Published on Meetup?

Karen, I think you'll get the best response to this in the Publishing forum, since it's a question of rights etc., so I'm going to move you over there.

My understanding is that it would be considered published if it was posted where the general public could see it. If it's behind a password or otherwise on a setting where only your meetup group members can see it, then it wouldn't be considered published, imo.

If you are currently under contract, carefully peruse the fine print. I've seen at least two contracts in the last year that hosted language that an IP attorney cautioned me could be construed as to classify almost anything accessible (via internet) as published - password restrictions notwithstanding. I declined both of these contract offers for a host of cumulative reasons, but this particular pitfall was certainly numbered among them.

Also, read Meetup's terms and conditions before you post. Some sites take copyright to all that's posted to them.

If you up load it as a file and mark it "for members only", as I read it there is no real different between that and emailing it to those people. That is how my Meetup group does it. It also avoids formatting problems.