making your bonsai club grow

erb.75

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What has worked in your bonsai clubs to attract new members? What hasn't worked? If you wanted to give advice to anyone belonging to a bonsai club to increase membership (and fun), what would you suggest?

Any ideas appreciated!
 

Giga

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Have it at a time people are generally free, I have a hard time making it to mine when it was on a Thursday but now it's on saterday so I plan on finally making it
 

Paradox

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You have to be pretty agressive about recruiting.
Advertise at garden shops, landscape nurseries etc,
Do demos/discussions at local libraries, garden shops, nurseries if they let you.
Put up a website or facebook page and update it frequently with pics and info about what your club is doing.
Get other members involved. Apathy is the biggest killer of clubs. Everyone wants to participate, no one wants to do.

One of my clubs has this problem, it is too small to afford regular speakers for demos but no one wants to work on recruiting to get more members so they can do bigger things. The only one that did wanted to do talks at schools. They did one. It didnt work. Honestly, I think that club is more of a social club instead of a serious bonsai club.

My other club is much larger and has the resources for speakers and activities.
 

Paradox

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Saturdays might be an issue when the warm weather comes and people will want to be outside doing stuff (fishing, gardening, bonsai, camping, BBQs, family stuff) instead of sitting in a club meeting.

I know if my clubs met on Friday, Sat or Sun, Id be out as soon as fishing season started.
 

johng

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I have lots of opinions about clubs...and most of them are not positive...simply put, most often the people just get in the way of doing bonsai! If I had unlimited time I might feel differently, but like most of us my time is finite. After 15 years of giving up a Sat/month for a bonsai social focused mainly on newbies...I decided I needed to focus what little time I have on doing bonsai....rather than recruiting newbies for which bonsai will be a thing of the past within a year...(next year's club goal...recruit some more new faces...and so-on)

As an alternative, or as a supplement, to your local club, find 3-5 other folks that are serious about the hobby and start a study group...meet as often as you can and always work on trees. Put a little money away at each meeting...privately or jointly...in no time you'll have enough to hire some talent.

We made the hard choice to limit membership...that has pissed a few people off over time...oddly it just happened to be mostly the same people that only took and never gave to the club or those that thought they were just entitled to be a member. That part hasn't been easy but it was the best choice I think we could have made...we now have a really tight group of dedicated folks that work and get along well together. We are small enough to make meeting in garage comfortable...everybody brings something to work on...we talk, share ideas, help one another, and do bonsai! The are no dues, no business meetings, no tax obligations,...no bs...

Perhaps recruiting new members may not be the answer to growing your club??

Your mileage may vary:)
 

garywood

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John, I have to agree with you there! But, there is an option for clubs. Be more like study groups. Limit business to 5-10min, nothing more boring than long business when it could be addressed by the board beforehand. Do bonsai at the meetings and forget about member "programs" except once or twice a year. I've been to a lot of club meetings across the country and they fall into basically two categories.; those that do bonsai and those that are social clubs. Make meetings fun!
 

Vin

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There's nothing worse than driving two hours to a meeting and watching a slide show about a recent bonsai exhibition. I like John's Study Group idea. I know Smoke has a group that meets every so often and it seems to work. Maybe I can get someone local interested and committed to the art. Hmmmm...
 

sikadelic

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I finally have my first taste of a "club". It is more of a study group/social gathering. The meeting is held at the local bonsai nursery and everybody brings a tree to work on. Everyone helps each other out and provides input on design, pot choices, etc. I am really enjoying it but I really wish I had some quality hands on instruction. I wouldn't consider the group to made up of all very serious artists and it seems they are all content hobbyists.

I would like more but this is all I have so I won't be complaining.
 

erb.75

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I do like the idea of doing more "bonsai" during meetings. The last meeting we had someone do a presentation on bonsai and penjing appreciation. It was fine and I did learn things, but I differed in my opinions of chinese penjing. (aka, I like penjing and think it's very inspiring, rather than a crappy version of Japanese bonsai).

I DEFINATELY have the most fun when I am doing bonsai, or at least looking at a real tree in front of me and someone is working on it or we are discussing it as a group.

am thinking about becoming an officer in my club. I imagine that if everyone is having lots of fun every meeting, it'll naturally grow. I do worry about donating all of my bonsai time into the "intro for newbies" who will be gone 3 months from now never to be heard from again

with small children, a wife, and a job that takes up time, I always feel like even getting away 1 wed./month is hard and I want to make that time count
 

Brian Van Fleet

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John and Gary make good points. I'll add my $.02, since I've had 2 terms as our VP, a 2-year break, and back on this year. In our club, the VP plans and schedules the meeting programs for the year.

Our board meets at 6:00, before the meeting begins at 7:00; 2nd Monday of each month. Usually we don't have an hours' worth of business to cover, but some months we do when planning a show, sales booth, or coordinating with another group in a festival.

We have a swap & shop each month; members bring things to trade, sell, etc. and that goes on while people are milling around before the meeting. Adds some excitement if people participate.

At 7:00, we do a very quick business briefing, followed by Show & Tell. Members bring trees, line them up on the stage, and tell the club a little about the tree they brought. Good for new members to see more developed trees, and what it takes to get to that level.

By 7:30, we do the evening program. The challenge is to appeal to the newcomer without boring the old timers to death. It's a fine line at times, and the Grand Canyon at others. This year, the unstated theme for the first half of the year has been to get ready for the show, and working to up our game:
Jan: USNBE and International Arboretum travelogue.
Feb: Pots, guest lecturer Ryan Bell.
Mar: Repotting tutorial an demo
Apr: Accent plants
May: Display

June-on we'll return to horticulture and technique.

On Saturday following the monthly club meeting, people gather in the potting shed of the botanical gardens and work on trees all day. That's the fun part. Unfortunately, I'm rarely able to make it, but good bonsai happens there.

We still have a social club element; picnics and Christmas dinner, which is fine, but I usually expend my energy into the bonsai side of the club and leave the party planning committee alone.

After a few years, here are some things I think help boost attendance and participation:
1. Be nice. Think how hard it is to get involved here; it can be very intimidating to be new to the art, and walk into a room of 30 15-year acquaintances.
2. Get newcomers involved quickly. Give them a job, ask for their help.
3. Have well-prepared meetings. If this month was a rambling hour on stands and pot oiling, I'm not coming next month..suddenly the new guy is gone three months. Probably lost their first tree in that time, and they're on to peppers.
4. Have multiple focal points...ours has a sales table, show & tell area, and a program. Easier to mingle, or to move along to something else.
5. Have contests and reoccurring themes. We did a club tree project one year with shimpakus. Bring it back every other month and line them up. Why is mine green and his is brown? Why is one full and one is a plucked chicken? On and on, but people are committed to show up.
6. Share your meeting schedule with other clubs. I stay involved and share meeting schedules with 4 other clubs. It's good to see what others are doing, and see that all clubs struggle with the same issues.
7. If possible, do a member swap. If I presented at my club this month, maybe I can do the same presentation at another club next month. We're fortunate to have 4 clubs in AL, and 3 not far in TN. We should take more advantage of that.
8. Be accessible. Facebook has been the source of all our new members this year. I'm more involved with the page and try to respond to questions within 24 hours, and make a point to invite everyone to the meetings.
9. Take advantage of the buying power of a big group. Buy pallets of akadama, pumice, lava, etc. you'll get a huge break, and up charge by $1.00 a bag to add to the treasury...that way you can afford the really good guest artists.

If anyone is interested, I'm happy to share our meeting schedules and topic lists that I might have laying around. PM me with an email address and I'll see what I can find. I know I have a few years of AL schedules, maybe Huntsville, IA.

All that, and I will say publicly, I far-more appreciate the times when I can get together with a small group of people who know what they're doing and actually work on trees.
 
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djm4243

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Lots of great information. I do enjoy my club. We have some fantastic experienced members who share A LOT of there time. However, I am also a "hands on" type and the idea of a Study Group is very appealing.
 

Eric Group

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I have lots of opinions about clubs...and most of them are not positive...simply put, most often the people just get in the way of doing bonsai! If I had unlimited time I might feel differently, but like most of us my time is finite. After 15 years of giving up a Sat/month for a bonsai social focused mainly on newbies...I decided I needed to focus what little time I have on doing bonsai....rather than recruiting newbies for which bonsai will be a thing of the past within a year...(next year's club goal...recruit some more new faces...and so-on)

As an alternative, or as a supplement, to your local club, find 3-5 other folks that are serious about the hobby and start a study group...meet as often as you can and always work on trees. Put a little money away at each meeting...privately or jointly...in no time you'll have enough to hire some talent.

We made the hard choice to limit membership...that has pissed a few people off over time...oddly it just happened to be mostly the same people that only took and never gave to the club or those that thought they were just entitled to be a member. That part hasn't been easy but it was the best choice I think we could have made...we now have a really tight group of dedicated folks that work and get along well together. We are small enough to make meeting in garage comfortable...everybody brings something to work on...we talk, share ideas, help one another, and do bonsai! The are no dues, no business meetings, no tax obligations,...no bs...

Perhaps recruiting new members may not be the answer to growing your club??

Your mileage may vary:)
Well, I cannot say I have anything to compare it to, but I know that since I have been lucky enough to spend time working with you guys over the last couple years... I have learned more about Bonsai in what amounts to a couple days of working on trees than I had learned in ten years trying to figure this stuff out on my own!

Your strategy is certainly working if the quality of the trees you guys have is any indication! I have to say... Not bragging but the quality of the trees in MY yard has grown by leaps and bounds in just the last two years! Hell.. Today alone I added 9-10 STUNNERS from that Azalea Farm you and Ken told me about.. Still cannot believe that place! WOW
 

Vin

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John and Gary make good points. I'll add my $.02, since I've had 2 terms as our VP, a 2-year break, and back on this year. In our club, the VP plans and schedules the meeting programs for the year.

Our board meets at 6:00, before the meeting begins at 7:00; 2nd Monday of each month. Usually we don't have an hours' worth of business to cover, but some months we do when planning a show, sales booth, or coordinating with another group in a festival.

We have a swap & shop each month; members bring things to trade, sell, etc. and that goes on while people are milling around before the meeting. Adds some excitement if people participate.

At 7:00, we do a very quick business briefing, followed by Show & Tell. Members bring trees, line them up on the stage, and tell the club a little about the tree they brought. Good for new members to see more developed trees, and what it takes to get to that level.

By 7:30, we do the evening program. The challenge is to appeal to the newcomer without boring the old timers to death. It's a fine line at times, and the Grand Canyon at others. This year, the unstated theme for the first half of the year has been to get ready for the show, and working to up our game:
Jan: USNBE and International Arboretum travelogue.
Feb: Pots, guest lecturer Ryan Bell.
Mar: Repotting tutorial an demo
Apr: Accent plants
May: Display

June-on we'll return to horticulture and technique.

On Saturday following the monthly club meeting, people gather in the potting shed of the botanical gardens and work on trees all day. That's the fun part. Unfortunately, I'm rarely able to make it, but good bonsai happens there.

We still have a social club element; picnics and Christmas dinner, which is fine, but I usually expend my energy into the bonsai side of the club and leave the party planning committee alone.

After a few years, here are some things I think help boost attendance and participation:
1. Be nice. Think how hard it is to get involved here; it can be very intimidating to be new to the art, and walk into a room of 30 15-year acquaintances.
2. Get newcomers involved quickly. Give them a job, ask for their help.
3. Have well-prepared meetings. If this month was a rambling hour on stands and pot oiling, I'm not coming next month..suddenly the new guy is gone three months. Probably lost their first tree in that time, and they're on to peppers.
4. Have multiple focal points...ours has a sales table, show & tell area, and a program. Easier to mingle, or to move along to something else.
5. Have contests and reoccurring themes. We did a club tree project one year with shimpakus. Bring it back every other month and line them up. Why is mine green and his is brown? Why is one full and one is a plucked chicken? On and on, but people are committed to show up.
6. Share your meeting schedule with other clubs. I stay involved and share meeting schedules with 4 other clubs. It's good to see what others are doing, and see that all clubs struggle with the same issues.
7. If possible, do a member swap. If I presented at my club this month, maybe I can do the same presentation at another club next month. We're fortunate to have 4 clubs in AL, and 3 not far in TN. We should take more advantage of that.
8. Be accessible. Facebook has been the source of all our new members this year. I'm more involved with the page and try to respond to questions within 24 hours, and make a point to invite everyone to the meetings.
9. Take advantage of the buying power of a big group. Buy pallets of akadama, pumice, lava, etc. you'll get a huge break, and up charge by $1.00 a bag to add to the treasury...that way you can afford the really good guest artists.

If anyone is interested, I'm happy to share our meeting schedules and topic lists that I might have laying around. PM me with an email address and I'll see what I can find. I know I have a few years of AL schedules, maybe Huntsville, IA.

All that, and I will say publicly, I far-more appreciate the times when I can get together with a small group of people who know what they're doing and actually work on trees.

Sounds like future President talk to me :rolleyes: Great ideas, maybe our club can adopt some :eek:
 
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lordy

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I'm a club prez who decided to do the job because there was literally no one else who would step up. I've been in the club for 15 or 20 years and know the old guard, such as is left, and how the routine goes. One problem I had with the prior years is the same that has been mentioned here already. I dont get much out of a $400 guest artist who does a demo, or critiques member's trees. I have always pushed working on trees at meetings. For an unknown reason, not many people bring trees to work on. Out of about 40 dues paying members ($20/year), only about a dozen show up at meetings. We used to pay $100 for one Thursday evening per month to rent a park building. This year we have chosen to not rent the building, but save the fee and meet at various member's homes with predetermined topics. The savings will go toward a $100 refund from the club treasury for up to the first 15 members who registered for the ABS Symposium nearby in June. It is our attempt to allow serious members to up their game via workshops and lectures by a dozen or so masters on a host of various topics. The logic is that we all spend good money on all the "fixins" (pots, material, soil, tools, etc.) but some have very little to show for it.
Well, here is some world-class talent. You can go to the community college, and manage a small business, or go to an ivy league school and aspire to run a Fortune 500 corporation. Hopefully this is more like the latter. If nothing else, it is a different way for the club to run this year.
 

Brian Van Fleet

Pretty Fly for a Bonsai Guy
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I've declined the position in the past because there's a certain PR element involved. I don't have the Southern charm necessary to play nice with people who want to be stroked along, when what they need is a swift kick in the a$$.

Our current prez is talented in this area...
 

Vin

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I've declined the position in the past because there's a certain PR element involved. I don't have the Southern charm necessary to playing nice with people who want to be stroked along, when what they need is a swift kick in the a$$.
I feel you brother. I was President of a local Hot Rod Car Club for two years and it was like managing a Day Care Center for expert whiners. Should I ever do it again, it will be my club and my terms. Oh wait, I'm already doing that: http://oldhotrodder.com/
 

sorce

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Sounds like it's better to grow the dedication of a few, than have a lot of folks who are not dedicated!

(Begin Not serious)
You reckon bonsai clubs will ever face RICO cases like Motorcycle Clubs?

2 Bonsai Clubs Battle it out at a North Alabama nursery

Witnesses say the melee erupted when 2 opposing Bonsai Clubs arrived at Brussels to sign a peace treaty. Each convoy, led by a Sprinter van, arrived at the same time to find a Tesla in one of the best 2 parking spots, words were exchanged.

"This is my spot now!"
"No mine"

This led to a pair of branch splitters getting thrown through the windshield of one the vehicles. Then someone blew a bit of rooting hormone into the eyes of an enemy, [crash], )pow(, alacazam!
Yeah that's enough.


Sorce
 
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