Airacobra

Currently our R/C club is having difficulty in having members to show up for a monthly meeting. Does anybody have any ideas that may encourage the general membership to attend a monthly meeting?

scale only 4 me

My Feedback: (158)

Tell them there will be free food,, making them stay for the whole meeting is a different issue

DadsToysBG

My Feedback: (35)

Try dancing girls. Nothing we've tried works. Dennis

MinnFlyer

My Feedback: (4)

Tell them it's a good way to get away from the wife and kids!

(I was going to suggest beer, food and strippers, but I see that was already suggested)

BarracudaHockey

My Feedback: (11)

We have one a year where they get free BBQ, I see people I've never met and I'm usually at the field almost every weekend and sometimes during the week.

flyinwalenda

My Feedback: (5)

I thought this was a post about club member involvement. You have to learn to live with the 80/20 rule within almost any organized group of people.
As far as getting members to show up at meetings ....how about trying 50-50 drawings or small raffles(gallon of fuel, batteries,etc...) at every meeting? The members attending make out if they win , your club makes a little money, and it breaks up the normal meeting routine.

Minnreefer

I am not sure, I feel bad that I miss our club meetings. I would have gone last night, but my wife had to go to one of my son's school conference, so I was watching the 3 year old. The meetings are a good 30 minutes away from my home which does not help. Do you have a show and tell at your meetings? or our meetings people will do a talk on something special, giant scale, or electrics etc.

It would be too much work for most clubs (and many clubs have an older generation that would not be able to do it) but some type of virtual meeting, or an online meeting could be useful.

Prairie Mike

1st off, most club members don't want to sit in a business meeting voting on what brand of grass seed the club will use or other mundane stuff.
I remember sitting in a meeting listening to what soda we were gonna sell at the club contest. I thought I had died and gone to hell. Most business stuff bores the average member.

That said, How close is the membership? Do you do things together? Coffee? Lunch? Lots of newbie’s? They will need help with building tips and trimming. Any prizes? Like a gallon of fuel drawing for all present? Will the club be able to afford that cost? What about the gas fliers or the electric guys....... what do you have to attract them? Maybe a monthly raffle?

One club I was privileged to be in, had a breakfast (and their own clubhouse) before the Saturday meeting. $6 and you had eggs, bacon, sausage, biscuits & sausage gravy, hash browns, orange juice, milk coffee and sautéed onions & green peppers, the works. It was great. Almost ready to move back just for the breakfasts. About 1/3 to 1/2 of the membership showed up.

What about building programs or holding the meeting at a different member's workshop. Watch that one though. It quickly degraded from snacks into a full course meal type deal.
Anything "how to" ought to garner some interest if the membership has new people.

Some of the answers you seek depend on the age of the club & membership. One club, back in the day, had 2 meeting per month. One was a business meeting , the other a building meeting. but at that time we were all new to the R/C game. It degraded into 2 business meetings many years later and wasn't well attended.
You might try polling the membership asking what they want at the meetings.
Realize that not all members are that into flying. Some have familys and scoccer or T-ball events they have to hit........ or car races or (ugh) golf.
80%/20% rule is alive and well, unfortunately.

The dancing girls sounds nice but don’t know if my heart could stand it. But if any gals are in the club, what about some chip n dale dancers for them? Or any young flat belly’d club members willing to give their all for the club?

FLYBOY

My Feedback: (11)

Travel from one persons shop to another for show and tell, or bring fun things to do at the meetings. Get rid of the boring club business and let the board handle that.

guver

My Feedback: (325)

I have read all these posts. So far as a newb in flying I am looking to join a club. It will be LCRC. The only ideas here that I would be akin to are "a talk on something special" or a "how to". Heck, I could even give a talk on batts/charging myself.

I'm kinda strange in how I prioritize my time , but one meeting sounds like it would bore me to never come back. I realise I may not hold a majority view , but as long as I add something or gain something from the meeting I would continue to come. Otherwise I'd rather just pay dues and use the field. 

STUKA BARRY

Our club meetings are on the second saturday of the month AT THE FIELD. We take care of business then eat, then fly. Membership is usually up. If theres a show and tell, they bring it to the field, sometimes this turns into a maiden flight. I find this to be a great way to boost participation.

BarracudaHockey

My Feedback: (11)

You know thats a good point...

My old club the meeting was on a Tuesday night, I almost never went because of work, kids, whatever unless I had to present as a CD, I made maybe 4 or 5 meetings a year.

Current club, the monthly meeting is the first Sunday or the month at 10 at the field. Fly, stop, meet, fly, go have lunch with the guys, I make 10 or 11 meetings a year.

MinnFlyer

My Feedback: (4)

Sure, that's fine for you guys in the tropics. We have a rather small club, so we meet at the field in the summer and during the winter our meetings are held on an "as needed" basis at a local restaurant where we can BS and have a bite to eat.

scale only 4 me

My Feedback: (158)

Did you check us out too?? CRCC?,, about the same drive for ya. Our meeting are typically very short unless like you say someone gives a presentation, the club business doesn't take long,, During the winter it's just a reason to get out of the house and chat with friends



We do that too through out the summer, but it would seam twice as many guys are there when the food comes off the BBQ around 12 than are there @ 9:30 for the meeting

Roby

Post #3 has my vote only because that's just about what it takes. Other than that,
forget it.

The club that I've been a member of for 16 years has about 45 members. I've been
on the BOD in one capacity or another nearly 10 of them. We've tryed numorous
ideas for years before finally giving up. Anybody who wants to come to a monthly
meeting is welcomed to do so but usually it's the same 8 to 10 people every month.
(the sames ones who also take care of the fields, (2) )

Lets face it . All most people want to do is pay the dues and fly , NOTHING more.

BUT , the up side of non participation is that there are no complaints , mainly because
you have to come to a meeting and have your complaint in writing.


Regards,
Roby

carrellh

Like Barry's club, our meetings are on the second Saturday of the month, at the field. I live 45 miles from the field. If the weather (or other issues) will prevent me from flying that day, I will not make the drive.

We have 25 to 30 members most years, and the same 4 to 7 tend to attend the meetings. We truly have very little business to discuss. Our meetings often last 5 minutes or less.

We have a door prize (tickets are free to all attendees) at every meeting that ranges in price from < $5 to around $20. I missed multiple meetings this year and still won the prize 3 times.

We do a friends and family picnic (totally paid for by the club) on meeting day in June. That day we have around 10 members and 30 to 40 guests.

It is rare for us to have show and tell. Only a few members are builders; most of the guys built for years and now just want to fly.

landeck

My Feedback: (1)

I find this all very interesting. Over the years I belonged to 4 clubs that had monthly meetings. I tried to attend most. Some of the clubs had good meetings others were mainly business and not very interesting. I was president one year and found it hard to get people interested in the meetings. In 1988 a group of us decided to start a new kind of club - one were the board ran everything and there were no meetings. The board selected their own members and the way you got invited to join the board was to make yourself known by volunteering for various jobs and at meets/functions. Now, 23 years later the club is going strong with 250+ members, a great flying field, and very little if any *****ing by members. We have three free family picnics a year and a lot of flying. I fly 2-3 times a week on week days and there is a great bunch of about 25 guys that are regulars with at least 10 flying on any given day. It is great!

Bruce

jester_s1

Two things: 1. Give them a reason to be there. 2. Don't waste the members' time.
On item 1, you have to define and communicate why the members need to be there. A few possibilities are that their input is truly needed on an issue, that the club will present volunteer needs, that there are changes ahead and the leaders want to hear from the members, or that the club wants to put on some new events and wants to hear what the members are willing to work toward. A few personal perks would also work- food, a raffle (our club does both) and a show and tell are all good.
On item 2, this is where you kill all your efforts for item 1. A few common time wasters are mundane decisions (the aforementioned grass seed and drinks are good examples), a bad public speaker rambling on, a moderator who thinks he must weigh in on every single comment that gets made (very common and very annoying), and uncontrolled discussion that drifts off topic.
In a nutshell, define why you even want the members to be there and be as considerate of their time as you possibly can. People will invest their time and energy to be there if they feel it is worthwhile (consider how many hardworking dads make every baseball game) but will drop out very quickly if they think there is no benefit to being there.

weathervane

As much as I like the idea of having a big club turn out for meetings. It just does not happen. The 80/20 rule is in full swing. I have seen clubs with 120 plus members only have 10-18 people show up and then I have seen clubs with 35 members have 20 of them show.
The fact is, a lot of people just want to pay there money and fly. They don't care what happens or who is doing what. They don't know who the club officers are (or care). As long as the grass is cut and nobody keeps them from getting in the air, they are happy.
Raffles, 50/50, demos and how to's are good ways to get people to attend but most will stay home.
-Andrew

weathervane

......

guver

My Feedback: (325)

No, I didn't check it out. I'd love to though. Can you post a link? There's many CRCCs on google. Is Cleveland RC in Grafton? I know I keep driving by something on Grafton rd, and I heard there was something on Reed rd too?

alltumbs

Have you given any thought to moving your meetings to "Hooters". Heck I'll come!!!

flyntruk

My Feedback: (5)

Yes and Yes ... Yes Hooters is coming to our area and close by to where we fly . It should be open I heard by Dec . Yes we still can fly if not storming . Perfect place to have meetings . Shoot , some of us are even thinking of stenciling our names on the tire stops .

alltumbs

Sorry hon ........ Gotta go.Club meeting tonight. We're having showand tell !!!!!

scale only 4 me

My Feedback: (158)

Well you have a lot of choices,, Don't know of one on Reed,

CRCC http://clevelandradiocontrolclub.info/ Electric only field near Maple Heights,, Glow/Gas field in Grafton (north Eaton really) 82/83 behind Elegant Wood Products

The one on Grafton Eastern Road is the Suburban Flyers Club http://www.wix.com/srcf123/suburban-rc-flyers

Westlake club has a new field in Elyria,, Middle near 20 in the AmVets complex http://www.members.cox.net/westlakerc/index.shtml

close to you also,,, In Lichfield http://www.aa-gmc.org/wc/index.htm

and of course LCRC you know about

Choose wisely