Forming a builder's club

[zz383mero]

I am sure this is a topic that has probably been discussed to death, but I need some ideas.

I want to start a club here where I live. This will be a group where people can come together to help each other in creating new projects, experienced builders can help novice builders learn new tricks and to have swap meets to help clean out overflowing parts bins.

I asked my local owned hobby shop if there was already a group in the area and he doesn't know of any.

Here is how I was planning to get started.

1. Create a group on Facebook. It cost nothing and almost everyone has an account already.

2. Create a flyer and ask to display it at my local hobby shops and craft stores.

3. After the group grows large enough, we can start holding meets.

Did I miss anything? Let me know if there is any way to improve my chances of making this a success?

Also there is a game store that has tournaments using miniature. I think that they would an asset as well.

[Miatatom]

Keep it simple. No dues, very few rules if any. After working in the SCCA as a Regional Executive in 1991 and 1992, I became burned out because of doing most of the work and all the rules. When I started Scenic City Miatas in Chattanooga, I made every effort not to use any ideas from the SCCA that turned me and others off. We've been going strong since 2000. Some members come and go but the group stays pretty much intact.

As for Facebook, that's a good idea. The local SCCA region as well as Scenic City Miatas and a local model car club all have FB pages. However, I would also strongly suggest a googlegroup email service or whatever service you want to use for ciommunications. Many of our Miata members have an email account, but surprisingly, some don't even have a computer. Don't lean on FB too much right away. Some of the members have computers but disdain FB

[zz383mero]

Thanks for the input. I was not planning on charging a membership fee. I want to make the club a community where people can come together. I'll look into the googlegroup. I use gmail for my personal email.

[crazyjim]

That's about what we did to get FAST up and running. We charge annual dues so that club has some funds.

[zz383mero]

I don't want to charge a membership fee. I want to make it open for people to come in with no pressure. There a lot of places where we can meet and not have to pay. There can be a table setup with snacks and drinks that people volunteer to bring. If the group starts to get bigger then maybe a concession table or raffle supplies to help raise funds.

[Erik Smith]

I am a fairly new club member in my area. Our club charges a membership fee just to cover some of the incidentals that occur throughout the year - signs for shows, tables, etc. Unless you have somebody willing to pay for everything, then dues are kind of a necessary evil. Also, people will feel more committed to a group they pay "dues" into. We also have a set of bylaws, which I don't necessarily think are necessary, as they spell out rules for inclusion in the club and keeping a current membership - few of the bylaws are actually held up, though.

Yes, you can have a free (rules and dues) "club", but that's really more just a monthly gathering. Our attendance fluctuates through the year and I would imagine a loose group of individuals with no dues, no club cohesion, would often see meetings consisting of one or two builders - not really worth the time and effort.

I think you can work a pretty good balance between requiring dues and the amount you place members under a set of guidelines, but ultimately, you want people to show up, bring something worthwhile to the meetings, and learn from a larger, hands-on community. Some basic structure (president, treasurer, etc) also helps as members know who to go to for questions, who is going to start and run the meetings - you will need some very basic coordination of club members for displays or hosting shows as well. Our club doesn't host a show, but we do display at Good Guys and other local events - none of which I participated in because of work demands .

Hope that gives you some ideas!