Open evening hosts, build volunteers, participation in general

#36

I think setting an expectation that members host an open evening at twice a year if their circumstances allow it is entirely reasonable. And that anyone who can’t do it helps in other ways instead. @peter_hellyer is working on a welcome message at the moment and we could include this.

I also think weekly open evenings are a good thing. If people had to wait for a month to come to an open evening they would just turn up at random times which would be less successful for visitors and for whoever happened to be in the space at the time. I think it’s worth persisting with this.

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#37

Good solid suggestion, we should spell out any “principals” in the welcome note.

#38

I’ve just printed out copies of ‘How to Host the Open Evening’, they’re in the blue box.
There’s some nice keyrings in there too and one has hopped onto my fobkey!

#39

No one is saying they wait a month, they would have:

  • Open Evening (1st Wednesday)
  • Social evening (2nd Tuesday)
  • Open Day (3rd Sunday)

You could do it more often, but the point is that it requires people to want to do it, and they don’t, and we don’t have a desperate need for new members, and we don’t know for sure that we would not just seem the same numbers visit on those dates rather than the weekly ones.

Thats three events a month where people can meet us, and 2 events they could visit the space. Besides which people pop into the space all the time anyways.

#40

Maybe you’re right. I don’t understand why people don’t want to host but it’s true there is a struggle to get people to do it.

#41

From the original version of the Open Evening Rota post written June 2015, up 1 minute ago contained this sentence:

#42

I wonder if we should decide what our full capacity membership might be and then operate a waiting list. If we’re feeling like we’re basically at capacity then it follows that open evenings and promotional events are a waste of time?

I still see a value in it and I have a real desire to tell people about this amazing space and to make it feel welcoming.

I’m just wondering if this sense of being at capacity is why people aren’t interested in hosting?

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#43

I don’t think that is the case from what I have heard, but having a surplus of cash gives us options to try something new, and I suspect even if we only held one a open evening a month they would just be busier and more people would join following that.

A cap seems wrong but why are we so against recognising the problem and trying something new?

A less frequent bigger event with more members would be a better opportunity for us to arrange activities like @StudioNelle and others, including myself have suggested in the past.

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#44

It would also act as a better motivation to keep the space tidy I think. When we’ve had a “big” event, people are more likely to get the space in good nick beforehand.

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#45

I’m done with hosting :frowning: even @usainbolt will not catch @sarahbarber :smiley:

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#46

Sarah isn’t around any more so she’s unlikely to catch you up.

#47

I’ll hang back for a couple of laps…if that helps?

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#48

I’m more surprised that I’ve notched up 5.

#49

we’ve had alot of good ideas,
how does the conclusion part of discourse discussions work again? I never understood.
Do we agree have an actionable set of proposals.
If so, how do we decide to approve them

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#50

No system…but if someone wants to pluck out the emergent ideas and put them in one place then we might have a way to move forward. Or some proposals for the next members’ meeting (which sparked a fair bit of action last time, with more to come!)

#51

Maybe a bit late to the party here but as a perspective from a new member, I’m happy to put the time in to a few open evenings and build volunteering etc. as part of the joining process i think most people joining would be.

Maybe then if everyone has done them before then they’ll seem less daunting if someone needs to do it again too.

Although maybe starting with a build day or a couple of weeks membership before being required to do an open day, so its possible to leech a bit of knowledge about how the space works from existing members first.

3 Likes
#52

I think to put anything into action we would need to agree on something, and that certainly hasn’t happened here.

#53

I don’t think we will agree looking at the argumentation so far. I suggest we scope this thread to people putting their broad thoughts – opening statements, if you like – and then we discuss this face to face.

#54

Agreed, it’s been over a year since I brought the issue of changing open evenings because of lack of hosts and it’s only gotten worse, now we are advocating changes I personally disagree with, but they’ll never pass because there is no consensus.

I personally think this should be saved for a Engagement Working Group rather than a Members Meeting, those meetings have yet to produce a decision and actually having a group of people interested to put a proposal to members would make more sense.

#55

As a relatively new member I’d be happy to host an open evening, but have prior commitments on Tuesday and Wednesday evenings. Is there an option to do some other evening, or possibly a lunchtime?

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