Need advise and tips to save my dieing club

[cloviscliff]

I am looking for help to save my club. We have about 25 members but only about half or less are active. A lot of members quit dew to health and age and more than a few died. The members we have left are fairly new. Our meetings are boring to say the least. They read the minutes from previous meeting draw for door prizes and go home. I am looking for ideas and tips on how to liven up our club. Also we do not have a website to help bring in new members. Can someone tell me how or where to start with a website and about how much do they cost. Thanks for your time and help. Cliff

 

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[jas415]

First liven up the meetings, Get some sort of Hunter of the year, and hunter of the month contest going. Give points for "Best Coin", # of Nickels, best relic, etc., have a door prize, have a couple of hunts, get group hunts going with themembers, get some publicity and start a web site. Check this local Houston site coinshootingonline! It started about 3 years ago and now has almost 300 posters. Also check the Tomball Metal Detecting Facebook site. Lots of pictures, etc., and it is nothing to start! I wish here was a way to PM or email you. on coinshootingonline, email jas415.

 

[Rawhide]

Lets see, websites are outdated and I have found many clubs on facebook that has monthly magazine entry's by its members. They include photo and cover more than just detecting. You can see the group growing rapidly from there. Scheduling club hunts is also a way to get out and have fun. Cold weather can be hurting your club right now also. Good luck.

 

[baylorhall]

We have display boards for different types of finds of the month. Silver jewelry, gold, coin, relic, token and wild card. People put their finds out and we vote for our favorites. Winners get silver coins. We also have a "fun hunt" scheduled for the Sat. after the meeting, hitting some place, park, etc where we can hunt together. On the morning of the hunt we are told what the prizes will be for, like oldest coin, best jewelry, most quarters, whatever. Our club also has guest speakers come in and speak on something tied to local history or types of treasure hunting. It's also fun to have everyone bring in their display cases to show off their best finds. I'll bet some of the older hunters can share some of their wisdom with the newbies. You might want to set up a facebook page for your club. Join Lostmystuff.com and see if you can help someone find their lost jewelry. If so, you can maybe get some publicity with a story in the paper. Good luck!

 

[Metal Detecting Stuff]

You should have some club hunts to keep members involved. Have monthly finds contests, judging, etc. It's good for new people to see the types of finds that a person can find in a month's time. If you have a local dealer, make sure they tell all new detector buyers about your club. Contact Garrett and your local dealer and they will help you with affordable prizes for an annual club hunt. Have guest speakers come out from the historical society, older residents that know local history, a jeweler that can talk about jewelry hallmarks, a coin dealer to talk about valuable coins, etc. Any local historians can provide interesting insight for your membership!

If you can't find places to hunt, contact a local farmer with an old barn on the property and offer to pay him $5 per person for a days hunt on his property. Collect hunt fees and a liabilty waiver and go do the group hunt.

Wayne

www.MetalDetectingStuff.com

 

[G.I.B.]

Beer machine.

Failing that, I would like to see club hunts. My local clubs want dues. I've not seen or heard of any of them organizing hunts and posting them here on TN. Why would I join? Just to pay dues?

If you folks could get permission for the club to hunt some great spots, what a great way to spend the day. Show the farmer how the club hunting his field will get all the trash picked up and maybe save some of his machinery. Then do a little cook out. If it's fun, they will come. If all they do is collect money...

Have a way for visitors to join in on hunts. If I'm in an area on vacation, it would be nice to have a local resource to talk to and tell me where to go hunting, or hunt with the club.

 

[Tom_in_CA]

clovis-cliff, I won't try to add on to what the others have said, but I'll say this, as a past president of a brick-&-mortor club myself: Our city had a club, from 1980 to the late 1990s. The late 1990s was the death-knell for brick-&-mortor clubs it seems. Attendance starts waining, and md'rs in the towns around me started waffling on joining or attending. I figured out that the BIG reason is: The internet.

In the old days (pre-internet), if you wanted to see what others were finding, to gab about the latest technology (pros and cons of various units), research old sites, find friends to hunt with, etc.... you HAD to go to club meetings. But now ......... think of it: Anyone who wants to do any of those things, sits their lazy b*tt down at the computer, and can endlessly do all those things. Heck, we even have regionally specific forums. Same for buying and selling machines: You used to buy at an actual physical dealer (or out of the magazine ads or catalog, etc...). But now you can shop on-line, seeing endless write-ups, etc....

So I'm sorry to say it's going to be very hard to keep a brick-&-mortor club alive nowadays. Only in the biggest cities is it possible anymore.