Feedback

[jesshimom]

I have been asking a number of sponsors/people for feedback about the club. I feel like we are down in the dumps and we need to stand up and get moving or we are going to get left behind and have a shitty club.

I'm sharing the feedback and none of it is a surprise.

I have made some new member sheets for new members to fill out and Josh will make a new member section on the website. The sheets will gather info of those who want to participate.

We need to go back to old fashioned name tags; I dont even know who some people are.

Our website is key; Josh has the info to get it updated and I have help for him if he doesn't have the time. It's the beginning of our year and we need to step up the pace a bit.

Any other thoughts are welcome as well.

Colleen

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Here is what Adelaide had to say:

Hi Colleen - Right now, I am pretty open for those months, but it would help to know the exact dates, as I am trying to plan a trip which will take about 6 weeks, and it is hard to find a slot.

Anyways - a few thoughts on my experiences with the club, and please do not take offense -- these are just my observations as I travel around and see how other clubs operate ---

I don't think the outreach to new members is adequate to keep them coming to the meetings. For example, it took me months to get on the email list for evites - this should have happened after the first meeting, and new members should get a welcome message stating what the benefits of joining and being an active member are. For example, you can send them a schedule of how the year is going to play out - we have so and so coming, the Xmas party is at so and so's place, feel free to post in our forums at such and such websites, find out about club specials and discounts at www.whatever....

Also, it is always nice to make new members feel welcome at the meetings, by acknowledging them, and having them stand up and say a little about themselves. Also, you will have out of towners who find out about your meeting on the websites, and drop by to check out the club - when is the last time we asked if there were any of those in the audience?

Speakers complain about our club --- I just have to let you know. Communication is not good, and often there is confusion about who is transporting the speaker from one location to another. It would be nice to get other members involved in hosting speakers, so they can feel a sense of ownership in the proceedings, and not always have the same people taking charge of every event.

Also, some stores are fighting over who gets to host the meeting. It is nice to move it around the city, but perhaps find some neutral territory.

Also, Seattle is a big city - why do you have so few members? Why is there no committee to get and retain new members? I often mention to my friends that this club exists, and they have trouble finding out about it. Like I said, it was months before I felt welcome at the meetings.

Anyways, those are my thoughts as a newcomer. Please don't take it personally, as it seems to be a group dynamic thing that just happens and is not the responsibility of any one particular person.

I do enjoy the cookouts, barbeques and reef tours, more social stuff would be nice.

Bring back the frag swaps before the meetings - get more people involved in those. If someone is new to reef keeping, get them a club mentor, make them feel a personal attachment.

Sincerely,

Adelaide

 

[Alice]

Hi all, I hope you don't mind if I comment.

Adelaide has some valid points about member acquisition and retention. I think, in part, this has become so much more vital just because of society and they way most people live these days. Everyone is so busy and traffic is so bad, that getting out to do "one more thing" can be the last thing on someone's list.

I had classes in Kirkland this week and the drive was brutal. Even though I have really been looking forward to tonight's meeting, it's about all I can do to drag myself out of the house again.

It's not just our club; I work with several people who are involved with PTA's, church groups, chess clubs, etc. and all of them have commented how hard it is to get people to come out for activities and to volunteer their time to make those activities work.

I've also noticed that only a group of core members really uses RF. You may want to think about emailing out a monthly newsletter or an email with a link to a page on the website and any "hot topics" on the PSAS page on RF. It might not even be a bad idea to think about snail-mailing postcards to expand the focus of the club outside of the internet arena.

The last couple of years, we unfortunately sent a precedence of changing meeting dates and times. Even though we only did it a couple of times, it really seems to have sent everyone into a tailspin. Maybe it's time to really reinforce the meeting dates as the 3rd Saturday of the month or to send out emails, postcards, evites - whatever - with as much of your schedule as possible now, rather than month-to-month.

As Adelaide pointed out, Seattle is a big city, which encompasses an even larger metropolitan area. One club cannot cover all of that area and keep people happy. We are all creatures of habit - if members miss two meetings in a row because the meeting venue is too far to drive comfortably or they have other commitments, it might very well mean that they have gotten out of the habit of going to meetings and may not attend another one for quite some time, maybe not even renew their membership, unless they are really prodded back into the habit.

Making the club a place to make connections is also very important. I think Colleen is right about the nametags. If members can make that face-to-face connection, they will be more apt to come back. Maybe ask members if they want to be in a directory? Not necessarily with their addresses, but with their phone numbers and the area in which they live. One of the things that has bonded club members together in the past has been helping each other out with tank projects or in the event of a tank emergency.

The biggest project I am on right now for work is retention of renters (commercial and residential) and employees. If I learn anything that might be of use to the club, I will be sure to share it.

 

[jetaero]

I will update info that is given to me, if the person that wants to do it wants to do the site as well they can do that too. PM/Email me for FTP information.

I will be out of town/contact until 9/25/06.

-Josh

 

[Ed Hahn]

What about Posters letting people know about PSAS in Saltwater Stores?

 

[cwby416]

we realy need to have the frag swap up on the site. All the info needed has been in the psas forum. Thats how we are going to loose interest, by leaving old info up.

 

[jesshimom]

Josh will update the site when he returns. I've sent him some info, and Randy if you want to write up the swap info just PM Josh and he will do it. He just needs exactly what we want.