For members

Find your next thing, and the people to go with.

Gather Nearby is not only an organizer dashboard. It is a member home for finding local plans, building a profile with real texture, meeting companions safely, and staying connected after you show up.

Browse gatherings Build your profile

Member home

Maya R.

@mayagathers

Curious about urban sketching, ceramics, neighborhood history, and long walks.

SketchingCeramicsWalks

Oakland this week

Evening film photo walk

Saved for Saturday. Two neighbors are also looking for a companion.

Find people to go with

Companion group

AMeet by the main entrance?

JI can bring an extra roll of film.

The member loop

From browsing to belonging.

The user journey should feel like a sequence of small, concrete commitments instead of a giant social network.

1
Discover what is nearby
Browse gatherings, clubs, and Places to Learn by city, date, category, and the kind of night you want.
2
Save the maybes
Keep a shortlist of gatherings you want to compare, share, book, or revisit later.
3
Find people to go with
Raise your hand from saved gatherings when you would rather show up with another neighbor.
4
Talk before you show up
Use companion groups, direct messages, and event threads to coordinate without moving to another app.
5
Stay connected after
Mutual opt-in connections, profiles, following, and notifications help the relationship continue.

Full feature set

Everything a member needs before, during, and after.

These are user-facing capabilities. None of them require managing a club, organization, or host dashboard.

Rich profiles

Show enough texture to make real-life plans feel natural.

A member profile is not just a name and avatar. It can carry your current curiosities, past lives, places you show up, writing, books, films, talks, courses, clubs, and learning lineage.

Build your profile

Headline, bio, cover image, avatar, location, and public handle.
Currently, past lives, curiosities, ask-me topics, talks, writing, notes, books, and films.
Per-item controls for which clubs and courses appear on your public profile.
Journey and learning-tree modules for the gatherings you attend or host.

Companion plans

Find people to go with without turning the product into a dating app.

Companion intent starts from an actual gathering. You save something, raise your hand, review who else is interested, then join a group thread when it makes sense.

Open saved gatherings

Raise or cancel your hand from the saved list.
Interest counts stay fuzzy until names are appropriate to reveal.
Profile vetting, companion group chat, and group membership checks keep context attached.
Block, report, hide-me, and 18+ confirmation controls are part of the flow.

Local discovery

Move from broad browsing to a plan you can actually make.

Gather Nearby should help a member answer: what is happening nearby, who runs it, who else might fit, and whether this is worth leaving the house for.

Browse gatherings

Gatherings, clubs, and provider profiles sit in separate but connected discovery surfaces.
City, category, time-window, and curiosity pages keep discovery concrete.
Saved items, following, and notifications make return visits useful.
Places to Learn gives studios, schools, instructors, and organizations their own directory.

Connection layer

Keep the social graph tied to showing up, not endless scrolling.

Members can message, follow, and reconnect, but the product centers real attendance and mutual consent instead of follower-chasing.

View connections

Direct messages, organization messages, and companion group threads live in one inbox.
Post-event connections only reveal profile links when both people opt in.
Following surfaces activity from people, hosts, and local interests you care about.
Calendar and notifications keep upcoming plans from getting lost.

Safety and control

Give members enough control to meet new people without feeling exposed.

The member-facing social layer needs trust controls in the same places where discovery and messaging happen.

Review safety

18+ confirmation gates companion matching before social reveal.
Block, report, mute, leave, and hide controls are available across companion and message flows.
Profile visibility controls let members decide which clubs and courses are public.
Guidelines acknowledgement sits in the messaging path before conversations continue.

Member tools

A feature inventory that belongs to the attendee.

Profile

Your public identity, interests, history, and social proof from showing up.

Saved

A short list for gatherings you may book, compare, share, or use for companion intent.

Calendar

Your enrolled gatherings, hosted sessions, and venue bookings in one place.

Messages

Direct, organization, and companion conversations with safety controls nearby.

Connections

People you met at a gathering and mutually chose to stay in touch with.

Following

A quieter feed for people, hosts, and local interests you want to track.

Gatherings

Classes, walks, workshops, and local experiences with clear hosts and context.

Places to Learn

Studios, schools, instructors, and organizations with their own profiles.

Trust model

Social features should earn their way in.

The page should make the member promise explicit: Gather Nearby helps you meet people through real plans, while preserving room to move slowly, decline, or leave.

Read the guidelines

Reveal gradually

Counts can be fuzzy, profile links can wait for opt-in, and members can preview before joining.

Respect boundaries

Blocks, mutes, leave actions, and hide-me controls let a member reduce contact quickly.

Escalate clearly

Reports can attach to profiles, messages, and companion interactions with moderation context.

Start as a member

Pick one gathering. Save it. See who else is going.

That is the smallest useful loop: discover something real, make it easier to show up, and let the social layer grow from there.

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