[mwilleson]

Hi all,

I've been thinking about carving club growth lately and what are good ways to go about finding new members. I hesitate to say "especially younger members", but I guess I just did.

Open to suggestions....
Mike

[Pyrographer]

Hi Mike, many clubs around our area are having the same problem. Since we are trying to attract younger members my suggestion was to start a website. I have found that our own personal business website attracts a lot of people who are looking to get involved. The suggestions went over like a lead balloon in our club because nobody wanted to do anything to get a website started. It involves some work but younger people use the internet to find what they need and things of interest. What better way to attract them but with a website with lots of information about the club, meetings, carving sessions and pictures.

Many clubs in our area now have websites and it's helping. Unfortunately nobody in our club wanted to make the effort to do one so I started one with the help of a friend but nobody in the club was willing to take over responsibility eventually we gave up on it.
Nedra

[Kenny_S]

No one in this area wants a club. I was really surprised when a city 20 miles away had a carving show and there were 20 men and women in the area entered in the carving show. Yes it was small but they made up with High quality carvings. In attending the shows for the last 5 years, no one was interested in starting a club.

however, there are about 10 of those carvers who get together at least once a week and Carve, cuss, discuss, compare,give advice or seek advice. Strange, Sounds a lot like a club. There are several carvers and their wives who got the Carving show started several years back but have no interest in a club. The 10 than I know and talked to, said a club would not last and there is a lot of hassel in getting a club started.Most are in their late 60s. The youngest one that gets together is around 30.

It may be a younger generation thing in having a club.
It is fun to go and watch them carve, spit, carve and give/get advice.

[Pyrographer]

I don't know Ken, most of the clubs in Texas and Washington that we've been to are composed primarily of people ages 55+ so I don't think it's a "young" thing.

Starting a club and having one does take a lot of effort and something that a lot of people don't want to do.

Nedra

[Marci MN]

" what are good ways to go about finding new members"

Here are a few suggestions. I am one that would love to join a club locally but cannot find one. The information just isnt out there if there is one in my local area.

Why not put posters up in local bulletin boards at grocery stores, or hardware stores? I've been browsing our local ones.. hoping.

Do some demonstrations at 4-H clubs.

Boy Scouts can earn a badge with carving if I remember right. with them, or getting information out to the leaders that your available for demonstrations. One or two of these boys may join in your club. If anything get a Youth Carving Night going.

Set up a booth in your local fair grounds at fair time. Be there wittling away. I had the opportunity to watch a carver in Willmar about 18 years ago. And theres many, many times I wish I could have cought the fellas name.

Hand out calling cards with your clubs information on it. Pin them up at the bulletin boards.

Check with local radio stations. Some will do a Saturday morning show on local businesses or doings that will be going on in the next month. Get word out that you have a special night for beginners if they'd like to come to just check things out.

[KettleKarver]

That's a tough one. We've been quite fortunate in that department for the last few years as we've been growing by about 6-10 members a year. Mostly, our new members are mature adults. We've had a couple of teens but they don't seem to stay with it. I don't know if it's because they have other interests or just don't want to sit around with a bunch of ol' farts.

Throughout the year other organizations (schools, nature centers, state parks, etc.) ask us to provide demonstrations. We ask for volunteers and our members enjoy getting out to show and talk about our hobby. We don't charge anything but we do bring our printed brochure as a handout. The brouchure tells a little about the club, our community involvement, when and where we meet, and contact information. This always creates interest in our club.

We try to advertise our show and will shamelessly recruit interested attendees.

Meetings must be interesting. The business is a necessary evil but there needs to be more. We have a small raffle every month for some items; a book, palm gouge, tool bag, basswood, etc. We also have Show & Tell. Interest in that was declining until we started a raffle for participants. It doesn't cost anything but the only way to get a ticket is to bring a project to show and tell. We had 15-20 items on the table last night. Also, get input from the members about what they want at the meetings. You're not going to interest everyone at every meeting but you need to interest everyone at some point in time throughout the year.

Our club has a very large lending library for members. It includes magazines, books, study sticks, and videos. Members can checkout items for 2 months.

Each year we try to take a bus trip to a regional show. Many of our members wouldn't be comfortable driving a couple hours but are anxious to join the bus trip. We subsidize the trip for members from our treasurery and charge full price for non-members (including non-member spouses).

We take a couple months off in the summer but have a picnic in August. We try to include an interesting demo. One year we had a woodenshoe carver and another a chain-saw carver.

Wow, I just realized how busy we are! We've got a great group and we always try to express our appreciation for everything they do. Everyone likes the occasional .

Regards,
Jim

[ElWoodTroll]

Originally Posted by Pyrographer

my suggestion was to start a website.

I went looking for a club a few weeks ago and found one listed on the Web. Their most recent document however was over a year old. I sent them an email and have yet to hear from them. Is it difficult to set up a site and just how expensive is it? Can your average dummy put one together?

[Pyrographer]

I don't knnow where your located but many clubs start with free websites sponsored by Yahoo... Angelfire. All the freebies have popup advertising but this one is not as bad. It's not hard to do and free is nice. The problem is finding someone to maintain it. Yes, I know some clubs don't do it and that's a shame because that's one of the best ways to get people. It doesn't take long to update so I'm not sure what their excuse is. Perhaps like our former club, lack of interest in it or lack of ambition.

Nedra

[makenchips]

If you ever find an answer let me know. I belong to a club that is fading fast. We were only meeting once a month in the evening but in the past few months only a few have been showing. The retired members that make up about 98% of the club meet weekly in the early afternoon just to carve and rumor has it that the evening club is going to go by the wayside. That will eliminate all the ones who are not retired and any hope of rejuvinating the club with younger members. Looks like I be clubless soon. Such a shame.

[Mitchell]

Our club is trying to increase membership and "activity" in general. We meet once/month, but have a group that gets together every other month to carve.

The problem is that to "grow" the club, you need to get more organized. That requires time and effort - something that is hard to get. Another problem is that with organization of different peoples, you will run into more politics - AND personal disputes. It's a fine line.

Anyway, we use programs to increase interest in monthly meetings. Sometimes it only passing out a small carving for all to work on, or a larger "how-to" instructional program....sometimes both. We try to do this, but still leave time for socializing.

We have around 38 members and generally get about 25 or so to the monthly meetings....not too bad.