Our future

[Reef Bass]

Hello fellow Wine Country Reefers. I know there are at least a few of you out there!

As we are all painfully aware, the club is struggling. Membership and attendance are at a recent low and that makes it difficult for the club to function.

During my time with the club, I have learned a lot, scored some delightful frags and even made some connections with people who are not just fellow reefers, but whom I consider friends. I think the potential upside is large and would like others to experience the same.

I don't have a magic solution for the situation and invite you to give your thoughts on where we go from here.

New leadership is one idea. Having served as a board member for a number of years twice now, I certainly wouldn't mind new fresh energy with fresh ideas taking the reins. I'd wager Grant feels similarly and we all owe Bob a huge thank you for the outstanding amount of time he has given to the club and the terrific job he has done during his many years as club Treasurer.

Is there a future for our club? And if so, how do we get there? Please let everyone know what you think. Our future is in our hands.

Thanks.

 

[Dragonvale]

As a previous president I noticed it took a multiple of items needed. Passion, networking with other clubs, rapport with shops, a supporting cast in the club that can handle other items needed etc... At one point I want to say we had close to 30 members and some individuals coming as far as Fairfield, concord and Hayward. It was hard work but it injected life into the club. Whats sad is that the normal expectancy of a new member coming on board then dropping off is about a year to a year and a half. Which I can understand due to the cost of this hobby and doing it the right way.

Sorry for the rambling. At this point I feel there shouldn't even be a board besides Bob handling the money side (thank you Bob). Otherwise it would be the board with 4 other members as the club LOL. I feel we need to see how much money we have left. Purchase items to get people offer the butts to get them to our frag swap. What also helps is having members list what their bringing to the swap. Also don't we have grow out pieces out there that can contribute to the swap? There's another corals farmers market early Feb so maybe March. That would give more than enough time to plan out something nice. Just my 2 cents.

***Also it helps when people get involved. To have 60 views and I'm the second person posting is sad***

 

[LittleBigReef]

I agree, I think the problem is.... nobody is at all active on the thread, all we do is say who wants to have a club meeting, a dozen people say yes and in the end nobody really goes. I've only been to one so I'm part of the problem as well. Most reefing activity takes place on Facebook now. If u look at the 916 page it has more posts on Facebook than it does on the forums. But what makes a great club is sharing your problems and helping others out, giving, tradeing, selling, tank build threads, positive comments, and a large population of people to combat the fallen soldiers of the hobby. We have a minuscule of all those things. If getting the club to grow is the most of our worries then we need to start by reaching out to local clubs in the area such as Mars and bar. Do some joint events to get the WCR name out there, advertise a little on the Facebook pages, Caesars LFS, and most importantly be active on our own threads. Post dumb stuff if you have too, just be active. Nobody is going to join or post anything if they see the only recent listing is 5 weeks ago. I too will do a better job when I get my tank up and running again in a month.

My 2 cents. Thanks.

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[swk]

Our future

FWIW - when this club was essentially dead, I organized a meeting and booked a room at a local Round table to meet and discuss this exact thing. There was adequate notice. A few details

1 - 2 people besides myself showed up

2 - multiple people told me they weren't coming when I informed them there wouldn't be coral...this says a lot. Everyone wants the goods but wasn't interested enough to have to work for it. Human nature I suppose.

This was an opportunity for folks to fight for their club if they wanted it. The interest just isn't there. I think folks are still able to meet up at a buddy's house and talk shop if they want, but a formal club is not needed here as far as I can see.

 

[thysrof]

It is truly sad to see this happen.To answer Jason's Question we have $290 in the raffle fund. We might as well spend it on corals and have a raffle and see what happens.

 

[CRreef]

Maybe we could start a facebook page? that way will be easier?, i do check my email almost everyday,but a facebook notification is faster and easier to check, at least for me.

 

[mav3rick478]

We do have a Facebook page. I was posting but never really got much reactions from people except when I would post about upcoming club meetings and even then there wasn't much interaction.

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[CRreef]

We do have a Facebook page. I was posting but never really got much reactions from people except when I would post about upcoming club meetings and even then there wasn't much interaction.

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Oh shoot!, maybe we could try something different? be like the Mormons lol, text the guys from the club and ask how are they doing? or see if they need help cleaning the tank?.
Well i'm new in the club i had the opportunity to attend to only one meeting, it was at your house i think, i did get frags and it was cool, but also meet people who share the hobby is the best, learn from 'em.
:beer::beer:

 

[Reef Bass]

Hey guys.

Thanks everyone for your input.

It's been a week without additional opinions.

We have a number of suggestions as to how to possibly increase interest and membership in the club. Which ideas should we implement and who is going to take the reins and drive each?

To quote the venerable Thysrof, "If we each do a little, then no one has to do a lot".