bonsaibp
Omono
What are the elements that make up a great bonsai club.
A great bonsai club
- Thread starter bonsaibp
- Start date
GrimLore
Bonsai Nut alumnus... we miss you
Beer 
Grimmy
Grimmy
GrimLore
Bonsai Nut alumnus... we miss you
On a more serious note, I hear way to often from people who spend time here to work on plants and learn that the members where they attend are often distant and short when answering questions. Most often over the past few years it is common with those in the younger age range from 20 to 35 years of age. That is several clubs within a several hour radius from my home.
I really do everything I can for free including food, beverage, guest room, etc... It saddens me that the younger members of clubs receive little or no guidance while I do all I can to promote Bonsai with those that are younger.
Grimmy
I really do everything I can for free including food, beverage, guest room, etc... It saddens me that the younger members of clubs receive little or no guidance while I do all I can to promote Bonsai with those that are younger.
Grimmy
Nybonsai12
Masterpiece
Good Artists at meetings
Good material for the artist to lecture/demo on.
Workshops with good artists.
Access to reasonably priced material/supplies
Friendly atmosphere
Members bringing their own trees to meetings to discuss
A general vibe of wanting to advance in bonsai and not a social hour.
Good material for the artist to lecture/demo on.
Workshops with good artists.
Access to reasonably priced material/supplies
Friendly atmosphere
Members bringing their own trees to meetings to discuss
A general vibe of wanting to advance in bonsai and not a social hour.
Smoke
Ignore-Amus
That’s the key right there.
jriddell88
Omono
I left the local club along with a hand full of others because the older crowd would just argue and bitch at every event/meeting/workshop .... it was only the old guys
All of the younger crowd were passionate, eager to accell/learn , good work ethic , enthusiastic
Kind of sad they offered no worth or wisdom to anything or anyone just problems , I see it more and more unfortunately
That being said all of the above , make it fun , open the mind to new and utilize known techniques and practices and share them , the seniors did not make it fun
So we split ways and started a private study with the younger guys and it’s going great , we’re bringing great artists and professionals and actually working on trees , not arguing about money and this and that , poor old guys
All of the younger crowd were passionate, eager to accell/learn , good work ethic , enthusiastic
Kind of sad they offered no worth or wisdom to anything or anyone just problems , I see it more and more unfortunately
That being said all of the above , make it fun , open the mind to new and utilize known techniques and practices and share them , the seniors did not make it fun
So we split ways and started a private study with the younger guys and it’s going great , we’re bringing great artists and professionals and actually working on trees , not arguing about money and this and that , poor old guys
milehigh_7
Mister 500,000
I have never had time to take part but some of the things that might compel me to make time would be:
1) Friendly people that seek to add new folks.
2) Maybe an introductory course for newbies (could even be web-based) that would address:
4) Frequent, informal, fun events (food, drink and working on trees for fun)
5) Networking with other clubs and organizations to give access to additional resources/events if people are interested.
Just off the top of my head.
I know for me I have gone to a show for my local club and reached out to them several times on FB and they are just not real friendly. It makes me not really want to get involved.
1) Friendly people that seek to add new folks.
2) Maybe an introductory course for newbies (could even be web-based) that would address:
- Basics of bonsai
- Proper care and use of the essential tools
- Location-specific care (Like how to overwinter for cold places and Summer care for places like Vegas/Phoenix)
- A beginner workshop to help them take a tree from a raw to a bonsai-in-training
4) Frequent, informal, fun events (food, drink and working on trees for fun)
5) Networking with other clubs and organizations to give access to additional resources/events if people are interested.
Just off the top of my head.
I know for me I have gone to a show for my local club and reached out to them several times on FB and they are just not real friendly. It makes me not really want to get involved.
Leo in N E Illinois
The Professor
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Good club - I think Milwaukee Bonsai Society, Milwaukee Wisconsin is a good example. Another good example is Midwest Bonsai Society, Chicago area, meeting at CBG in Glencoe, IL. Both are good clubs. All clubs have there ups and downs, Chicago seems to be on a steady trend up trend after a rough patch a dozen years ago. Milwaukee is way up in my opinion, hopefully the ''down'' won't come for another decade.
http://www.milwaukeebonsai.org/index.html
http://www.midwestbonsai.org/
No matter the club, no matter 50 members or 500 members, it always seems the same 8 to 16 people do all the organizing and running of the club. This is not avoidable, it is human nature.
An active core membership that tries to have something happening every month beyond just a ''meeting''. The board of directors, or executive committee needs to keep an eye to make sure all the core members are inclusive in their approach to people, constantly try to bring different, new or less experienced people in on projects. Most boards draw from the over 55 years old crowd, we tend to have more time, I'm proud to say Milwaukee now has a board member who is under 35 years old. Yes. Some diversity. Recently had a contest to see if everyone on the board could name 3 people each that had only been in the club less than 2 years. Not all could, but the majority could. Key is, encourage your core people to mingle. Get to know people. You don't have to know everyone, but try to know more than just the few you tend to ''hang out'' with.
Term limits - details may vary, but by term limiting, you force the core to keep recruiting new to fill slots. For Milwaukee, we term limit most slots at 4 years, and 2 years for president. Term limits are not always necessary, and if you find a good treasurer, it is real tempting to keep them on as long as possible.
Milwaukee has a goal of spending at least 55% of the membership dues income on bringing in speakers and guest artists. The thought is that speakers and artists are what the membership wants, and the dues are the membership's money, try to give our members a good return. Of course there are other expenses, like room rental, club supplies, etc. Some long established clubs that have hosted MABA and ABS events keep a ''war chest'', a fairly hefty reserve fund to serve as seed money for the next event. What can happen is that a club board, or exec committee can get in a penny pinching mind set trying to rebuild the reserve fund for the next event at the expense of providing quality speakers and interesting programs for the membership. Our 55% goal is to counter-act this tendency. Milwaukee will be hosting the 2020 MABA convention, so this is why the discussion occurred. The average member doesn't want to see the same ''old timer'' get up at a meeting an rehash the same thing he or she had said at three other meetings that year and call it a ''program''. Its especially irritating if you realize the ''old timer'' hasn't read a book in 50 years, or is at all familiar with the newer, more modern approaches to bonsai utilizing modern horticultural science. I have been that old timer, I know how bad it can get. Yep, garden topsoil & granite grit, yep, that still is the best thing to pot yer banzai trees in. (joking, just joking).
All the activities the Milwaukee club does are done with an eye toward improving the bonsai skills of all the members. We have events for the novice, for the intermediate, and for the advanced members. We want members at all levels to benefit and to learn from our guest artists, our workshops with guest artists, our workshops taught by our members, and any other activity the club comes up with. Education. Even the old timers (like myself) can learn new tricks.
We have had many artists in over the years, from Colin Lewis and Marty Schmallenberg in the last decade thru Matt Reel, Chris Baker and Austin Heitzman within the last 6 months. We try to have a variety of topics covered, Todd Schlafer is coming in June to talk conifers, spruce especially, in May we have David Kreutz to talk satsuki azalea. Jerry Meslick has recently been in covering ficus & tropicals. We try mix up the topics.
Have a club mentor, a guest artist, brought in several times a year for a multi-year contract. This club mentor, only does one regular meeting program a year, but will do 3 workshops a year, sort of a Master class series, a group of 6 to 8 students share the artist for a day, and do this 3 times a year, this way the students will see the artist spring, summer, autumn, and can keep bringing the same handful of trees to the workshops to experience the full round of seasonal work on a tree, at the appropriate time for the tree. Milwaukee first experimented with this with Ted Mattson being our club sensei, or teacher. Ted came to town 3 times a year, taught group workshops 2 days each visit and had a private session or two on subsequent days. This began around 2006 or so, and ran for at least 6 years. A private study group has had Ted coming in for another 6 years past the original 6. Ted is still a regular here in MIlwaukee with close friendships with quite a few of the members. Most recently Peter Tea is in year 5 of a 6 year arrangement. So students are getting to learn from Peter too. The students who take the workshop agree to the same 3 year agreement that the artist does, so these students get the full benefit of a multiyear cycle of instruction from the same artist. You can have the artist help you evaluate the responses your trees have made to things you have done. Very useful. This is not cheap, but if you do group workshops a typical artists fee of around $400 per 8 hours teaching can be split between 4 to 8 students, all meet at a location and each person gets a turn, usually 10 minutes to 30 minutes per turn, going round the group until everyone has their time in. Getting to see and listen while the artist is with a different student and you are working on your own tree is a great benefit. It is a good system. If the club uses the mentor for a club program then the club picks up the travel. Otherwise the students also split the travel expenses. Arrangements vary. But it is very do-able. A good model for study groups too.
Milwaukee membership held a fund raiser, receiving some corporate money, and a seed grant that matched the money we raised, all to endow a separate entity, the MBF, to maintain a permanent bonsai collection and exhibit. The Milwaukee Bonsai Foundation partnered with the Lynden Sculpture Garden and now there is a pavilion and display area housing the permanent bonsai collection. It is wildly creative, designed to have open views of the sculpture park as you look at the bonsai. No walled in garden, it was really creative, put it on your destination list next time to are near Milwaukee. Volunteers do all the maintenance. Such a collection gives a sense of permanence to the local bonsai community. And having the collection at a sculpture park really highlights the artistic aspect of bonsai, displaying as art, and not just a horticultural craft.
So these are some ideas. Milwaukee only has about 150 to 180 members, and yet we have a lot going on. It can be done.
http://www.milwaukeebonsai.org/index.html
http://www.midwestbonsai.org/
No matter the club, no matter 50 members or 500 members, it always seems the same 8 to 16 people do all the organizing and running of the club. This is not avoidable, it is human nature.
An active core membership that tries to have something happening every month beyond just a ''meeting''. The board of directors, or executive committee needs to keep an eye to make sure all the core members are inclusive in their approach to people, constantly try to bring different, new or less experienced people in on projects. Most boards draw from the over 55 years old crowd, we tend to have more time, I'm proud to say Milwaukee now has a board member who is under 35 years old. Yes. Some diversity. Recently had a contest to see if everyone on the board could name 3 people each that had only been in the club less than 2 years. Not all could, but the majority could. Key is, encourage your core people to mingle. Get to know people. You don't have to know everyone, but try to know more than just the few you tend to ''hang out'' with.
Term limits - details may vary, but by term limiting, you force the core to keep recruiting new to fill slots. For Milwaukee, we term limit most slots at 4 years, and 2 years for president. Term limits are not always necessary, and if you find a good treasurer, it is real tempting to keep them on as long as possible.
Milwaukee has a goal of spending at least 55% of the membership dues income on bringing in speakers and guest artists. The thought is that speakers and artists are what the membership wants, and the dues are the membership's money, try to give our members a good return. Of course there are other expenses, like room rental, club supplies, etc. Some long established clubs that have hosted MABA and ABS events keep a ''war chest'', a fairly hefty reserve fund to serve as seed money for the next event. What can happen is that a club board, or exec committee can get in a penny pinching mind set trying to rebuild the reserve fund for the next event at the expense of providing quality speakers and interesting programs for the membership. Our 55% goal is to counter-act this tendency. Milwaukee will be hosting the 2020 MABA convention, so this is why the discussion occurred. The average member doesn't want to see the same ''old timer'' get up at a meeting an rehash the same thing he or she had said at three other meetings that year and call it a ''program''. Its especially irritating if you realize the ''old timer'' hasn't read a book in 50 years, or is at all familiar with the newer, more modern approaches to bonsai utilizing modern horticultural science. I have been that old timer, I know how bad it can get. Yep, garden topsoil & granite grit, yep, that still is the best thing to pot yer banzai trees in. (joking, just joking).
All the activities the Milwaukee club does are done with an eye toward improving the bonsai skills of all the members. We have events for the novice, for the intermediate, and for the advanced members. We want members at all levels to benefit and to learn from our guest artists, our workshops with guest artists, our workshops taught by our members, and any other activity the club comes up with. Education. Even the old timers (like myself) can learn new tricks.
We have had many artists in over the years, from Colin Lewis and Marty Schmallenberg in the last decade thru Matt Reel, Chris Baker and Austin Heitzman within the last 6 months. We try to have a variety of topics covered, Todd Schlafer is coming in June to talk conifers, spruce especially, in May we have David Kreutz to talk satsuki azalea. Jerry Meslick has recently been in covering ficus & tropicals. We try mix up the topics.
Have a club mentor, a guest artist, brought in several times a year for a multi-year contract. This club mentor, only does one regular meeting program a year, but will do 3 workshops a year, sort of a Master class series, a group of 6 to 8 students share the artist for a day, and do this 3 times a year, this way the students will see the artist spring, summer, autumn, and can keep bringing the same handful of trees to the workshops to experience the full round of seasonal work on a tree, at the appropriate time for the tree. Milwaukee first experimented with this with Ted Mattson being our club sensei, or teacher. Ted came to town 3 times a year, taught group workshops 2 days each visit and had a private session or two on subsequent days. This began around 2006 or so, and ran for at least 6 years. A private study group has had Ted coming in for another 6 years past the original 6. Ted is still a regular here in MIlwaukee with close friendships with quite a few of the members. Most recently Peter Tea is in year 5 of a 6 year arrangement. So students are getting to learn from Peter too. The students who take the workshop agree to the same 3 year agreement that the artist does, so these students get the full benefit of a multiyear cycle of instruction from the same artist. You can have the artist help you evaluate the responses your trees have made to things you have done. Very useful. This is not cheap, but if you do group workshops a typical artists fee of around $400 per 8 hours teaching can be split between 4 to 8 students, all meet at a location and each person gets a turn, usually 10 minutes to 30 minutes per turn, going round the group until everyone has their time in. Getting to see and listen while the artist is with a different student and you are working on your own tree is a great benefit. It is a good system. If the club uses the mentor for a club program then the club picks up the travel. Otherwise the students also split the travel expenses. Arrangements vary. But it is very do-able. A good model for study groups too.
Milwaukee membership held a fund raiser, receiving some corporate money, and a seed grant that matched the money we raised, all to endow a separate entity, the MBF, to maintain a permanent bonsai collection and exhibit. The Milwaukee Bonsai Foundation partnered with the Lynden Sculpture Garden and now there is a pavilion and display area housing the permanent bonsai collection. It is wildly creative, designed to have open views of the sculpture park as you look at the bonsai. No walled in garden, it was really creative, put it on your destination list next time to are near Milwaukee. Volunteers do all the maintenance. Such a collection gives a sense of permanence to the local bonsai community. And having the collection at a sculpture park really highlights the artistic aspect of bonsai, displaying as art, and not just a horticultural craft.
So these are some ideas. Milwaukee only has about 150 to 180 members, and yet we have a lot going on. It can be done.
Clyde you just described the club I belong to. Phoenix Bonsai Society. If you want to know how a good club should operate check out their website.
http://public.phoenixbonsai.com/
Good people definitely make the club! Friendly....knowledgeable and willing to share their expertise. Throw in some outside demos and opportunity's to show your own trees....no matter the level....and you have the makings of a good bonsai club! You need a model? Here it is.
http://public.phoenixbonsai.com/
Good people definitely make the club! Friendly....knowledgeable and willing to share their expertise. Throw in some outside demos and opportunity's to show your own trees....no matter the level....and you have the makings of a good bonsai club! You need a model? Here it is.
Silentrunning
Chumono
Bonsai clubs are like most other clubs. All it takes is one really good, kind and knowledgeable person to make it successful. Or one real prick to ruin it.
just.wing.it
Deadwood Head
I have never been to a club meeting... I would like to be involved, but there is no way, between work and kid...it's not possible...
Maybe if I am fortunate enough to retire some day, then I'll have time.
Maybe if I am fortunate enough to retire some day, then I'll have time.
Shima
Omono
Don't get me started. I miss REBS every day.
'Nuff said.
'Nuff said.
just.wing.it
Deadwood Head
Well put.
AlainK
Imperial Masterpiece
People.
Vin
Imperial Masterpiece
Bob, Grimmy touched on it a little. I really feel one of the biggest issues is the lack of mentorship. New to bonsai members and even new members that have been around awhile should be assigned a mentor to work with. Someone they can contact outside of the meeting room when they have questions or need help with something. Just my two cents..
LanceMac10
Imperial Masterpiece
Cable
Omono
A little bit of Mentoring in my life, a little bit of Artistry by my side
A little bit of Knowledge is all I need, a little bit of Demonstrate is what I see
A little bit of Field Trips in the sun, a little bit of Wiring all night long
A little bit of Bonsai here I am, a little bit of Do makes me a fan
Bonsai Nut
Nuttier than your average Nut
I think having a great venue is important - a central place where people can meet and work on their trees. I got spoiled when I lived within walking distance of the Chicago Botanic Gardens and all our Midwest Bonsai Society meetings were right there. Sure, you can have a rotating location meeting in peoples' back yards, but it is not the same, IMHO.
Also I think it is important to have a monthly agenda - something that is the focus of that meeting - and someone who is willing to talk about it / demonstrate it.
Finally, I think it is important to have an annual show - even if it is a non-judged exhibition. It helps develop club togetherness and is a great way to attract new members.
Also I think it is important to have a monthly agenda - something that is the focus of that meeting - and someone who is willing to talk about it / demonstrate it.
Finally, I think it is important to have an annual show - even if it is a non-judged exhibition. It helps develop club togetherness and is a great way to attract new members.
justBonsai
Omono
I tried to attend club meetings consistently my first year in bonsai until I simply had no time. The club I used to be a member in was Santa Anita Bonsai Society. I will say the some of the members are very nice and I talk to them every time I see them at a show. But most probably could care less if I was there and it was a little awkward hanging around in a club with a bunch of old dudes just minding their own business. NOTHING AGAINST OLD DUDES but I was 18 when I first joined the club and it was hard to talk with people who didn't seem willing to talk to you. As I got busy with research and school I felt no longer motivated to participate and let my membership expire.
When I lived in Chicago for 3 months though I had a pretty good experience with the community there and during the Midwest bonsai show. A lot of enthusiastic people and pretty easy to talk to.
When I lived in Chicago for 3 months though I had a pretty good experience with the community there and during the Midwest bonsai show. A lot of enthusiastic people and pretty easy to talk to.
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