Ideas to improve a crappie club?

[crappiejigger]

Basically was wanting to know if you was involved in a club. What would you want or expect from the club to make you want to be part of the club. What type of format would you suggest to have, seminars, events. Just trying to get ideas on how to improve a pre-existing club. If you are a member of a club what is it that makes you want to be involved in the club ? Just trying to boost club membership and involvement. Any ideas?

[Ketchn]

I have seen a club that is popular in my area and they do several things to boost membership .
they have guest speakers (wally marshal /state fisheries people/guides /etc.) that come to the meetings and do seminars and such
they hold get togethers and fish and eat and give away prizes
they also have their own tournaments .
and they have stickers and decals ,etc.
don't know if this helps or not ...but that's the little I know
and no I don't belong to any "clubs" .....
just not enough time in life for me to have any more on my plate

[INTIMIDATOR]

We have one of the best groups, that I have ever been involved with or have heard of....We didn't limit ourselves to just Crappie fishermen...Our "Group" started as a bunch of people getting together to help our home lake by having yearly cover projects.
Then it evolved into even more cover projects, doing trash cleanup days throughout the year, group fishing dates, breakfasts, lunches, etc.
During the Winter we have breakfast every so often, to catch up and shoot the breeze....people who are Pro-Staffers or have connections, will bring in freebies for everyone, or new products to try...several of us also help the entire group, by using our discounts to purchase lures, etc, for other members!
We figured, why limit yourselves...soon after everyone starts talking, you will realize how much info is being shared. Believe me, you can learn a lot of info about Crappie from a die-hard cat fisherman, etc! We have Crappie fishermen, Gator Hunters (Walleye), Kitty Kat boys, Perchers, White Bassers, and BucketMouth and Smallie fishermen all sharing ideas. You don't realized how intertwined fish are until you sit down and listen....When you hear Kat guys telling stories of huge Crappie biting while fast trolling Big SHAD HEADS, the lightbulbs start going off!
Pretty soon the group starts telling each other what the water temps are, where and how the shad are moving, when craws are out, etc...the exchange of lake knowledge and ideas, helps everyone and begins to build a tight bond between the group! It gets to the point that everyone in the group is trusted and you will text everyone, to tell each other what is biting and where they are located.
You also realize that the people who join the group understand the ecosystem and do their best to protect it...they don't poach, take more fish than they can use, and give back to the lake in many ways.
We would meet with the ODNR, Army COE, and Park Management before all of the drops, for a question and answer session with the agencies, alot of info was shared that normally doesn't get out to the fishermen!
Will all the info and knowledge coming from all these new areas, each individual fisherman gets to improve his knowledge, and then becomes a better fisherman.

[Minners N Jigs]

"If" I were going to belong to a club, I would want it to at least be, in part, similar to what Intimidator has described, if not identical. I understand that that caliber of club isn't formed overnight, but I'd definitely want a big portion of those type benefits to make it worth while to all involved. I'd want the club's long term plans and objective to mirror what Intimidator has described in full. There's not a thing in the world wrong with a "club's" purpose to just be about fellowship amongst people with similar interests. There's lots that can be gained from that and it's the grassroots history behind most successful clubs.... But, as for myself, I would want more: Structure, vision, action, planning and agenda if I were going to be involved. With lots of great folks and fellowship to boot !

[crappiejigger]

Thanks for replies, the club has done many of these things . But it just seems our turnouts for club meetings and tourneys and such falls at the waist side. Maybe due to the fact that we've only started this past spring. ill let the guys see your replies and well just have to keep plugging away at it.

[Minners N Jigs]

3 Things to remember when dealing with volunteer based civic or other form of clubs:
1.) Rome wasn't built in a day. That's old cliche but still holds true. Give it time.
2.) 10% of the members will do 90% of the work. Any good club is always headed by a passionate, motivated leader who clearly conveys his/her vision. Their passion becomes contagious.
3.) The strongest clubs are formed not from recruitment of members, but from attraction of members. When you recruit members: The club is selling "this is what the club can do for you".... When you attract members: Potential members are selling "this is what I can do for the club". HUGE difference !

You seem concerned with the direction of the club, so there's a good start. Maybe your passion will spread !

[Hanr3]

IS the goal of the club to attract members?
Why is high membership important?
How many members does it take to be a club? 5?, 10?, 25?, 50?, 100?, 100,000? Do you have a membership goal? Why?

What is the purpose of the club? Synergy? This is what the club can do for you, what can you do for the club?

Some people join a club to work. They disguise it as volunteering for a cause to justify the work, but in the end, its still work. Why? To fulfill a self need to contribute. Don't you work. Isn't that enough? Your job is your contribution to society. If you don't think so, then maybe you need to evaluate your life goals.

I belong to a very simple club. We meet to talk about fishing. We fish to fish. I suspect, if we actually charged membership dues, we would have more members. Not sure why people feel the need to pay to belong, but they do. Maybe they have been told nothing in life is free. Why not? We believe the price to belong to the club is your time.

I ask you this very simple question. What is the goal(s) of the club? Why!!!! How do you measure success in your club???

The goal of our club is to talk about fishing, and to challenge each other to learn how to fish. Two of our members just won a major tournament. Our membership is small. We have regulars who make the meetings, we have regulars that fish specific lakes, and some of our members fish all the tournaments. We don't charge any dues. We get together once per month to fish (spring, summer, and fall) and once per month to socialize.

I too struggled with head count. How do we draw in more? When I was ScoutMaster I grew the troop from 8 active scouts to over 45 active scouts. That is the head count on outings. How did I do it. Consistency. We had one campout per month every month of the year except December. In December we had junk night, kids could bring all the stuff forbidden on campouts; electronics, junk food, soda, etc. We didn't offer electronic games, or junk food, or soda on campouts. How did we get so many kids to go camping? Simple, we provided activities. Those activities provided rank advancement. The kids earned their ranks by participating in the activities. Scouting is a very structured activity. More important than advancement was consistency. IF it was the rank advancement every one of them would have made Eagle. While we had a higher than average rate to achieve Eagle rank. That obviously wasn't the reason the kids wanted to go camping.

How do you translate that into adults? You don't. I belong to a local professional organization. It provides certifications that get you or at least give you an edge for a job. Talking real money here. What kind of membership numbers do we have, hundreds. How many make the meetings, a hand full. They pay their money to belong and never show up. Yet they pay their money. Is that the purpose of the club, to collect membership dues?

Brings me back to my question. What is the goal of the club?

[Ketchn]

interesting views and posts on this subject for sure .
and yes what is the goal is a great question

[INTIMIDATOR]

IS the goal of the club to attract members?
Why is high membership important?
How many members does it take to be a club? 5?, 10?, 25?, 50?, 100?, 100,000? Do you have a membership goal? Why?

What is the purpose of the club? Synergy? This is what the club can do for you, what can you do for the club?

Some people join a club to work. They disguise it as volunteering for a cause to justify the work, but in the end, its still work. Why? To fulfill a self need to contribute. Don't you work. Isn't that enough? Your job is your contribution to society. If you don't think so, then maybe you need to evaluate your life goals.

I belong to a very simple club. We meet to talk about fishing. We fish to fish. I suspect, if we actually charged membership dues, we would have more members. Not sure why people feel the need to pay to belong, but they do. Maybe they have been told nothing in life is free. Why not? We believe the price to belong to the club is your time.

I ask you this very simple question. What is the goal(s) of the club? Why!!!! How do you measure success in your club???

The goal of our club is to talk about fishing, and to challenge each other to learn how to fish. Two of our members just won a major tournament. Our membership is small. We have regulars who make the meetings, we have regulars that fish specific lakes, and some of our members fish all the tournaments. We don't charge any dues. We get together once per month to fish (spring, summer, and fall) and once per month to socialize.

I too struggled with head count. How do we draw in more? When I was ScoutMaster I grew the troop from 8 active scouts to over 45 active scouts. That is the head count on outings. How did I do it. Consistency. We had one campout per month every month of the year except December. In December we had junk night, kids could bring all the stuff forbidden on campouts; electronics, junk food, soda, etc. We didn't offer electronic games, or junk food, or soda on campouts. How did we get so many kids to go camping? Simple, we provided activities. Those activities provided rank advancement. The kids earned their ranks by participating in the activities. Scouting is a very structured activity. More important than advancement was consistency. IF it was the rank advancement every one of them would have made Eagle. While we had a higher than average rate to achieve Eagle rank. That obviously wasn't the reason the kids wanted to go camping.

How do you translate that into adults? You don't. I belong to a local professional organization. It provides certifications that get you or at least give you an edge for a job. Talking real money here. What kind of membership numbers do we have, hundreds. How many make the meetings, a hand full. They pay their money to belong and never show up. Yet they pay their money. Is that the purpose of the club, to collect membership dues?

Brings me back to my question. What is the goal of the club?

Exactly...A fishing "club" is tough to grow because normally fishermen are not the "sharing" type....you have to find a reason to get them involved...one of the simplest ways is to show them that sharing of info will benefit them. Then show them how sharing lake info will benefit them, then show them how cover projects will benefit them, etc, and throw in a few freebies, and some food, and we're happy...a fishermen wants benefits for his time spent...That's just how we are!

[crappiejigger]

Well I would like to see the club grow in all aspects of the sport.I would love to see the tourney side become something people desire to fish. The environmental side I like to see multiple projects throughout the years to improve the waterways and the community. I'd like it to keep the idea of recruiting the kids to try and enjoy the sport. And I would love to have the club bring anglers together for comradery and information about this great thing we call crappie fishing-- or fishing in general