Something to start thinking about

[glaspie69]

With November comming just around the corner it's time for the GIRS members to start thinking about election time. The election's will be held in November. Positions will be the usual president, vs president, secretary, and tresurer. Along with these position a trustee for each of the five larger cities will be appointed. So members start thinking about who you'd like to nominate to run the club for 2008. Thanks J

 

[glaspie69]

nobody has anything to say?????? about anything???????

 

[waverz]

I just hope we have more support and better and a better turn out to functions next year. I am gonna be super bummed of no one shows up for the frag swap. This year was tough, we lost a few key members and a lot of ppl tore down tanks. We also lost most of our trustees due to various reasons. I would like to put 2007 behind us and start next year with a BANG. This means more participation in club events, even if it is just a matter of showing up.

What do we need to do to get you guys out and away from your tanks??? Do we need more give aways? More big speakers? Free beer at all functions??

 

[ZLTFUL]

Did someone say free beer??

 

[xroads]

Personally I would like to see more speakers.

 

[glaspie69]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=10947131#post10947131 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by xroads
Personally I would like to see more speakers.

I would agree, here's my fews on this from a president/member perspective. Theres several things that make getting speakers really difficult, a main one is cost, speakers (or some) are very expensive to bring in. The costs of plane tickets, hotel rooms, food, and the speaker cost itself. Secondly member participation in the event is crutcial, if a speaker costs 2000 dollars and only 15 members show up its one, money not well spent and two, embarrasing to have someone fly across the country, use there valuable time to have limited amounts of people show up. The other bad part about having a bunch of speakers is we just dont have the member base or activities to fund large numbers of these events. I think if we had more local stores and a larger member base events would be alot easier to plan. I just hope we can get a large number of folks to come out to the frag swap, with u.b.e.r.f.r.a.g.s. comming all the way from chicago it would be nice to have a decent crowd, maybe show them our club is active so they'll want to come back for future events.

 

[xroads]

Maybe we should create a position of recruitment/membership officer? I would be more then happy to do it!

 

[Atticus]

I like the recruitment officer idea. The president should have the power to apoint task groups.

As for participation... I have had a crazy year personally and I know most of the major leaders that were here when I was active are now gone or busy with other things. We need fresh blood to fire up the club again.

I enjoyed the speakers and used to travel to every meeting when we first started, but I didn't have kids and gas wasn't $3 a gallon. Now I would have to take out a loan to drive from the QC to Des Moines every month...

Our big draws previously were the big speakers, demo days, and especially the tank tours. Our tours were weak this year because nobody was really able to travel to the other areas as they were all scheduled in the same month. Gapping the tours to one a month would help.

Local area meetings with the pizza party or the club covering shipping on a group order of live goods or supplies would bring people.

 

[jbrunken]

First of all, hat's off to all of those who volunteered for positions this year and in years past. I've been an "officer" in several different groups (LAN gaming groups, software developer groups, etc) and I know first hand how hard it is to get people to volunteer and I also know how hard it can be to commit time/energy (and sometimes money) to a volunteer group.

Here are a few thoughts about the group of the top of my head. I'm not sure that all of these related directly to officer elections, but they topic got me thinking.

1) I think that the "Greater Iowa" part of the group might be causing some problems. I'd like to see more autonomy for the individual "chapters" of the group (Des Moines, Waterloo, IC/CR, Quad Cities, etc.)

2) I think group wide events should be limited to once or twice a year as it just seems like they are SO hard to get organized effectively, especially when the group leaders don't live in the areas where the events are happening.

3) I REALLY think that more regularly scheduled meetings (I'd suggest bi-monthly) at a regular location (church, bar, hotel, whatever) would help promote active membership.

4) I don't think a speaker needs to be a "Big Name" to be a great speaker. In fact, I think there are a LOT of people that post in this forum that could give a 1/2 hour demonstration and/or talk that would be compelling and helpful for lots of us. A 1/2 hour demonstration and an hour (or two) of socializing makes for a great meeting.

5) I think there are still a ton of "Reefers" out there that have no idea that this group even exists. This is a hard problem to solve, but a good one to try and solve if we want the club to remain active.

6) I don't think the individual chapters should schedule their meetins and events independently of the other groups and should come up with a schedule that works well for the members in there area. If Waterloo and Des Moines happen to have an event on the same day, then so be it. Chances are not that many of us are really going to be able to make both anyway.

I'll probably think of more points later, but I Team Fortress 2 is calling my name

-JB

 

[xroads]

wow jb & atticus, great post. I agree with it all.

 

[Atticus]

If we are running short on topic ideas for meetings, just look to this forum. Right now the buzz is on skimmers. There are 2 threads on them in the first 5 threads. Calcium reactors were a big deal last month or early this month with everyone discussing media. We could have organized the group buy from 2 part during that meeting. We could have a meeting on just about anything. We used to list topics for meetings and then vote on them using the poll function on this site. That filled our "general discussion" meetings. Those "general discussion" meetings were some of the most informative and fun ones.

As for the "big names" I still would like to see one a year if not two. They do not have to be popular speakers, but they need to be dedicated talks lasting about an hour on a popular topic. An example would be Calfo speaking about coral prop. or you could have anyone that is extremely knowledgeable about their topic give a "class". An example of the second option being a seahorse breeder or someone doing a clam or anemone specific tank.

One last big draw is the Demo Days where we built maxi-jets. We could do one on building your own anything that is a hot new topic...

The key is organizing and organizing the individuals needed to make it run smooth.

 

[got2lb]

Originally posted</a> by xroads
Maybe we should create a position of recruitment/membership officer? I would be more then happy to do it!

I think Craigs suggested this the last 2 or 3 years and we've never done it. The way the club is going we def. need some new blood in here to get everyone going again. Craig seems to be a real go getter with everything he does so I think he'd be the perfect person for something like this!

I really think recruitment should be one thing we need to look into so that the club just doesn't dwindle away to nothing.


I also think a couple "BIG" meetings a couple times a year with the whole club is plenty. Once a month is just too much to plan and like Travis said with $3 gas it gets pretty pricey for everyone.

At least 1 or 2 speakers a year, not nec. Calfo or something, not sure if MELEV does public demonstrations but I think it would be cool to see him come up and give a demonstration on building stuff out of acrylic. If not him maybe we could even get a hold of Spazz and see if he could show us the fine art of skimmer building! There's lots of options doesn't always have to be a Calfo, Borneman, etc...

If we're planning on doing 2 frag swaps/auctions a year too that could pretty much be our "BIG" events 2 speakers and 2 frag swap/auctions a year (basically one a quarter) and the rest could just be some local stuff where we get together BS trade some frags etc...

Just a few ideas I had....

 

[Atticus]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=10954654#post10954654 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by got2lb
I think Craigs suggested this the last 2 or 3 years and we've never done it. The way the club is going we def. need some new blood in here to get everyone going again. Craig seems to be a real go getter with everything he does so I think he'd be the perfect person for something like this!

I really think recruitment should be one thing we need to look into so that the club just doesn't dwindle away to nothing.


I also think a couple "BIG" meetings a couple times a year with the whole club is plenty. Once a month is just too much to plan and like Travis said with $3 gas it gets pretty pricey for everyone.

At least 1 or 2 speakers a year, not nec. Calfo or something, not sure if MELEV does public demonstrations but I think it would be cool to see him come up and give a demonstration on building stuff out of acrylic. If not him maybe we could even get a hold of Spazz and see if he could show us the fine art of skimmer building! There's lots of options doesn't always have to be a Calfo, Borneman, etc...

If we're planning on doing 2 frag swaps/auctions a year too that could pretty much be our "BIG" events 2 speakers and 2 frag swap/auctions a year (basically one a quarter) and the rest could just be some local stuff where we get together BS trade some frags etc...

Just a few ideas I had....

I do believe your post actually sums up the discussion and solution we come up with every year. We just need someone to take this format and be willing to run with it. I would personally, but I am try ing to move and build a practice in the next year.

 

[glaspie69]

All my friends are doing it so here goes:

I think the club needs to have smaller area clubs inside the larger whole club. I've been looking at the way other clubs do business and I've found clubs within 30 minutes of themselves. It seems like every area has a different set of needs, some have a few members some have several. It just feel over the past few years the club has had more problems trying to make this state wide thing work than its worth, some how someone always leaves mad, can't attend, doesn't attend and so on. Rather than continuing to pull the club apart maybe this might be an option of possibly bringing it closer. Just a thought J

 

[Coralfreak]

I am going to throw in some thoughts here, some of which are very similar to those above.

I would like to see the GIRS have a more permanent, stable and predictable meeting location and time of the month. Meaning we meet on the first XXday of the month at XX time at XX place. Yes, their may have to be occasional exceptions, but for the most part it should be regular.

What about the other "areas"?? Their is no reason whatsoever that an area, Davenport, DSM etc, cannot start their own, smaller separate club, is their?? This takes a huge load off of the GIRS BOD. We can have more than one club. The smaller clubs can be much less "formal" in setup, would not have to collect dues etc. They simply be a group of local hobbyists, who could do what they wanted when they want. You can still be a member of both clubs.

The GIRS then becomes what it was originally supposed to be, a vehicle to get people together. Yes, it may mean some will have to drive farther than others, thats the way it goes. Their is no perfect plan for this.

I do ask you all to look around at other clubs, the big thing you should see is how regular the meetings are scheduled. Its also VERY common to see a large club, with several smaller clubs in outlying areas.

This can work and I hope it will be looked at with an open mind. It is just an idea.

As Travis said, the big kicker is to find some people to run it, by keeping it simple, that may not be as difficult, though still a challenge. IMO, Iowa City is about as central as you can get in terms of population, again not perfect, but about as good as it gets.
The IC library is a good place to meet, its clean, nice size rooms and its free. The parking garage thing isn't the best, but it isn't the worst either.

Once you have a place, come up with a time as I mentioned above. They don't have to be monthly, but a regular time would be beneficial. This really isn't all that much different than the original way the club was setup and it was working. I am not really sure when/why we stopped having the regular meetings, but over time many have drifted away due to this. While RC and this forum are a great place to exchange ideas, it still does not match getting together, face to face and talking.

While their are some disadvantages to this approach, their will always be some no matter what you do, it does have some big positives. It makes easier to manage/run and organize for those volunteering to be on the BOD. You don't need as many people to keep it going. It makes it easier for members to plan to be there.

Again, just a thought.

Allen

 

[phishcrazee]

Yes, most clubs/organizations have a set place and time each month/every other month where they'll meet and I agree we should do the same......

 

[wenszoo]

glaspie pres
waverz vice
and I am sorry with my job it has made it very difficult for me to work with Fawn as a trustee and until things mellow out I will need to just sit in the shadows for a while and just be a regular member. I am hoping to make the swap

 

[bgreenlee]

I agree with Allen and Jason on the development of more local clubs to fall under the umbrella of GIRS. While my travel schedule and school schedule keep me from being as active in GIRS as I was in the past, it would be much easier for me to make events at the local level.

My concern though is that if people are active in their local groups and not in GIRS functions, what value is there to those members in paying dues. While I don't mind $20 a year to sponser GIRS, some people might loose the desire to pay if they are not close to the major events such as speakers, frag swaps, and other benefits to being in GIRS and would quite being a member. Would it be possible to funnel some of the dues to the individual areas to cover some of the small events we woudl have at the local level?

 

[glaspie69]

Yeah Billy I don't see why we couldn't utilize some of the dues as local area event money, we do it now for the pizza parties and such. Even if local areas could do smaller speakers like travis suggested and diy projects, these events seem to be the most attended events we've had.

 

[Coralfreak]

No reason we couldn't still do the pizza parties with GIRS money. Its beneficial to both the club, may get some more members and to the existing members by giving something back.

Remember, there are other possible reasons to join, discounts from certain vendors, some group buys are aimed more at "clubs" than individuals, there are lots of reasons to join. To be honest, we have lost members, due to the inconsistency of the meetings. To some degree its 6 of one, half dozen of the other.

I'd just like to see something easier to manage with a smaller group in charge. Its hard enough find 3-4 volunteers, but trying to find 7 or 8+ people who will stick with it is very difficult. Keep it simple, don't sweat it if some don't join, that happens in all groups/clubs. Remember, this is a reef club, it should be fun.