I live down the road in Morgantown. I looked through your site one day considering it, but then realized I rarely make it out to Pitt when I need stuff, much less the 1.5 hrs from Cheat Lake just for a meeting or something of the like. I would definitely be interested in meeting some people and getting to know what the scene around here looks like a little better (just recently moved out here), but it's a bit of a hike.
Just my thoughts on what is already a long thread. I think it's about A) recognizing what the resource a club is offering actually is, B) that that resource has changed in the past 10-15 years and C) maximizing on it without bogging it down in obligation, irrelevance and routine. As far as the purpose of clubs, I think they have to serve a different purpose these days. Way back when I was still in school, I helped with a fledgling club in SC. Back then, a club was a good source of information. However, information is so much easier to obtain nowadays than it used to be. I can look up a question I have while waiting for the elevator. In addition, I think the kind of information we look for has changed. This forum with sections like
@Humblefish disease forum, the lighting forum, etc have helped foster the concept of evidence based approaches rather than the anecdotal information that used to be passed along like verbal histories at clubs. Therefore, I think a club has to serve a different purpose today. I think that purpose is, as unfortunate as it may sound to some of you, a source of immediate help when the need arises. I think it becomes a source of someone to potentially go check on your tank while you're on vacation, but that you know can actually critically evaluate a problem and gets it. It's someone you can trust that can help you problem solve in person when visualization is often so key to solving a problem. I think this role as an in person source of help is a local club's most valuable resource, but is also the one that most leverage least. It is absolutely critical to have met people to know whether you can trust them for these sorts of things (at least, I would think so), however it also doesn't necessitate many of the other "functions" of a club. Do you need to break your back for monthly meetings? Do you need to charge people a fee to be a member or have membership requirements (eg: must make X number of meetings or perform X hours of service for the club)? Do you need picnics or other non-reef related get togethers?
Multiple people have stated things like frag swaps or hands on learning sessions are far and away the most attended events. That's because people are getting something out of it that is directly pertinent to their experience and it is also an event. People like routine in their daily lives, but they don't like it in their escapism (hobbies, vacations, etc). They want to do, see and experience something new. Clubs should focus their energy on these kinds of events. It gets people together, it gives them a focus so they don't sit around discussing things that aren't related to the club's subject matter (which most people will interpret as wasting time), it often acts as a clear ice breaker to avoid some of the introversion and cliqueness and it seems like less of an obligation. At these sorts of events you can still meet new people, find friends that you want to see more regularly than meetings, be introduced to people who may be able to help when in need and learn something. I think it allows for the true resource of a club that I discussed earlier to occur a little more organically without, again and this is important, feeling like an obligation. We all have enough of those in our lives already. Instead, it's an event because it's rare, exciting and interesting. Once every 4-6 months is probably actually enough to maintain some sense of cohesiveness to a group outside of whatever interpersonal relationships develop within it.
Someone earlier mentioned firearms which I also enjoy. When I moved to Cincinnati years ago (before Motown), I badly wanted to have an outdoor shooting range like I'd had when I was in Nashville. Every single place either had a 2 year waitlist and/or significant requirements for membership (eg: 60 hours of service as a range officer with the club per year). I don't have a lot of free time during normal hours (I sleep little to enjoy my hobbies while the family sleeps). Those things didn't make me want to buckle down and focus on the hobby, they pushed me away. I just wanted somewhere to shoot. How about instead having 2 tiers of membership? Officers/people providing some service to the club and those that just "attend" or in this case shoot with different costs associated? Perhaps that lesson might serve some purpose in a reef club given what I discussed above as well.
Sorry if this was kind of rambly. It's late (see, coming back to what I said earlier about sleep) and I'm tired!
