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Getting a local club started, keeping it going and growing, takes a bit of strategy. If you are considering starting a local plant club in your area, here are some ideas to help you along. First, let's start with some basic questions.
Fellowship, education, communications, plant exchange, experimentation? Brainstorm with interested aquatic plant colleagues. Visioning a purpose and understanding the process of realizing the goal is the first order of business. Write down your ideas and share them with others to critique.
Announce an initial organizational meeting. Friends tell friends. Place meeting announcement posters in aquarium stores. Post online on the major aquatic plant forums, newsgroups, and mailing lists. Present vision and execution ideas at the meeting. Encourage healthy exchange of ideas and develop a plan for the next meeting, the prototype format for the future.
How will you sustain growth and achieve your goal? Once you have the answers to these questions, you'll need to address the practicalities of sustaining growth—meeting location, new members, money, and leadership.
One option is to have the meeting in members' homes. As membership increases, consider other available sites such as a school, library, zoo, or botanical garden facilities.
This can be challenging. Word of mouth and posters in aquarium stores work. Send an article idea and photos to your local newspaper. Get a big-name speaker to draw attention to the club. Potentially the most effective strategy is a web site. While surfing through the web, aquarium hobbyists will bump into your site.
Always a tough one. Having annual dues to buy pizza and reference materials makes sense. For new guests wanting to try out the club, it might be reasonable to have the first two meetings be free. Once they are comfortable about the culture and want to continue, they'll be willing to support with dues. If money becomes an issue, sometimes folks with means might pitch in with a little extra, for a good cause. Or they could sponsor a money-making event such as an auction or speaker.
An organization needs a catalyst, someone to "lead the band." A facilitator can work with people to optimize participation and ensure that each member is regarded as important for the continuing vitality and harmony of the association. Other leadership opportunities within the club include keeper of the money bag, refreshments coordinator, library administrator and web site manager.
Finally, here are some suggestions for creating a sustainable group dynamic.
Share aquatic plant aquarium experiences. Care routines and design aesthetics vary. When members exchange ideas, they broaden their awareness of rich diversity existing in planted aquarium realms.
Make arrangements for the club to set up a planted aquarium in a local fish store. Be sure also to arrange for folks to maintain it periodically. The store will surely allow you to post flyers about your club near the display.
Assure members have access to excellent books, articles and CD/DVD items. Consider ways of sharing personal resources of this type, something like an inter-group loan program. Collect money to purchase current, high-quality reference books to be shared by all.
Convention DVDs and Aquascaping CD-ROMs contain treasures, sure to awaken the enthusiasm of the beginning hobbyist and the more experienced as well. A laptop/projector combination is a great tool.
Editor's Note: Due to legal agreements with the convention speakers, the AGA is not allowed to distribute convention DVDs outside of its membership. An AGA member must buy the DVD, or the club must participate in the AGA's Premium Club Program. This is one of the best membership perks!
Get a multiple TAG subscription. Group Discounts are available. It's a nice touch, giving a copy to new members.
Invite folks to bring their surplus plants for the free exchange plant table. Specimens not picked up can be donated or sold to an aquarium store.
Experiment with what makes folks comfortable and eager to participate.
There's nothing like pizza to get things going! Share stories about your
aquariums. Bring pictures. Amuse with anecdotes. Do a Power Point or cut
a CD illustrating the latest changes occurring in your aquaria. Ask good
questions. Have discussions about solving recurring aquaria problems.
If issues elude clear understanding, have someone volunteer to do a google
and report back at the next meeting.
Providing quality loaner kits could be a real asset for members. Being aware of hardness, alkalinity, nitrate, total iron, phosphate, oxygen and pH levels can help in understanding planted aquarium dynamic processes and identify potential limiting growth factors. Of course, anyone who borrows a club test kit must report the findings so all can learn.
Send periodic e-mail newsletters announcing meeting dates. Include reviews of previous meetings. Raise issues needing investigation. Pass on nifty anecdotes. Include photos of member aquariums. Though it may be difficult to get folks to prepare newsletter items, give it a try.
Big issue. If you have a tech-savvy volunteer, great! After some history of how your club is functioning, perhaps it's time to try an outreach on the web. Include a brief description of club goals. Highlight the dates and place for upcoming meetings. Embellish the site with pictures and associated narratives of members' tanks.
Group sociology is dynamic. Membership changes over time, with some folks moving out of town and some becoming too busy to attend each meeting. Other members stay with the club only as long as their basic questions are answered. Vicissitudes will exist. Flexibility and adaptability help to maintain momentum.
page updated Saturday, December 21 2013 | Privacy Policy | Terms of Use