This topic contains 8 replies, has 9 voices, and was last updated by 
AuntieNae 14 years, 9 months ago.
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It seems that over the past few years attendance to the WGA events have dwindled and as a result there is less participation in the board meetings which are open to members at these events. It seems that times of the meetings are at the least attended times of the events (example at the very end of the day around campfire where some don’t camp). To some it may appear that attendance is not desired due to the timing of the meetings.
1) Do you see this as in fact an accurate statement? (If not, do you have stats to support otherwise?)
2) As a board member how would you encourage more participation by members?
3) What suggestions can you make and encourage implementation of to increase participation thereby ensuring that members are being fully represented by the board elected?
Thanks for the great question.
I kind of agree and kind of disagree with the premise of your question. Let me explain.
First, it is true that attendance at our 2 big annual events is down, after reaching a peak at Hartman in 2007. I am sure there are multiple reasons for this. One reason could be that Hartman is the ideal location, and that other locations will inevitably draw less due to geography. By having our event there this spring, we can test that hypothesis, and see if we once again return to over 200 people attending. A second possible reason is that there are so many events to choose from now, with an event somewhere almost every weekend nowadays, which was simply not true in 2007. And a third possible reason is that people who were attending primarily to log multiple temp caches, now find our events less attractive, since we have gotten away from that.
The other part of your question goes to our annual meeting. For reference, let me cut and paste part of our bylaws here:
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Article VI: General Membership Meetings
General membership meetings will be held annually at a minimum, or more often if required. All members and interested parties are invited to attend and participate in the general membership meetings. All general membership meetings will be conducted in accordance with Robert’s Rules of Order, latest edition.The purpose of the general membership meetings shall be to discuss and approve current and future initiatives, solicit involvement and provide a forum for the exchange of information among members. Agenda items may include cache hunts, slide shows or video tapes of geocaching areas and activities, or educational presentations.
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So, not only do I agree with you that our general membership meeting is important, I see it as a requirement for the board to fulfill.
The current board has discussed this issue, each of the past 2 years (maybe 3 years), with a focus on ways that we could encourage more participation. Everyone on the current board is in favor of having as much general membership participation as possible, and we have really tried to schedule the membership meeting at a time where we think most people will attend. Even so, attendance at the general membership meeting at Bong and at High Cliff (the last 2) were probably about 40 people or so. I dont have exact numbers on that, but I am sure someone has photos of it somewhere.
So, yeah, I agree with you that we should get as many people to participate at the general membership meeting as possible. We have tried to schedule it in the afternoon after folks are winding down from caching, and having it right after the group photo, which seems to be the best time. If anyone has any suggestion for better timing, I would be open to that.
As far as your question about more participation by members goes, I think we have done that thru our multiple empowered committees. There are probably 75 people or so that have served on one of our committees in the past year, and that seems to me to be a good way to reach out to everyone, even the folks who may not be able to travel to an event.
thanks for the great question.
zuma
As far as attendance goes, I have to echo Ralph’s first paragraph, and add that the economy probably has some to do with it as well. I also believe many members use these forums as their place to share their concerns, wants and needs now which may also contribute to the lack of attendance at the open meetings.
Question #2 and #3 go hand in hand, and I’m not sure there is a way to “ensure that members are being fully represented”. This requires the participation of the membership, which seems to relate to your questions. I believe there is more that can be done to bring attendance up to help in this matter though. Educating people on the importance of attending and having their voices heard for instance. Encouraging participation at the events always seems to help people get more involved and help spread the word too.
Thanks for the great question BQ!
Yes, I see your statement as being accurate. The last opportunity I had to attend a membership meeting at Bong I did not go because of the timing of it. I brought my family, who are not big geocachers, and I schlepped them throughout Bong from top to bottom. They were tired and so was I. If I recall correctly, the general membership meeting was scheduled something like an hour after the group photo, I simply was not going to wait around.
My first membership meeting was at the campout at Governor Dodge State Park. I can recall that occurring much earlier in the day and there were door prizes that peaked everyone’s interest.I would encourage more participation and interest as a board member by simply getting out there to spread the word. At the past events I have gone too I rarely see BOD members on the trails. I assume that they were all just too busy with the event and all but now that we have these empowered committees there should be more time to get out and mingle. As an executive with a large not for profit agency I can assure you that personal contact goes a long, long way.
The only suggestion I can make at this time is to hold the membership meetings at the time of greatest attendance, which I will assume is lunch. The door prizes might be a good option and giving away a few free campsites to the following year’s campout or a GPS or two might be a big enough draw to keep membership around for a little while longer. In another post by a board member on this website I seem to recall the individual mentioning that the WGA seems to be making more money than they know what to do with so they were offering funds to hold a regional event. A final thought: MWGB is very successful in getting campers to their venue due to campsite decorating contests and there is more and more participation in that every year.
Not having yet attended a WGA camp out or picnic, I cannot critique the timing or scheduling of the membership meetings at these events.
As for more participation, Door prizes could be a good draw, Scheduling it earlier in the day, but taking away daylight hours from number hounds might not be the best idea either.
If the group picture is a big draw, then a quick and smooth transition from the picture right to the meeting might help,
Again, not yet attending either of the events, I’m shooting blind here with ideas
Being a new member of the WGA and not having been to the meetings yet, I can only offer two ideas (suggestions).
1. Being a member of two different REA’s (rural electric co-ops), attendance is not a priority for a lot of people even though they are members of their REA Co-op via the fact that’s where they get their electricity from. To get the needed attendance, they run the meetings in the evening and give out attendance prizes as well as door prizes.
2. Being a past and present member of various boards both as board member and community member, I find it unfortunate that boards will run some meetings during a less than ideal time ie. during the work day. If you want the members to attend you have to make it more convenient when possible.
@Bushwhacking Queen wrote:
It seems that over the past few years attendance to the WGA events have dwindled and as a result there is less participation in the board meetings which are open to members at these events. It seems that times of the meetings are at the least attended times of the events (example at the very end of the day around campfire where some don’t camp). To some it may appear that attendance is not desired due to the timing of the meetings.
1) Do you see this as in fact an accurate statement? (If not, do you have stats to support otherwise?)
I would agree that for the most part attendance at events does seem to be on the decline with the exception of what I would call “regulars” who seem to show up for everything.
2) As a board member how would you encourage more participation by members?
This can be a difficult thing to accomplish. Factors such as timing of the event, the current economic situation, location of the event, etc can have a great impact on the attendance of any given event. The best thing we can do from a BOD stand point is to make sure we are putting on the best possible event that we can to help draw our members to attend.
3) What suggestions can you make and encourage implementation of to increase participation thereby ensuring that members are being fully represented by the board elected?
The biggest thing we can do as a member of the board is to keep all channels of communication open. Be willing to listen to the membership and to not just blow people off because we may disagree with what their particular position on a topic may be.
Far to often I have gotten the impression from talking to a number of people that the lines of communication have not necessarily been the best between the BOD and the general membership. As a board member I would that it is imperative to listen to the people you are representing and take their views into consideration when making decisions.
***It seems that over the past few years’ attendance to the WGA events have dwindled and as a result there is less participation in the board meetings which are open to members at these events. It seems that times of the meetings are at the least attended times of the events (example at the very end of the day around campfire where some don’t camp). To some it may appear that attendance is not desired due to the timing of the meetings.
1) Do you see this as in fact an accurate statement? (If not, do you have stats to support otherwise?)
Yes I do agree with you it does seem to have dwindled. I have been told of some reasons why people do not come to events or will not go to events. Some are it is too expensive to go to them or they are too far. With gas prices being as high as they were I would have to agree that it would be hard to attend. Some other different reasons that I have heard are that the events are for families only or couples. To which I have stated to that person that it is open to everyone families, couples, and singles some people have even meet there future wives at the events. I have also heard reason being that they do not feel welcome due to all the clicks in the WGA. Again I have argued to this person that it is not all clicky or people get singled out (I might now after writing this lol). I have also noticed that BOD meetings have always been at night or at times where day visitors at events might not be able to attend. What I would like to try is maybe a lunch time BOD meeting where the BOD can meet at lunch time over food and with everyone there to ask question.
***2) As a board member how would you encourage more participation by members?
As a member of the board I would try to let new members know to come to events because it is a wonderful way to meet other new members, more experienced cachers, and also members of the BOD. Or maybe even try a new member meet and greet, do one to the north and one in the south so new members can meet other members and members of the BOD also let them know that this is a great way to ask questions learn new tricks hear stories or even meet the person that placed their first cache they got or the one they are having trouble with finding. This is just a thought that I have had. And when I was new and have not met so many wonderful people I always thought it sure would be nice to meet other new members or more experiences members in a relaxing way where people are not running around to get caches or getting ignored. I do know that when we went to our first meet and greet we were sitting there and no one talked to me or my wife. This was at a picnic and where everyone was just running around finding temps and there was no area to meet anyone because it was very intimidating to see a whole bunch of people running around gps in hand. We were a little disorientated didn’t know what to do or where to go. There was no area where you could get paired up with a more experienced cacher or anything. We didn’t even know how to get caches we ended up just following the other people and handing someone our gps they then told us they couldn’t load it handed us a piece of paper and said here are the caches. Nothing more so we found a couple on our own then went home because we didn’t know much lol. Now we know and we try to find people who might have that doe in the headlights look and try to help them if they need it or want it.
***3) What suggestions can you make and encourage implementation of to increase participation thereby ensuring that members are being fully represented by the board elected?
The only suggestion I could make is maybe do it like the government (only thing I can compare it too). Maybe do something like each member of the board has an area where members of area 1 can email this BOD rep or That one with questions, concerns, or suggestions and then that BOD member can take those ideas or comments and take it to the rest of the BOD. So they can look into it or try as a group to answer those questions or concerns.
Sorry so this being so long but I had to think about it and try to answer this as easily as I could. Thanks for the question.
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