders by letting them make up a group on meetup.com. Then from there these leaders of the gr.

1. Organizational Communication Audit
1. Provide a brief history of the organization
Meetup.com is the largest and fastest growing social networks
online. The CEO of meetup.com came up with this social
network because of 9/11. Meetup was born in New York just
shortly after the twin towers fell down. The CEO Scott
Heiferman never talked to his neighbors before 9/11 happened
but after that incident, he “found himself talking more to his
neighbors. He also noticed that other people were talking more
to other people next door and across the city who they'd
normally ignore.” (Heirferman) After 9/11 there were a lot of
people who were wondering how they could keep a long lasting
bond that had been formed. Hence as to how meetup was born.
(Heirferman) “Meetup was a place on the internet to get off the
internet and grow local communities.” There was a lot of doubt
with this idea. Yet nine months after 9/11 meetup was launched.
(Heirferman) Yet here we are ten years later and meetup is
thriving unlike any social networking group out there.
Meetup.com makes it easy for anyone to organize a group or
find a local group that is already meeting face to face. There are
more than 9,000 groups that get together within the local
communities. The primary mission of meetup “ is to revitalize
local community and help people around the world to self-
organize groups. Heirferman believes that people can impact the
local community by organizing themselves into groups that are
powerful enough to make a difference.” (meetup.com)
Meetup.com has 13.5 million members, there are 125,957
meetup groups in 196 countries. Meetup has monthly meetings
which averages approximately 377,104, the monthly RSVP’s are
somewhere around 2.31 Million. (meetup.com)
The best thing about this online social networking group is that
it involves real time with real people. There are a bunch of

2. Meetup Groups that consists of individuals within the local
community that like to do anything and everything possible.
This is a highly organized organization. (Richmond and
McCrosky 2009 p. 1) Meetup allows people to find things to do
within the community on the internet first then get off the
internet and meet with each other off line. There are individuals
who become organizers that set up a meetup and host an event
for other people to come enjoy themselves and meet new
people. There are three big local social meetups within Hampton
Roads area. They are Hampton Roads Friends Event Networking
(HRFEN 2,849 members), the Hampton Roads Runners (1,116
members), and Active Youth Social (AYS 1,292 members). I
belong to HRFEN and AYS as well as a few other meetups.
However I am very active with HRFEN I actually became an
assistant organizier because I hosted few events in the past.
2. Offer an analysis of the current communication climate
Meetup is a unique system, it gives individuals the opportunity
to be leaders by letting them make up a group on meetup.com.
Then from there these leaders of the group can assign others to
be assistant leaders. Even though I belong to several meetup
groups I am active with (HRFEN). This group is a very unique
group when it comes to communication. I have been involved
with this group for two years now. I have noticed that even
though there is the main organizer Vanessa Gatlin she has many
assistant organizers. The goal of the group is to get the
community involved as much as possible.
3. Provide a list of potential strengths and weaknesses
The strengths I see in this group are that it gives individuals an
opportunity to become a leader. It gives people a chance to go
to events based on their interest. It allows individuals to
network with other local business owners. It also allows more
local businesses to be involved with the community. Individuals

3. get familiar with the area more. Some weaknesses are when
people are new to meetup their isn’t a clear understanding of
how meetup works. For instance if someone hosts an event and
a new person goes to that event they look for that same host at
other events. Sometimes members misunderstand the
descriptions within the event by not reading description of the
event to its entirety. When we have big events, it is sometimes
difficult to find the host of the event even with posting
directions of where and what time one will be at the site.
4. Conclude with a strategy to improve the communication
climate of the organization by utilizing at least three of the
strategies we have studied in the Organizational Communication
for Survival textbook.
Christianity, Communication and Connections.
What is communication? Communication is always changing it
never stays stagnant. (Meuhlhoff and Lewis 2010 p. 41)
Therefore it is difficult to have a definition. Scholars have been
trying to define communication for a very long time. However,
communication is interpreted by individuals within the
communication field. Communication give off a dual function.
There is a scientific side to communication as well as an artistic
side.
Communication and science
Let's explore the scientific side for a bit. In order for
communication to happen between two individuals they have to
use their one of the five senses. That sense is hearing, be that as
it may hearing is the same as listening. To hear someone is the
act of perceiving sound by the ear. (Treuer 2011) Hearing is a
natural occurrence unless one is deaf one can hear. (Treuer
2011) Listening on the other hand, requires one to concentrate
and use their brain so that one can process to encoded messages
from the sender to the receiver. These encoded message have
symbols and that only the receiver can decode the symbols
within the message to comprehend what the sender is saying.
Yet, the sender has to have a close connection to the receiver

4. for the message to be understood. (Meuhlhoff and Lewis 2010 p.
41) Most of problems caused within communication today is
because people don't listen instead they hear mumbled sounds
Truer. People just assume that when two people are talking they
are automatically communicating. (Grohol) According to Grohol
“even though talking is a form of communication, if it is about
mostly about how the kids are or how is work” it is having
mindless conversations avoiding the important topics. (Saksa
2007) According to Grohol there “nine steps-to-better-
communication-today”. Some of these steps are as follows:
· we should stop and listen there are time where we rush to
keep talking just because we are afraid of not being heard.
· Force yourself to hear- Even though one has stopped talking
one's mind is talking. Therefore one is still not hearing what the
other is saying. If we catch oneself doing this with another or
vice verse we should ask them to rephrase what was just being
said. Simply state to the other person I don't think you are
hearing me.
· Pay attention to nonverbal signals- “Actions speak louder
than words” here. We should be mindful of our body language.
Meaning one's eye contact, or the personal space between each
other when talking to each other. If we are mindful of the
nonverbal signals we give off as well as the person we are
talking to we can have better communication among each other.
· Minimize emotions when discussing important issues- When
talking about life changing events it is better to leave emotions
out of them. Due to the fact that once emotionally charged in a
conversation one is no longer thinking rationally and clear.
· Compromise- Instead of arguing over who gets what
compromise that way everyone gets what they want and there is
no need for arguments.
Communication and art

5. Communication is a a form of art. It is like a private dance
between the sender and receiver that only they understand. It is
about two individuals that are on the “same page” or having an
understanding between each other and they are comfortable
talking with each other. It is not just our actions within our
body language.
My definition of communication
Communication is the sending and receiving of messages. It is
expressive, fluent rich in symbols and codes. Those individuals
decode to understand what the other person is trying to
communicate.
My reflections
Being that I am a single parent, have my own business working
over 50 hours, going to school full time as well as have a social
life, I did not think that I would have ever have made it to the
finish line but I did. My chosen area within the communication
field is speech pathology field. Although Speech pathology was
not offered at Regent University, I decided to stay. My interest
for speech pathology started back in 2000, I was at the time still
in the military and working part time for a family day home
child care provider. A speech therapist would come to the
daycare once a week and work with a three-year-old little girl to
help develop her speech before she started school. From there I
thought it this was a great concept to be proactive, identify any
speech problems before a child actually goes to school, and
work on their speech impediment early. That way when the
child or children do go to school they would be right on
schedule speech wise. Otherwise, if the parents wait for the
child or children to go to school then the child and or children
automatically become two years behind the other children.
When I attended face to face classes at Regent University in the
fall of 2011 I felt a sense of peace overcome as soon as I

6. stepped on the campus. Nothing like attending NSU! My first
semester I met Dr. Kidd, His teaching style was a relaxed
nonjudgmental teaching style. He made me feel welcomed and I
wanted to be there. I looked forward to going to class each
week. I also took some classes on line. In spring of 2012, I took
another face to face class with Professor Ayee. He was a joyful
happy person. I also enjoyed his class as well.
Fall of 2012 to spring of 2013, I have taken classes solely on
line. There is a different atmosphere when taking classes on line
then taking classes face to face. I feel it is a bit more difficult
to incorporate the bible with on line courses.