Hey
We often seem to be short of open evening hosts, and we are relying on a very small number of people to do the build.
Open question to all the members.
Is increased participation desired, to help with open nights, and progressing the build?
If so, how do we increase participation. Would be interested to hear from Trustees as well.
Open evening hosts, build volunteers, participation in general
That’s a broad title.
My tuppence is that part of being a member should be helping out. As in, the membership system spits out a rota that says member X is responsible for week Y. That might sound over the top, but it’s the norm at the sailing clubs I’ve known. You were expected to host the bar one evening a year, same for running the safety boat.
To my mind, it’s a question of model. We are social and low-cost by design, and a pitching-in rota is what follows through from that. We could decide to be more of a service, at which point I’d expect somebody to be paid to provide what was done by the community before.
Clearly, this is all a minefield and the details matter. But that’s the high-level position I’ve always had, and that this thread seems to be asking.
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great reply, anyone else ave an opinion?
ideas on how to achieve whatever there preferred mode of operation is, would be cool too, if their preference is diff to the one which we use
I agree with a rota for open evenings, and perhaps other ‘duties’?
It was proposed early on, with the suggestion that new members sign into this when they join. But the consensus way back then was that we shouldn’t push members to volunteer.
I’m quite happy to push, and in fact I think it’s fairer.
Yes, there are some members who find the idea of hosting an open evening uncomfortable (it sounds a bit daunting, until you’ve done it). And for some members it’s just too far out of their comfort zone. However: we can accommodate all here, and there are many other ways to participate.
cool, is good to hear some straightforward, actionable ideas, other people?
I do t know if the thread is the right one but anyway
I don’t think we should push to volunteer,
I think we should made volunteering more appealing to people! Like with some “bonus” e.g. regular members can use the lathe
Or came to 3 make the space day and you have shutter access… something like that
Plus we should work more on the way we foreman others… if Joe or Pete or Dermot ecc are there it’s great but we need to have some guidelines of same sort for the members… it’s easy to be scared of doing the wrong thing. The Master list is not enough
I think its time to experiment, we’ve done the ‘don’t push too much’ experiment - the results have been, a small core of people doing most of the work.
Lets try the rota experiment, sounds like it is an already established model so we’re not reinventing any wheels, try it for 3-6 months, see what happens.
100+ members, 2 members per open evening, means each member shouldn’t do more than 2 nights a year. That is not a big ask, at all. I think of the membership fee being £20 a month, and some time.
The bigger challenge then is just a technical / organisational one - a system that ensures members get the message of when they are expected to host, and something that allows them to swap with another member if they can’t do that week. Direct emails rather than discourse sound like a good solution to me.
thats a really good idea about asking for a bit of a minimum contribution before granting shutter access.
Has the advantage I think of being fairly admin light (we only need to ask them if they’ve done it once they ask for shutter access) and it impresses upon people the volunteer ethic early on.
It also means we have gotten to know the person well before granting access, so ticks alot of boxes.
You’re prob right to be cautious about trying the wrong thing.
But lets try something!?
Whatever we think of, it might tie in with doing inductions (and backdating inductions) for the space.
Like that way of thinking
The rota system is a good idea, definitely worth testing. An incentive is a great idea - new members get shutter access if they host works, yes! First on the list for the induction that member would like or maybe an induction if possible. Pizza n Pint Tokens …
Some sort of big get together soonish to get members who don’t get regularly involved, involved. A boost to push those smiles
Rewards and incentives to get people into the frame of mind?
In a way shutter access is already a reward for getting involved: you’ll certainly get it sooner if you get stuck in.
but maybe that needs codifying more formally?
I think the rota is simplest. We can still informally make a link to helping out and shutter access as well.
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We one talked about Makerpoints as a way of gamifying/rewarding construction
Yeah, to encourage enjoying the great space it is and the feel good factor of getting something done that everyone benefits from. Surely the shutter access isn’t a reward as you can’t really do much more than gaze in the window without it ?!!
We have plenty of members who rarely if ever actually attend the space, so it will be hard to know where to draw the line in terms of making sure “everyone” does their bit.
Also, just using myself as a data point, my work/family life means it’s impossible for me to host an open evening for at least the next couple of years. We have to be careful not to exclude anyone.
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Yes, but you get immersed in many other ways!
Obviously, but we have to make sure that options are available to all 
A lot of the folks like myself that you were saying don’t want to get involved in open evenings get involved in other ways, by the time you hand out hall passes to all the folks who do stuff in other ways we’re back to a very small group of people again.
So, if it’s a rota, does anyone know where it is? Put me down for next week …