Recruiting members

[skywalker]

Does anybody out there any hints and tips they can share with regards to recruiting new members to your Gaming Clubs.
Redcar Ironbeards, like a few others seem to be suffering from a lack of members and I, being the club secretary/general dogsbody are after any ideas to help turn this trend around.
All sensible suggestions gratefully accepted, any non sensible ones will make me smile 

[goat major]

Nude Club Calendars ?

[fsn]

 

[Ithoriel]

Nude club calendars of my erstwhile club would have prospective members fleeing in horror

Putting on games at wargames shows can be a way of advertising the club's existence but it does need to be a demonstration of the best of the club and not an excuse to get an extra game in. No matter how well painted the figures or how beautifully sculpted the terrain, if all people see are the backs and bums of people too busy with the game to engage with them you're missing an opportunity. Equally much avoid button-holing the only vaguely interested and boring them rigid with detail they don't care about or understand!

Every club should have a "trojan horse" who is a regular at the local GW shop and who can drop favourable references to the club into conversations. This year's annoying 12 year-old is next decade's twenty-something club stalwart.

If you still have a local library in these straightened times see if you can leave leaflets, put up a poster or maybe even put on a static display tying together club interests and library stock.

Sadly the times are not only straightened but also suspicious and the option to put on a suitably curriculum-oriented demo in schools is likely to be met with both suspicion and bureaucracy.

[Fenton]

Lots of alcohol and making them take a shilling is traditional

[fsn]

Don't know about the schools thing. They may be more open than you think, however that would mean having a night suited to young persons, and you could possibly need DBS (ex-CRB) check, but if you can cno persuade a teacher to opt in, you should be OK.

It could be rewarding though. You could use the offer of mentoring (helping the young people with painting, basing etc) and perhaps tie into a theme, even a local history one.

 

[Albie Bach]

What Ithoriel said about putting a game on at local shows.
Plus have a web site giving at least the basics so you can be found on the web - I see you already have a small site.
Our club has been picking up a trickle of members over the last few years with these two methods and as a result we have been able to reduce our weekly membership fee. 

Oh - and when you get new members treat them well.

[Steve J]

Hmmm, a tricky one as my old local club closed down last year due to lack of members. A few reasons why off the top of my head:

- Core members moved away for work, family commitments or University.
- Other clubs aimed at FoW and GW opened up and took members away.
- The cost of attending each night slowly rose to around £4-5 per visit. Add in the cost and time of getting there (Bristol is a sod to cross at the best of times) and it soon adds up for younger members or familys.
- Club politics sadly played their part. We had a couple of complete twats that put a few members off, which given that we were a small club, had a big impact.
- A few members always turned up but as they didn't play a game, never had to pay subs! They just got in the way a lot...
- The head honcho fed up with the above gave up running it (and sadly wargaming) and it soon folded after that.
- The recession didn't help.

So if you can avoid some or all of the above, you might have a chance of surviving. As for recruiting new members, demo games at shows etc seem to help. Advertise on various forums and aim for games that the younger gamer might like, ie GW and FoW.

[Lord Kermit of Birkenhead]

The Defenders run at 40-50 per evening, and Len, our glorious leader had a phone call from the EE about their high sales in West Cheshire/Wirral area. We allow anything, but do have a large room.

IanS

[Hertsblue]

It's a problem all over, Skywalker. There are just too many other distractions for kids these days (and it's the kids we need). We tour the local shows putting on games that we hope will interest non-aligned wargamers. We also try to make sure that the local hobby-shops know about us and, in some cases, display one of our posters. We also make sure that we're included in the local council's directory of leisure organisations.

Still, there's no getting away from the fact - times is 'ard, guv.

[Fenton]

A club I used to be a member of decided that it didnt want fantasy or SciFi played at the club, the membership dropped by 75% in 3 months


I would be thinking about skirmish games  Wild West type games quick and fun no more than 2 hours max per game

[skywalker]

We have been putting on games, either demostration or participation at the local shows round the Middlesbrough area for about the last 10 to 12 years, but only recently has our standard been rasied from a bunch of oinks playing Warhammer 40000 to something that looks reasonable  . We have been at all the Smoggycon shows and a lot of the shows that were run at Stockton (Parade Ground/Spring Offensive). We even go as far as sunny Scarborough to take part in the Wartorn shows.
I like to chat to anyone who comes to our table and we have had a few members join as a result of shows.
Thank you all for the advice, I will be discussing the suggestions with the club at our next meeting.

Nude calander the thought is enough to give me nightmares, I have now got this warped image of the "Full Monty" end scene but stripping out of military uniforms 

[brummie76]

A GOOD WEBSITE PRESENCE WITH REGULAR UPDATES!!!

I am VERY new to this wargaming thing and tbh i first search the internet to find things of interest.

I have made several websites from scratch (taught myself! never done one before!) for FREE using a company called "weebly". I found their website builder very easy and awesome for beginners.

Hope this helps!

Paul

[Hertsblue]

Very true. A good website also helps with intra-club communication too. 

[skywalker]

Thanks for the info Paul, I will have a go on weebly some time over the next few weeks and see if I can get one up and running, but being a total oldie with computers I may have to recruit my Kids to help 
I have registered the club on the miniwars website and the club does have a limited page on the age of strife forum.

One of the problems is that there is a larger club in Redcar that  just met on a Thursday night in a better venue than ours (back room of a pub) but about 8 months ago the started meeting on a Monday night as well. The person who runs the club works for PC Tech/Gaming figures and used to promote our club along side theirs but since they have gone to 2 nights a week does not promote ours although our club is willing to take junior members and theirs does not due to the licencing laws of the pub.