[TR] Car club meetings

[Bob Nogueira]

Our local Morgan club has a similar problem in the late seventies, few
members showed up each month, things were pretty stagnant.  Two things
seemed to change and the club became vibrant and  active. First the monthly
meeting was changed from a revolving venue to one particular informal
restaurant which gave us a meeting room. The monthly meeting was also
changed to the same time each month ( first Thursday) so members always know
when and where the meeting are without having to refer to bulletins.
The second was the club started making long weekend trips to tourist areas.
This expanded to some week to two week cross country trips. This allowed the
members to really get to know each other as more than someone who just
shares ownership of the same type of car.
Today, while technically a club, it is really a close knit group of friends.
In the past year we had six cars travel from Texas to Watkins Glen NY, had a
large group travel to Mid Texas for a meet and a large turnout for a camping
weekend.

I think the answer is to stop thinking in terms of " a 'Club' and start
thinking in terms of 'Friends'.

Another thing that works is to insure that at least one member of the
current group ' adopts any new member, staying in contact with them and
insuring they are not left alone at meeting or events. Often new people are
bashful and old timers are too busy enjoying themselves to make the new
member feel welcomed.

Lastly, remember the spouse. Other car clubs I have been a member of seem to
want everything to revolve solely around the cars. These clubs seldom have
spouses present at events or meetings, get the spouse involved and you
remove a barrier to attendance. We recently had a Antique Stores Gimmick
Rally. Drive to a antique store and participates were given questions,  that
the participate had to find the answer to in the store. A shopping rally.

For some of our activities check out www.texmog.com

Hope this helps

Bob


> -----Original Message-----
> From: triumphs-bounces at autox.team.net
> [mailto:triumphs-bounces at autox.team.net] On Behalf Of marty sukey
> Sent: Thursday, November 19, 2009 8:43 PM
> To: Triumph List
> Subject: [TR] Car club meetings
>
>
> Looking for some ideas. Our local British club has been in
> place for a couple of decades. Same core people hang around.
> Some come, some go. Seems like as time goes on more go than
> come though. Years ago our monthly meeting used to be pretty
> good. Now they are pretty stagnant. Could be because we have
> been following the same exact format for years. Maybe it time
> to try something different. You folks that attend local car
> club meetings, what do other groups do that makes the
> meetings something that folks want to attend and participate in?
>
> Thanks,
> Marty
>
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