Cal, this is a splendid idea. Quin, K8QS Subscribe to "Ham Radio Perspectives" YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC3MJT8o8-XMxF8XROf7Q5GA/videos
Good subject - great discussion. BTW EchoLink now has a "CQ" function. Call CQ on Echolink and it links you to someone else calling CQ. Every meeting should be a "New Member Welcome" night.
Great comment, Joe. Thanks. Quin, K8QS Subscribe to "Ham Radio Perspectives" YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC3MJT8o8-XMxF8XROf7Q5GA/videos
We do a welcome for every guest at every meeting... but we hold quarterly meetings for all new members to go through all the benefits the club offers and to get them acquainted with the radio room and the clubhouse systems in general. So when they have been with us 6 months and have access to the facility 24X7 they will be familiar with all the rules, and systems. We just instituted a couple of new club activities. Every other month, we have a Saturday clubhouse day, where we do projects around the facility. Then after every other test session we are doing a mentoring session and open radio room session. De NJ4Z - YCARS Trustee
You video's are get good and full of very useful info. I hope members of the 2 clubs in my area see this. Maybe they would welcome new members rather than just acting like they are not even there. Let a lone welcome you. That is what happens to me. So I do not belong to a club but I would like to.I have almost 50 years Electronics experience. 73 W3AMT
I agree. I have been fortunate to be in a position where I can share my love of the hobby with my students. I can't believe the response we have received from our students regarding our school club. The challenge for me has been developing a curriculum that engages students and holds their attention for longer than a few weeks. I am finding out it can be done, however it requires stepping outside my comfort zone to try new approaches.
In some ways QRZ.com is a club. All it needs are scheduled Zoom meetings on some topic and viola!, it's like being there...sort of
When the 4-H starts to meet again I plan to talk to our club and see if any of the members want to start a Ham Radio 4-H club project. I am already a 4-H Leader for a shooting sports club project.
What I've found that usually works best to encourage new folks to get involved is this: First of all, there are three kinds of people in a club (from what I've experienced.) 1. Leaders 2. Followers (usually, the new folks are in this category) 3. Complainers Usually, people think the only leaders are those elected IAW the constitution/by laws. This is horribly wrong. The elected leaders need to encourage the natural leaders in the club to lead in the projects they're interested in. The elected leaders need to encourage the followers and the new folks to follow the leader that interests them and do everything they can to support the natural, currently un-elected leaders actively involved in a project and need to coach the followers as needed. And finally, the elected leaders need to publicly humiliate the complainers (at meetings, not in the news letter). At least that's what I've found to work best. But, for some reason, you're not supposed to laugh at complainers these days. Club hospitality to every one equally encourages the complainers more than the leaders and the followers.
