<!--quoteo(post=1370:date=Jun
25 2006, 06:31 AM:name=cichlid)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(cichlid @ Jun 25 2006,
06:31 AM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}> (index.php?act=findpost&pid=1370)</div><div
class='quotemain'>Just wondering about how local clubs are doing. What things are
keeping members or gaining new ones?
Are any clubs doing box exchanges of fish or
article exchanges for their publications?</div>
Greater
Cincinnati Aquarium Society
We have very good meeting attendance. We usually have a
speaker presentation, BAP auction, and door prize raffle.
As you may guess, the meetings
with the big name speakers are usually larger than the "fill in" speakers, but we still
average over 70 people per meeting.
What keeps people coming even if the speaker is not
-so-amazing is the BAP auction. As an all-species club, we have an active BAP program, a decent
and growing HAP (horticulture), and a fledgling MCAP (Mari-Culture - mostly coral frags). With
these programs established and club members posting what they plan on bringing, it keeps attendance
up as people attend just to get great deals on juvy fish and plants.
The door prize
drawing is a minimal attendance draw since it's usually sample packets of food, or old stuff
that suppliers decide to unload. However, some members really like it.
Other factors:
Cheap membership fee. It's only $10 per year. It actually
costs the club abot $12-15 per member, but the profit from the auctions easily covers the
difference. Next years membership is included in the annual Christmas Banquet.
Online
Membership. We set up a Paypal store so members can renew online for $11 per year.
Bi-monthly publication. We always publish meeting reminders in the "Fincinnati".
I'm not sure of the circulation - somewhere over 250 including the complimentary copies to
sponsors and other clubs.
Active web community. Our online forum is pretty darn big for
a local club. 23000 posts. 800 registered users. About 250 active users. We've had up to 58
online and logged in at one time.
GCAS has 2 auctions per year averaging around 1000
bags (we actually limit the bag count).
We held an ACA Convention in '03. That
boosted our membership and helped us fund our speakers program (including buying a video projector
for the club).
We had a Swap meet this year that drew some new prople. We arranged it
so the rental cost to the sellers covered the cost of the rental hall, and there was no admission
fee.
Decent LFS relations. We have a few LFS's that support the club. Granted,
there are a few that absolutely refuse to deal with us at all. We're working on increasing
awareness of how many club members go to the stores so the owners or managers may get involved.
Essentially, we give out member cards and tell the club members to show the card to the store
owners and see if they get a discount.