Reef Club Meetings And Club Membership

[ducklabdad]

Everyone lets get your input about our club meetings and Club Membership!! We just had a geat Frag Swap handled by Malissa, and the Board of Directors, what can be done to increase club membership and attendance in meetings. :eek2:

The club has rotated meetings among members and we have had mixed attendance. It would be nice if we could increase the active membership in our club and increase club attendace at the same time.

Everyone answer these two questions!!

What would it take to get you to be more active in the club meetings?
If you are not a current Reef Club member here, what would influence you to join?

Throw your opinions and ideas out there for our board. They are who we rely on to direct us, but they need our input!:

 

[dolphinman213]

ok here goes my 1.5 cents-- i have not be able to make any meetings(as a gro. mgr(graveyard shift) it has been practically impossible to make the meetings, but i plan to start re-routing my schedules in order to be a part of the meetings-- here is my take
1. instead of membership dues being collected yearly, why not collect them monthly
2. increase the dues to 7.50 per month( hey as much as we spend on equipment and frags and such, i'm sure we all can afford 7.50 per month-- if we get at least 250 members to do that every month--that's 1,875.00 or 22,500.00 a year
3. with that change the club can afford to get a staionary building for meetings
4. every 6 months a different member will be responsible for the upkeep of the premises(cleaning--setting up for meetings) this way each member can bring a dish instead of just the host
5. we could set-up the library there--have equipment rental there and maybe even a tank set-up to showcase members donated frags, fish and etc...
6. this could possibly attract more members, while giving us a home to call our home
7. i'm quite sure that since we are a non-profit organization,we could possibly get some sort of government grant to offset personal costs

like i said it's just my 1.5 cents

 

[Doris M]

I enjoy going to different houses, it gives you the chance to see different setups, corals and fish. I wouldnt want to pay monthly. That comes to 90.00 a year. Kathy has enough problems getting yearly money now. I only wish meetings could be early in the afternoon therefore you would still have the night to go out with family and friends if you want. Also alot of people including myself dont like to be on the road late at night going home.

 

[dolphinman213]

you know there a lot of clubs out there that have monthly membership dues--- heck my job takes out weekly union dues that are more than the 7.50 per month

 

[Rendos]

What would it take to get you to be more active in the club meetings?
If I could get a day off once in a while. That would help tremendously.

I think the majority of meetings should be held where the majority of the members live. Having an out of town meeting occassionally is fine, but 4 in a row...that would explain low attendance.

 

[bshumake]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=13608092#post13608092 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Rendos
[BHaving an out of town meeting occassionally is fine, but 4 in a row...that would explain low attendance. [/B]

This is what I was thinking exactly. Now I know that we have many members and some of those members are in/near Jackson. In the early days of the club I drove to Jackson for meetings. Then once word got out the greatest majority of the members were in Memphis and the name was changes from JAMRAC to WTMRAC. The majority of our members are still located in Memphis, and for many that will always be a factor in which meetings they attend. Personally, I don't care where they are held. If I'm interested in attending I will. My schedule(and health) messed me up this past couple meetings, but I plan to attend meetings again.
There was a time when splitting the club based on geography was proposed and it was disreguarded. That may be something to look into again.

 

[ducklabdad]

Lets keep it going!! Everyone let us know why you would attend the meetings.

I know the out of tow is tough on me. Working Saturdays is a ("?<*^#@#)

We need everyones reasons in order to look at what needs to be done(if anything)!!

 

[dolphinman213]

my thing is this-- where does the membership dues go towards and how long does it last-- last time i checked the new website, i counted 50 members@ 30.00 once a year--that money can't go far-- we need membership dues every month to attract new members and do more events-- i mean seriously, we spend more than 7.50 a month just thinking about buying that frags from richard or dave, then we spend 4 times that amount driving to talk about that frag-- i know times are hard, but i know everyone can afford it-- we are a part of one of the most expensive hobbies around-- what does that say to newcomers when we can't afford to pay membership dues every month?

 

[alkamar]

I edited my post to keep things rolling along.

Marcus

 

[ducklabdad]

HOLD On!!! Please someone remove my thread quick!! I was asking for POSITIVE!! What would get people to the club>

Give me a break this is not al all where this was intended or should have gone!!! Please someone Remove this thread.

There is not one thing that I would do or propose in any way to Break up this club. Not one thing I would do or suggest would be but something that I thought was a positive thing for "THIS CLUB" not myself or any single individual or group but this club!!!

 

[ducklabdad]

I truly apologize for having posted this thread!!! I have requested that it be removed.

My original intent was to only have the original 2 questions answered.

I am out of here!!!!!!!!

 

[sperry]

I like having the meetings in peoples houses. It is cool to see other peoples tanks. I have gotten a lot of ideas about various things from seeing what others have done. From where I live EVERYWHERE is a long drive so the location isnt that big of a deal to me. I would like to see more of the host having a formal presentation of their tank. How you set it up, how long it has been running, corals you have and their temperament, pitfalls along the way. Typically stuff like that gets covered informally as individuals ask during the normal mingling and not everyone hears it. The "how to" meetings are always fun, more of those. I really like the meetings where we setup a tank at someones house. Be it a new one or moving everything from one tank to another.

 

[SNAKEMANVET]

I am like scott,I like the idea of seeing other members tank.As far as the drive,I know it is part of it.Most members are in the memphis area.We need more members to show up at meetings.So when somethings are needed to be voted on we have more input.I am open for suggestions on how we as a club can get more people/members interested in attending.

 

[Mako Shark II]

Hey Folks! I hope everyone's doing okay tonight.

Having spent a lot of time around conference room tables, dealing with board members and senior executives, here’s a little advise I’ve learned & given before, for whatever its worth:

Relax. No one thing is so important that it’s insurmountable.


Bill, you had originally asked:
1) What would it take to get you to be more active in the club meetings?
&
2) If you are not a current Reef Club member here, what would influence you to join?

Q) What would it take to get you to be more active in the club meetings?
A) I agree that proximity is a very real barrier to many folks. Ergo, at our next meeting, we will sit down and plot out the year. If someone has to fall off, then it’ll be their responsibility (with the Club in support) to find a replacements. That way, we could mix it up. Humboldt one month, Germantown the next, Jackson, then South Haven, and so on.

As to Monthly dues? Sorry, that’s non-starter. Cathy has enough accounting on her plate now and this is a volunteer lead deal, so we have to invoke the K.I.S.S. method.

I agree that having the meetings at people’s homes is critical for all the aforementioned reasons. Not only that, but I like to see people’s unique set-ups and visit them “where they live”.

I’ve missed several meetings just because my family pulls me in different directions, so perhaps we could broach the subject of alternate meeting Days, seeing as though we only meet for a couple hours anyway. At least once in a while, (every forth month â€"œ pick a number), host on a Friday night or a Sunday afternoon instead? I dunno.

Q) If you are not a current Reef Club member here, what would influence you to join?
A) Certainly not petty bickering.

Look, clearly THIS tribe of people has a well-spring of knowledge to share. Generally, most people are motivated by self-fulfillment: Money, food, sex and having a good time. (Sorry, just being real folks!)

Seeing as though everything about this hobby Costs Money, I’m losing out on sex, and I refuse to concede food, so that only leaves the Good Times, a.k.a. â€"œ Information, knowledge, experiences, sharing of ideas.

So, I like the idea of planned workshops to convey those notions personally. I drove to Tracy’s house, because I truly wanted to see his 150 cube. That kinda thing.


My point in all this is: a little proper planning and the right communication will yield the desired promotion.

Another thing: There are two types of Club Members: Seekers and Committed members (my word, I sound like the Evangelism Committee at church!) But it’s true! I personally joined the club initially, because of the discount at Kermit’s Reef. (Again: the Money element) But that was then.

Now, I’m really into gaining more knowledge through other people’s experiences, trials and successes.

Newbie’s who are stupid enough to drop $1,000 or more on a new set-up and NOT invest their time to figure out how to operate and sustain their investment, should exit the hobby.

But WE need to reach them, before they burn-out inn order to sustain their success, because they probalby don't really have a clue in the beginning anyway.

The balance of other, more experienced folks may not yet PERCEIVE the value, so it is incumbent upon us (Club Members and "salty" veterans) to explain it to them. Show them the benefits.

Look, if we get people to the meeting's and see our tanks, they'll WANT to stay, because then we'll have a "personal relationship" to them. (The hardest meeting I went to, was the first one!)

The LFS(s) could also assist us (and themselves) in promoting the WTMRAC by having all non-members, sign a Guest Book at their cash registers. I know for fact that neither one is truly keeping a Customer Master (file), so WE should, for OUTREACH purposes:

“Hey Sam, I understand you bought a 36-gallon Bow front from Kermit’s last week. Do you know about the (pick a subject) “Frag demonstration” coming up next week with our local Club?”

“What? You didn’t know about the Meeting because you were too excited about your new tank? Here, jot down this website / thread and have a look, then call me………”

So my bright idea (Thank you for finally getting to the point already!) was to have the meeting (occasionally) as a day-time Workshop, sponsored by the Club, but held at our two primary benefactors: Kermit’s Reef & MemFish; in order to take the Meeting TO the People (with Dave & Richards support, of course).

We could do it as a Tent deal, outside their premises, so as not to disrupt their business, but honestly. How much added revenue would those two shops yield, by stirring up more local excitement, every once in a while? We’re all gong to be there anyways!!!!

Why can’t we do smaller events, rather than the Mother Frag Swap, once a year?

P.S. - The written word is normally perceived negatively, so can you hear me Smiling??

(I’ll hang up now and listen for my answer. Thanks Coach.)

 

[bshumake]

Wisdom from Pappa Bear Marty!
Something everyone needs to realize here is that 7% of what is communicated in writting is words. the other 93% is in body language and inflection. No matter how careful you are with writing something it can easily be misconstrued and this is something that I have had to deal with because I know I have offended more people than I can remember from my posts. Questions were asked and answers are being bounced around. NONE OF THEM ARE ILL INTENDED. This is a great topic for discussion and I'm sure it will be a topic at our next meeting. No one is saying that we should split the club. The first time it was brought up was years ago with the charter members and we all agreed that it was a bad Idea. Splitting of meeting organizing was all I was mentioning. maybe making the meetings more of a "get-together" when they are thrown, like a dinner that reconviens at someones house, or touring a LFS and meeting at a house after.
What I'm trying to get at is that kroger451 and ducklabdad should not feel like you have done anything wrong or detrimental to the club. By far, this is about communication and working on uping our meeting attendance. No wrong answers can be generated and its all discussion anyway. so please, dont abandon a thread out of fear or shame, or whatever.
we're all here because we like the hobby and we are afflicted with an "addiciton" to aquaria

 

[crpeck]

I guess I'm glad I only found this thread (and the others talking about it) after whatever got testy was edited because all I see here is good points and good discussion.

Monthly collections would be a bit hard for me (or any treasurer) to handle. A company can set up monthly paycheck deductions from employees because they're all in the same place and the $ is all going through the same place. I think your idea, Preston, that a smaller amount monthly is more easy to deal with than a large amount yearly for the members ... and ... that in the long run it could work out to more for the club is accurate. But we're not the kind of non-profit that can set up for a payroll deduction. We're a club, not a tax free charity, so the payroll deduct people at companies can't/won't work with us that way. Yours is a good idea ahead of it's time.

It's always good to bring up ideas. That's how we improve. Even if they don't work out, we'll never get better if we don't try. So thanks to all who offer input here.

I think club membership, like anything in these tough times, is going to be about people feeling like they get something worth the money. In the beginning, we had a lot of people sign up just to get the discount at Kermit's. It worked out because a portion of them found themselves getting interested and involved with helping the club along the way. The discount at Kermit's still can easily more than pay for the cost of the club membership during a year so we really do need to recognize that support for WTMRAC.

I think as we build our member benefits/services we will increase membership. By member services I mean things such as: good sponsor discounts, the library, equipment for loan, educational/interesting/informative meetings, good door prizes at the meetings, informative website, group buys and such. The other that encourages support through membership is community outreach such as tanks in schools, St. Jude, helping the Zoo tanks, etc.

We have a nice group of people these days and the social interraction is fun, but most of us don't need to pay $30 for good social interraction. (Dave C ... don't you even touch that) I think we have slipped lately in organizing topics that interest people enough to make the meetings. I also think we've not done a good enough job in letting people know about the meetings. We count on people checking here on Reef Central when not everyone gets online. We HAVE done a better job of planning times and places in advance so if we just got that word out through email or newsletters, I'll bet our attendance would increase.

I've been making a point of getting good door prizes for each meeting in hopes of helping attendance.

We used to try and alternate between the Jackson area and the Memphis area which is probably good. Although for those of you including this last meeting as "out of town", it took me an easy 30 minutes straight shot down TN14 to get to 240 and all the way home to E Memphis so I don't think of this last one as out of town. It takes me as long to get to downtown Memphis.

I would agree with the group that likes to see other members' tanks. I always come away with more knowledge and ideas seeing how other people have set up. I think it is a good way for us to learn from each other, which is part of the motivating factor for attending the meetings.

It has come up a few times that Saturday evenings, although good for most, are difficult for a significant number of people. We used to alternate and have more either Saturday or Sunday afternoon. Maybe it's time to poll the membership and reconsider if there are other times that would help more members attend? Or an alternating schedule of some kind that could include all of the people at least some of the time?

We've started a new policy of reimbursing meeting hosts up to $30 toward the cost of food so I hope that will enourage more people to volunteer. If we get much bigger attendance, though, we'll outgrow the ability to meet in homes. I don't remember how many people came to the meeting at my house, but when it was time to sit down for the meeting part, I couldn't have had room or seating for many more. But when/if we grow to that level, Preston's right that we will be able to afford to rent space if we have to for meetings.

We've got a good thing going. There will be growing pains from time to time, but we can roll with it. The progress of being able to pull off such a well attended and profitable frag swap is a huge testament to how far we've come and should inspire us to keep going.

The main thing that helps membership is to make sure that all who are interested in participating are made to feel welcome, that their input is appreciated, and that all disagreements will be handled kindly and respectfully.

 

[just dave]

What would it take to get you to be more active in the club meetings?

If you are not a current Reef Club member here, what would influence you to join?

The answer to each of those questions can be found by answering the following questions.

What's in it for them? What can they get from a club that they can not get someplace else, for free, on their own time, and from the comfort of their own home?

I would think that these questions can really only be answered by those members that are not very active and people that have not joined.

The fact that meeting attendance is low would obviously point at that something(s) needs to change. If the club has 50 members but only 5 attend meetings I would ask the 45 what needs to be done, not the 5 that always attend. Here in lies the problem. The 5 will be the most accessible and voice their opinions the loudest but they are not your audience as they have already joined and apparently need no extra incentives to attend.

Some points that were touched on are collecting dues monthly at the meetings, I presume. I think this would actually be easier on the treasurer as it would be like buying a ticket. You pay to attend the meeting, no need to keep a record of who paid because if you don't pay you don't get to attend. The down sides are with this way the club may actually take in less because with the way things have been going you'll not see many repeat attendees. There is no membership in the club at this point as you are not paying to be a member but paying to attend a function. Membership cards would no longer be needed nor their associated expense and no one would have to keep track of who's paid up and who gets a card.

If the vast majority of the members live in a certain area I don't think the majority of the meetings need to be held in that area but instead all of them need to be if increasing attendance and participation are the goals.

Holding them in homes will not be practical as attendance grows and for many people it's uncomfortable going to a strangers home. The majority, if not all, of the meetings should be held at a neutral location. If people really want to see other peoples tanks go and visit them or the club can set-up tank tours that are not regular meetings.

Just my opinions for Bill because I know you're peeking.:eek1:

 

[just dave]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=13609720#post13609720 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by crpeck
........ but most of us don't need to pay $30 for good social interraction. (Dave C ... don't you even touch that)

I wouldn't dream of it.


I don't want to owe you 30 bucks.

 

[crpeck]

AH ... Dave I knew I could count on you for that. :lol:

Your post made me remember one activity that was kind of fun, but we didn't organize it well enough. Remember when we did the tank tour day? People volunteered to show their tanks and we either set times for a tank related type open house or all moved together as a group.

You also bring up the good point that the best people to answer why they don't come are the ones that don't. We should probably put together a poll and email it to all past and current members and see what we find out.

It has bothered me a number of times that we make so many decisions on Reef Central when such a small % of the group participates here. But so far it still is the most effective communication. So maybe that's the other goal with email or a newsletter ... to stir people up to get on RC and participate.

 

[just dave]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=13609768#post13609768 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by crpeck
AH ... Dave I knew I could count on you for that. :lol:

You can try and touch this for free.