Possible changes to monthly meetings

[David@wegetkraken]

I don’t have the answer to this problem and while distance is certainly an issue for some. It’s not for others. Food is a silly discussion as stated by others we don’t need to be fed by the host. Seems to me the issue we are missing is why is it with soooooo many members So few show up. Perhaps we aren’t offering what people want. Is it possible to PM the entire list of members and send a survey as to what they want or expect. Seems every meeting I go to. Is a real good time but perhaps what I like about them doesn’t float the boat for others.

Depends on what the objective of the club is. If it is to appeal to a new generation, grow the hobby and subsequently grow the sponsor and member pool and thus alleviate some of the financial woes I would humbly point out some outside in observations from someone who has only been here a few months (and who is willing to chip in with solutions, time and effort to help resolve so not just throwing stones)

1. Forums are great for cataloguing how to, what's this, etc...type information, but are beyond antiquated for social media. Our Facebook (also now viewed as antiquated) could use some love. Do we even have an Instagram, Twitter, SnapChat, etc...? If you want to grow with younger members you have to be out where they are.

2. Our (hopefully been around long enough to say "our") booth could additionally use a little love...it was "tired" at Reefapalooza and poorly attended and not going to attract anyone except the die hard folks who are mostly already here. What would excite you and make you want to walk over to it?

3. We need raffles, auctions, give aways...(i.e. something that is going to excite people into wanting to come to events).... that's why ACC had a packed house. Cool and frequent events - snorkeling, trips to the aquarium, frag swaps, etc...would also build excitement with existing and new members

4. I don't know how many official members there are, but roughly two dozen of us are truly active. Could be some lurkers out there, but only a couple dozen are contributing.

Lots of other things we could do that we may have done before, but that I haven't seen in several months of being in the club. Just an observation....we have the vibe of an old VFW and I'm both old and a veteran so that isn't an insult. Just not necessarily appealing to people not like me.

Current membership and sponsorship is clustered around central Jersey and if objective is to simply get together with that crew a few times a year and trade war stories then I'd agree with current suggested approach. No animosity or sarcasm meant there at all. It is all about what does the club want.

 

[Sponge]

Depends on what the objective of the club is. If it is to appeal to a new generation, grow the hobby and subsequently grow the sponsor and member pool and thus alleviate some of the financial woes I would humbly point out some outside in observations from someone who has only been here a few months (and who is willing to chip in with solutions, time and effort to help resolve so not just throwing stones)

1. Forums are great for cataloguing how to, what's this, etc...type information, but are beyond antiquated for social media. Our Facebook (also now viewed as antiquated) could use some love. Do we even have an Instagram, Twitter, SnapChat, etc...? If you want to grow with younger members you have to be out where they are.

2. Our (hopefully been around long enough to say "our") booth could additionally use a little love...it was "tired" at Reefapalooza and poorly attended and not going to attract anyone except the die hard folks who are mostly already here. What would excite you and make you want to walk over to it?

3. We need raffles, auctions, give aways...(i.e. something that is going to excite people into wanting to come to events).... that's why ACC had a packed house. Cool and frequent events - snorkeling, trips to the aquarium, frag swaps, etc...would also build excitement with existing and new members

4. I don't know how many official members there are, but roughly two dozen of us are truly active. Could be some lurkers out there, but only a couple dozen are contributing.

Lots of other things we could do that we may have done before, but that I haven't seen in several months of being in the club. Just an observation....we have the vibe of an old VFW and I'm both old and a veteran so that isn't an insult. Just not necessarily appealing to people not like me.

Current membership and sponsorship is clustered around central Jersey and if objective is to simply get together with that crew a few times a year and trade war stories then I'd agree with current suggested approach. No animosity or sarcasm meant there at all. It is all about what does the club want.

Well said. I vote you for chairman of advertisement/growth and fund raising (I’m sure there is an actual title out there). I am definitely a non social media using old fart who has no idea what Facebook twitter and snap chat is or there function. But I do know my kids and grand kids are on them all the time. Perhaps our conversation should be less about monthly get togethers (but as I said before. I love visiting all the tanks... I mean you guys) and more about modernization

 

[njtiger24 aquariums]

As someone who tried to attend meetings when possible with all of them being 45+ mins from where I live here my thoughts but I’m sure they will just be noise in the wind.

1. The issues I see with our meetings - when I attended them the meetings were not meetings they were get-togethers. I always had fun at them but basically no club business was discussed. I know when I sat on the BOD that was something we tried to change. Even with our meetings where things were discussed the time table was all over the place. The meetings would run for like 5 hours with no idea of when, if at all, club stuff would be discussed. This made it hard for members to judge when they should try and attend. Also a 5 hour window I see being an issue for the host asking them to host a house full of people for 5+ hours.

2. Meetings at LFS I fee are very impersonal. You can’t hang out with folks like you would at someone’s home. Also normally there no place to sit/stand without blocking a tank or being in the way. Also if we do pack a store and then they bring in customers there could be a fire code violation of too many people in the place.

3. Having all meetings in central jersey sounds like a good idea but now it becomes ‘easier’ for the folks near by and the outer folks you most likely will lose all together.

We have to understand folks are busy and to get them to take time out of their schedule there needs to be something for them. Take myself for example. I coach soccer, run the Rec program in my town, refeing soccer, work 40+ hours a week, going for my MBA, and just had my third child. For me to take time away from my family I need something. I can’t say what but something.

As I have mentioned before, and this is no shot/knock at anyone, but this club, I feel, is moving further and further away from what it was design for and what brought me here. There no benefit to being a paid member (beside being able to sell items) and seems to be no drive to provide value to paid members (I know I provided ideas in the past that always got shot down). That is another thing. It seems that if you don’t agree with the BOD your views get pushed to the side. Again this is nothing with the BOD cause I have nothing but mad respect for them and what they are doing for this club. This just my thoughts and feelings on the situation.

 

[Trio91]

Depends on what the objective of the club is. If it is to appeal to a new generation, grow the hobby and subsequently grow the sponsor and member pool and thus alleviate some of the financial woes I would humbly point out some outside in observations from someone who has only been here a few months (and who is willing to chip in with solutions, time and effort to help resolve so not just throwing stones)

1. Forums are great for cataloguing how to, what's this, etc...type information, but are beyond antiquated for social media. Our Facebook (also now viewed as antiquated) could use some love. Do we even have an Instagram, Twitter, SnapChat, etc...? If you want to grow with younger members you have to be out where they are.

2. Our (hopefully been around long enough to say "our") booth could additionally use a little love...it was "tired" at Reefapalooza and poorly attended and not going to attract anyone except the die hard folks who are mostly already here. What would excite you and make you want to walk over to it?

3. We need raffles, auctions, give aways...(i.e. something that is going to excite people into wanting to come to events).... that's why ACC had a packed house. Cool and frequent events - snorkeling, trips to the aquarium, frag swaps, etc...would also build excitement with existing and new members

4. I don't know how many official members there are, but roughly two dozen of us are truly active. Could be some lurkers out there, but only a couple dozen are contributing.

Lots of other things we could do that we may have done before, but that I haven't seen in several months of being in the club. Just an observation....we have the vibe of an old VFW and I'm both old and a veteran so that isn't an insult. Just not necessarily appealing to people not like me.

Current membership and sponsorship is clustered around central Jersey and if objective is to simply get together with that crew a few times a year and trade war stories then I'd agree with current suggested approach. No animosity or sarcasm meant there at all. It is all about what does the club want.

Part 1 as I do not want to have a massive response

We do have an Instagram and Twitter account along with our Facebook but our issue is getting able bodies to constantly man these posts

Our RAP booth, when you say "tired", can you elaborate a little on that? We've done RAP in the past including this years event where we've accomplished a few things:
a. Onboarded several new club members
b. Sold alot of frags bags which we use for club fundraising
C. Got paid for our services by RAP
Now we can always add fancier displays as well as a few others items, but in keeping with our not-for-profit club theme, we try to minimize our expenses.

Now as far as raffles go, we do purchase raffles items (corals) for every club meet. We also go as far as purchasing raffle items for private events when we need to. The key word is PURCHASE....we have to be cautious as we need to see a return on our expenses as not to bleed our bank dry.

As far as educational trips @Mark_C a few weeks go tried to set up a bus tour to a public aquarium, but unfortunately there was little interest at the time. In the past @Mark Shelly has set up behind the scene tours of Jenkinson's Aquarium which had a nice turnout.

 

[Trio91]

Part 2.

We have about 100-150 members that have an active account, where they are? Some have gone onto other forums and other i dont know. But yes, definitely lurkers.

I am always open to new, viable ideas to help move this club forward, so please feel free to shoot them my way. I do have a last resort, smoking gun up my sleeve, but I'm not sure how its gonna play out.

 

[Sponge]

As someone who tried to attend meetings when possible with all of them being 45+ mins from where I live here my thoughts but I’m sure they will just be noise in the wind.

1. The issues I see with our meetings - when I attended them the meetings were not meetings they were get-togethers. I always had fun at them but basically no club business was discussed. I know when I sat on the BOD that was something we tried to change. Even with our meetings where things were discussed the time table was all over the place. The meetings would run for like 5 hours with no idea of when, if at all, club stuff would be discussed. This made it hard for members to judge when they should try and attend. Also a 5 hour window I see being an issue for the host asking them to host a house full of people for 5+ hours.

2. Meetings at LFS I fee are very impersonal. You can’t hang out with folks like you would at someone’s home. Also normally there no place to sit/stand without blocking a tank or being in the way. Also if we do pack a store and then they bring in customers there could be a fire code violation of too many people in the place.

3. Having all meetings in central jersey sounds like a good idea but now it becomes ‘easier’ for the folks near by and the outer folks you most likely will lose all together.

We have to understand folks are busy and to get them to take time out of their schedule there needs to be something for them. Take myself for example. I coach soccer, run the Rec program in my town, refeing soccer, work 40+ hours a week, going for my MBA, and just had my third child. For me to take time away from my family I need something. I can’t say what but something.

As I have mentioned before, and this is no shot/knock at anyone, but this club, I feel, is moving further and further away from what it was design for and what brought me here. There no benefit to being a paid member (beside being able to sell items) and seems to be no drive to provide value to paid members (I know I provided ideas in the past that always got shot down). That is another thing. It seems that if you don’t agree with the BOD your views get pushed to the side. Again this is nothing with the BOD cause I have nothing but mad respect for them and what they are doing for this club. This just my thoughts and feelings on the situation.

Love what you wrote. And see everything you said as valid. All the more reason for us to let Dave kraken bend our ears a little. I feel his head is swiveling in the right direction. I don’t think the forum needs to change. I think the board is doing a great job at keeping the engine running. Perhaps all we need is fresh eyes added to the mix. To help spark interest in what we do. Even huge corporations and sporting institutions are changing the way they do things to attract and keep the attention of the younger crowd. And to keep the old salts interest. I certainly don’t have the answers. But the fact that we are having this discussion only solidifies my belief that the club is still strong and completely capable of a little rejuvenation. I say let’s keep this discussion going. The only bad idea is the one not shared.

 

[Sponge]

Trio
Love the cliffhanger with the smoking gun up your sleeve. Awesome way to end a paragraph. Definitely got me waiting for season two

 

[David@wegetkraken]

In order to take stress off the club I'm happy to cancel the November meet at my place. In lieu of that I can happily sponsor an informal gathering in November for whomever would like to come see my tanks. I'll happily feed you as well and will have a table set up for you to buy, sell, trade, will have a few frags to sell and will contribute something we can raffle off as well. Also hope to have a few newbies in attendance. Will send more details once we get closer. This way the club is out nothing purchasing anything in case attendance is light nor will there be any guilt for not attending for those that feel it is too far to drive. Still hope to see many of you there. Tentatively looking at Nov 2nd, just let me know if the 3rd or a different weekend would work better. Cheers!

 

[nano1908]

That's very kind @David@wegetkraken. Awesome idea.

 

[MadReefer]

I agree we need fresh ideas. I do help manage the Facebook page but not much traffic there. I don't have Twitter or Instagram, if needed can create accounts. I have held club meetings and volunteered at other functions. But as Marcus said lack of members participating or helping is a major issue. In addition the BOD must be responsive to members and keep us all advised of what is going on with the club.

 

[erics210]

Saying Central NJ is one thing, but many are more towards the shore points and between Memorial and Labor day that turns into double+.

The meeting up at OAI last February went well.

I would push for more than quarterly.
Maybe put the schedule out there for 2020, see who takes a Month. And insist on immediate responses.
If there are naturally missing months, we skip them.

If I host again, I would push for more attendance. I was set up for 40+ people but the weather was a partial factor, and sure the distance came into play.

On a side note, my tank NEVER looked as good as it did that day.

 

[David@wegetkraken]

Just to confirm we are a go for an event at my place on 11/2. It was removed from the calendar, not by me, but it is still very much a go. If you could shoot me a note to let me know you're planning on attending just so I can get a rough estimate for food planning purposes that would be awesome. I will shoot you the location and time information for those that confirm as well as the rest of the details.

 

[Trio91]

Just to confirm we are a go for an event at my place on 11/2. It was removed from the calendar, not by me, but it is still very much a go. If you could shoot me a note to let me know you're planning on attending just so I can get a rough estimate for food planning purposes that would be awesome. I will shoot you the location and time information for those that confirm as well as the rest of the details.

It was removed, because it wasnt listed as a NJRC club meet, it was labeled as a WGRC get together. If you are still interested in hosting for November, we can do so but not under you "banner".

 

[David@wegetkraken]

It was removed, because it wasnt listed as a NJRC club meet, it was labeled as a WGRC get together. If you are still interested in hosting for November, we can do so but not under you "banner".

I thought I had been clear, this will be a WGRC club meet at NO EXPENSE to NJRC and you are invited as our guests. To be crystal clear this is not a recruiting event. At my own personal expense I am inviting you into my home and feeding you and will have a few events even if I have to personally fund them. Bring some frags if you'd like to trade, enjoy a few systems I have set up, talk reefing and have fun. I have no other motive other than a friendly get together of hobbiest. My apologies for putting that on the NJRC calendar if you found it offensive.

 

[David@wegetkraken]

I thought I had been clear, this will be a WGRC club meet at NO EXPENSE to NJRC and you are invited as our guests. To be crystal clear this is not a recruiting event. At my own personal expense I am inviting you into my home and feeding you and will have a few events even if I have to personally fund them. Bring some frags if you'd like to trade, enjoy a few systems I have set up, talk reefing and have fun. I have no other motive other than a friendly get together of hobbiest. My apologies for putting that on the NJRC calendar if you found it offensive.

For further clarification the event actually starts at 2pm and all club business will be concluded by 3pm at which time the remainder of the event is dedicated to socializing...hence why the NJRC invite begins at 3pm.