Just as a trial, I changed the announcement about the empeg meet to a global announcement. That means it shows up at the top of every forum. I personally don't like this, but it is one of the few ways to make sure it is seen for those who only bookmark and browse Off Topic.

I am open to suggestions though on better ways to handle this. If it's a suggestion that isn't possible with the current code, the 8.0 release is around the corner, and now would be a good time to make suggestions to UBB.

One alternative is a "content" island, basically adding a sidebar to the left or right of the site. I'll have to dig into other possibilities later.