Quote:
Originally Posted by geo in mi
Once again, as "homesteading" is so loosely defined, the main way to get and hold membership is to allow any and all under a very large umbrella. But to find very many like-minded folks within a defined geographical area could be tough.
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geo makes an excellent point here, it's critically important that the group accept all people who show a glimmer of interest. Even if you have a member(s) who doesn't really seem to be living the homesteading lifestyle in accordance with your viewpoints. This is how people grow into the lifestyle over time, by observing the examples others set. People who are not really there for the lifestyle information will self-filter themselves out over time.
Some additional thoughts based on my experience with my gun group and my wife's experience with her knitting/spinning group.
- As mentioned above, the quickest way to kill group participation is to restrict membership based on a strict pre-defined definition of the topic. The second quickest way to kill participation is to have a detail oriented, highly organized, driving taskmaster as the 'leader' of the group. I speak of this from personal experience as I am the type that likes schedules, time-lines, people showing up to meetings early etc. This approach works well in the business world, but is a disaster when applied to a social group. The last thing people want when joining a social group is to feel like they are being 'managed' like they are when at work. 'Killjoy' is I believe the term that's used to describe people like this.
- Understand that these groups are first and foremost 'Social groups', and anything else they are (homesteading, knitting etc) is secondary. Sometimes it helps to understand the groups behavior at times if you remember this.
- Temper your personal expectations for the group as it is very likely the groups progress will not meet your idea of where it should be.
- Accept the well proven concept that in any volunteer type group the same 10% of the people will do the heavy lifting time and time again.
- Understand that group membership will be dynamic and change over time as new people become interested and senior people become burned out and need a break or other real-life responsibilities get in the way. Never make people feel guilty for wanting to leave the group or take a break, make sure they all know that they are welcome to come back at any time.
- You will just have to determine the meeting frequency based on how things shake out. My wife's group has a small number of the group that has a standing weekly meeting at the local coffee shop, and then the larger group gets together at more structured gatherings which are often centered around the fair, or industry trade shows, or local farms that can host larger groups.
- Many times people prefer to meet at neutral locations vs someones home, and frequently it is the same someone that always offers up their home, which of course becomes burnout for them. My wife's group meets at the local coffee house, sometimes a yarn shop will host a meet, the library has meeting rooms of various sizes, sometimes the group will go camping together, sometimes meet at a local farm, sometimes at a members house, local fire department has rooms, and at local pubs. Change it up occasionally, have your homesteading group meet at the local pub and bust loose with some processed chicken wings, nacho's, and bar nuts. Keep it fun and interesting, not stuffy and controlling.
- In terms of attracting new local members, having a booth at the fair has always been a good draw. Make sure you have business cards made up with the groups name, email list / web address so you can hand them out to any prospective contacts.
Maybe see if the local feed store would host a meeting for your group during business hours so customers could see the group in action and maybe become interested.
If you can muster the resources, take out an add in the local nickel paper. I think there is a section for hobby group notices or something like that.
One effective method for the gun group has been to print up some simple colored fliers and make them available at the gun shops. There may be somebody in your group that has the skills to design a flyer and maybe somebody else with a print shop which would reduce the costs. Possibly the local farm store and any other related business or gathering spot would agree to stocking a small amount of fliers on their counter.
Of course there are the social networking sites on the net.
Interestingly, my wife's group had quite good success with posting notices on local bulletin boards at grocery stores, libraries, churches, school's etc.
Another way to get your name out there would be for your group to do some charity work and leverage the publicity that comes from that. Maybe for the local school or church as both these places have high population levels made up of folks in the immediate community. Arrange for your event to be published in the school/Church news letter that gets sent to everyone's home.
Your nearest town may have a small local paper and in many cases they are hurting for stories, so your charity efforts or even just an informational article about your group can be published in these types of newspapers for little money. Newspapers and media in general love a good charity story.
But your best tool for recruitment will always be your fellow members in the group. They can spread the word faster and more efficiently then just about any other method.
Also don't forget to leverage the various skills that may be present in the group. There may be a web designer in the group who could design a website. There may be someone who has server hosting space you could use for your site. There may be people who have enough room and infrastructure on their property to hold a large gathering. There may be people who are darn near experts on various subjects by profession, trade, education, or experience. You would be surprised at the level of skills lurking in any group of people.
The really cool thing about these kinds of groups is that it starts out being about the subject matter, but over time it ends up being about the people.
Good luck in building your group.
