Balancing your Club -- Newbies v. Oldtimers

pootsie

Jennifer posted this in that other thread, and I thought it was worthy of a thread of its own:


Discuss.

pootsie

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p.s. My cat is a bonsaiTALK Master.
Columbus Bonsai Society

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Joanie

Our club offers a beginners group every three months, it begins half an hour before the general meeting. We always have takers, but some of our success is no doubt because of our location, in the beautiful and very well utilized Balboa Park.

Anyway, the beginners are given instruction, a tree, a pot, an inexpensive tool, a Sunset Bonsai book, and three lessons for $25.00. Can't beat it. Then, at the regular meeting, we have both a demo or main feature, and an "intermediate" presentation, one after the other. We can do this partly because we meet Sunday mornings and have three or four hours to achieve all of it.

The mentoring idea is a good one, I think Robert1955 mentioned it in a different thread. Instead of a beginners class, link them with good oldtimers who can steer them for a few months. One oldtimer could take on several beginners.

And our secret weapon? Bonsainut, who is our VP of Education. (applause) He does a great job!

Joanie

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rogerrpowell

our Cornwall club we use our own members to give talks and demonstrations to the new members.Getting people to talk about thier own trees gives confidence to the newer members.Tell them the mistakes you have made,the sucsesses it all go`s to filling the meeting.We only have one speaker brought in once a year look amonst your members you will be suprised at the experttese you have.Roger

jo schmoo

our club hosts a novice class every spring with a few days of learning about stuff from a book that our very own Jack Doutthitt wrote, and then they have a nursery crawl at a local garden center (20% discount because a member of the club works there). The next few classes are spent styling the material everyone bought at the nursery, and is taught by the more experienced members of the club (they are usually part of the 3 yr Master Class our club is having) who in turn receive a discount at the club's christmas meeting at a local restaurant.

our club also tries to bring in artists to give demos and workshops where anyone of any skill level is encouraged to come. the thing about bonsai is, though, that you can learn something new about it every time people start talking about it.

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History stopped being interesting when people stopped killing each other with swords.
-Me during US History class

malhomme

I think that balancing leadership between newer and older members is largely a matter of trust from other and a willingness to develop oneself in new areas.

Trust-- I have been creating and killing bonsai for 17 years now, but have only been a member of a club for 3. I am competent to give lectures on a wide range of topics, from pest control to composition. However, I have not earned the trust of the senior members to give a lecture on any topic... except photograph (which, ironically I don't know anything about). Some trust should be allowed for competent but newer members to share our knowledge and talent.

Developing oneself-- Many people do not want to address their fear of public speaking. They do not want to "reveal" themselves as someone who does NOT know it all. But I think that there is nothing really to fear here. No one knows it all. But even if one stands up and "talks a fool", at least they did it. They did something. And they are likely to grow in confidence and ability for the next time.

Cheers,
Jim

BrianBay9

Jim,

I think most of the fear of public speaking stems from the fact that many are unwilling to admit what the DON'T know in public. It's really not all that frightening if you can honestly say what you THINK you know, what you THINK you THINK, and what you really aren't sure of at all....lol. Bottom line is not to oversell....

Brian

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There's a difference between taking your art seriously, and taking yourself too seriously.

BonsaiOR

As an adjunct to our regular club meeting we have a mentorship group. The group meets once a month with the series of different topics lead by experienced members. The mentorship group is not limited to new members, but all interested are encouraged to attend.