What keeps you interested in your bonsai club meetings?

rockm

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What have you done to make the club meeting better? You want to work on trees well why don't you bring your trees to work on to your club meetings? Unless someone tell you not to work on a tree I am sure they will be glad to have your services. Start a work shop, locate some nice trees recomend the club buy trees and set up a workshop and make a royal mess. Do you participate, can you help someone learn how to wire? Do you have design skills, the major reason people will come to watch someone else work on a tree. I personally think you should rethink what you are doing and see what you can do to make the club better. If you can't maybe you should leave before your negative attitude drives other people away. Every body sits back waiting for someone to start a program that they might be interested in. Start one yourself.
I couldn't agree more. You want to work on trees?, WORK ON TREES for crying out loud. Start your own study group with people from the club who want to do the same. If you want individualized instruction at your pace, LOOK FOR AN INSTRUCTOR, not a club. That instructor might cost you some $$ BTW. Get on a club committee to bring in some outside talent to run workshops. Start your own workshop within the club. There are many paths you could follow, but it will take some effort, not simply complaining about what's being put in front of you.

And FWIW, watching someone work on a tree can be vastly more instructive that whacking away at a tree yourself, possibly ruining it...
 

AZbonsai

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I was just talking about this with one of the few remaining originators of the Phoenix Bonsai Society. Our club is thriving right now! Has been for the past 3 years. 40 plus members. Our last meeting was an open workshop. We have about 10 members identified as mentors who roam the room giving one-on-one guidance. They bring in great headliners....David Nguy...Ted Matson....I believe Boon Manakitivipart is headed our way. We put on community shows twice a year. They do nursery crawls and yamadori excursions. It's a great club! I would say if you need a model for a good club PBS is one to look at. www.phoenixbonsai.com
 
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Thanks for the advice everyone but the point is if you want participation in clubs, perhaps have a way to participate.
Take it or leave it.
 

rockm

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Thanks for the advice everyone but the point is if you want participation in clubs, perhaps have a way to participate.
Take it or leave it.
I think the point is, if there isn't "a way to participate" MAKE ONE...Your club experience isn't up to others. It is up to YOU.
 

Nybonsai12

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I am not in a club

Ok..... this thread is old but it is the best fit for what I am trying to get to the point of. I just went to my 4th bonsai club meeting.

They have been at 2 different clubs.

Just what every club needs. A meeting attendee who has contributed no dues telling the club how it needs to change to suit his wants. :D
 
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I drive an hour and a half to get to the Nashville club meetings. I stay engaged by having stepped up to edit the newsletter. I try to make as many workshops as I can and our club is pretty good about getting together for tree work or demos. We are also very fortunate to be in Bjorn's home territory so we usually get at least one meeting a year where he attends to do a talk or a demo. We also have Owen Reich present as well as other good local artists. Last year we even got to have one of our meetings at Eisei-En. I am attending all of the "101" style workshops and trying to get as much knowledge as I can so I can try to start up at the very least a work group here in my home town. I live in the very middle of Tennessee with clubs to the East, South, and West and envision a Tennessee scene where my hometown can act as a sort of "middle ground" where cross club events and activities could happen if there was enough interest. Would be really awesome to see a show featuring the best from Nashville, Chattanooga, and Knoxville where none of the folks showing those trees would need to drive more than an hour and a half away from home.
 

AZbonsai

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I am about a 40 minute drive away. My only complaint....only 2 meeting per month. 😁
 

amatbrewer

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I have been part of two different (oh so very different) bonsai clubs. One I loved and sorely miss, the other is now defunct.

The club that introduced me to bonsai (~25 years ago), had a mix of very knowledgeable, experienced, and helpful (& humble) members. Meetings would start off with a quick business meeting, and then most of the rest involved working on trees. Your own (with lots of help from other members) and watching/assisting others. Many meetings ended with a raffle of some item (or items) that a members donated. We also had regular ‘purpose’ meetings such as the annual auction/sales, workshops, and doing maintenance on a local bonsai collection. I participated in many activities from fun raising, to building a storage shed for the collection we maintained and loved every minute of it.

The other club was a couple of people with very little knowledge/experience, led (sort of) by a person who was being mentored in bonsai, but had little knowledge, virtually no talent, and did everything by rote (rule/mentor says X, you need to do X). It was disorganized and had no sense of direction or purpose. Meetings basically consisted of sitting around looking at a lot of very pre bonsai and exchanging advice (mostly bad). I tried to arrange regular ‘work days’ at a nearby (~2hrs drive) bonsai collection, but could get no support, so the idea fizzled out. I decided my time would be better spent reading, searching the internet, and actually working on trees.

Nearest club to me now is over 3hrs away.

I have since found BNut, and while it is no substitute to the first club, it has been far more productive and useful (not to mention entertaining) than the second.

As for the inevitable “why did you not make the second club better or start your own?”, the simple answer is that is not in my power. I don’t have the time, energy, or skills to do what is needed. I will work my ass off to help a club be successful, but I am not a leader or organizer, never have been, never will be.
 

AZbonsai

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We used to have 3 per month but they are using one week for a suiseki group right now....not really my thing.
 

PABonsai

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I get to go to my club for the first time Sunday. They are looking for a webmaster to keep the site up to date since it hasn't been in over a year. The way I see it, that's one easy way to try to drive engagement, by presenting to the outside that this is an active place. I just might take it up depending on what all is involved. I agree with @Vance Wood that if you want it to be something then try to make it such. After all these are clubs. They aren't schools with an administration and a curriculum. I would bet 9 out of 10 clubs would LOVE to actually hear requests or suggestions. After all, they want the members to enjoy it (or should anyway) otherwise why be there?
 

parhamr

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Even a group as large as BSOP struggles to find enough people willing to run programs. Plenty of folks have opinions about them and desire to participate in them. Few actually step up to be accountable for them.
 

Vance Wood

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Even a group as large as BSOP struggles to find enough people willing to run programs. Plenty of folks have opinions about them and desire to participate in them. Few actually step up to be accountable for them.
It reminds me of my father's great road apple pancake story. It seems these buddies had an agreement that after picking straws for who would cook that the first one to complain automatically became cook. My father got the job one year, which he did not like or want, decided to try and make someone complain. So he went out and gathered some road apples and made pancakes with them as a major ingredient. -------- No one complained.
 

AZbonsai

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Even a group as large as BSOP struggles to find enough people willing to run programs. Plenty of folks have opinions about them and desire to participate in them. Few actually step up to be accountable for them.
Our group runs on a two year commitment for 8 different positions. They have an exploratory committee that goes around to ask if people would like to volunteer. They have done pretty well in getting new people in...knock on wood...because you are right it is hard to get volunteers. Not just in bonsai that goes for everything.
 

Cable

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I would bet 9 out of 10 clubs would LOVE to actually hear requests or suggestions. After all, they want the members to enjoy it (or should anyway) otherwise why be there?

Apparently I belong to the 1 of 10. Most requests & suggestions are shot down and I've actually been lectured for causing club growth that has resulted in meeting attendance that used to be 10-15 max now being over 30 because it is "becoming a circus". 🤷‍♂️
 

parhamr

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I would bet 9 out of 10 clubs would LOVE to actually hear requests or suggestions. After all, they want the members to enjoy it (or should anyway) otherwise why be there?

Y’all here’s an events and programming survey I sent out to BSOP members in June: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSdiLUZ-DkSxmvCshmeqEDw6HPDodtNx_mzO8vWxJoarVUmahA/viewform?vc=0&c=0&w=1 (fill it in if you’d like… this has already served its purpose and I can filter out new entries with ease)

Feel free to copy/borrow/steal for your clubs. The responses go into a spreadsheet where you can do handy analysis.

Cc: @Cable
 

Cable

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Y’all here’s an events and programming survey I sent out to BSOP members in June: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSdiLUZ-DkSxmvCshmeqEDw6HPDodtNx_mzO8vWxJoarVUmahA/viewform?vc=0&c=0&w=1 (fill it in if you’d like… this has already served its purpose and I can filter out new entries with ease)

Feel free to copy/borrow/steal for your clubs. The responses go into a spreadsheet where you can do handy analysis.

Cc: @Cable
Very nice, thank you!
 
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