If you go into a leadership position for a club because it will look good on your resume, think again. Grant a club can look nice on your resume for a few reasons such as to appear active. The fact is you will be miserable and you will probably quit if that is the only reason. Being a member means time commitments and going to the occasional boring meetings and if you were there for the cupcakes, you best be leaving.
Being a leader means deciding, planning, and time commitments and if don't want to spend time outside of the club doing work, don't volunteer. For the Red Cross Club there was time spent to find ways to advertise our club, working on our Facebook page, and setting up our event calender for the year which doesn't sound like much but it definitely took time away from my summer.
You SHOULD join a club because you like it's message, it's events, or it can improve your talents or skills.
You SHOULD be a leader because you want to better others, self, community, or school. OR if YOU want to improve the club somehow. The emphasis is on the 'you' as in, you think you can drive the club with your ideas, not others. I'm not saying you shouldn't get help, by all means, GET ADVICE ALWAYS, but don't be piggy backing off of others all the time.
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Will people want to join or want to keep joining? Some clubs will not be recognized by a school, company, or organization (like the Red Cross) unless you have so many members. Find out if your club will be interfered by those rules and see if people would be interested enough to stay with your club. If the answer it is no, find out why. Tips below may help with problems the club may have.
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3. HAVE A PLAN
Clubs often struggle at this step. A person thinks, "Aha! Yes! I think a car wash would be great!" Then the car wash NEVER happens. BOOM! You've just lost members. No one wants to be part of a club that doesn't follow through. The club has to think of when, where, back up plans, and perhaps even a budget when it comes to events. Think of canceling as the big red button no one wants to touch. If you must cancel, figure out why and if the event should ever be thought of doing again. For the club I'm in, we have cancelled because we kept postponing to the point where it was three months later from the original date. Postponing can be a good idea but beware of the forever postponing plague.
Here is comprehensive list that my college has each club fill out.
*Note, everything must fit on one page. More than that is a sign of over thinking.*
Name of Event
Contact Name and Number
Date and Time
Campus Location
Total Price
(After event has taken place)
Event Attendance
Comments on Event
Suggestions for Improvement
Event Rating 1-10
When the leaders in a group state what you are going to do, then the club changes from being a fun extracurricular to being a member in a dictatorship. Grant, they should lead but not to the point that only the board is making decisions. Leaders are there for organization. Members are there for creativity. There is a negative side to members though. Meetings run by members only can easily go from, "What do you think?" to "I'm sorry I can't hear you because everyone is talking at once." As leaders, think of a few options that the club can decide on. Starting with, "Alright think of an event and we'll do it." WILL lead to chaos. So start instead with, "We have three options which include a car wash, a color run, and a water gun fight. Which of these do you like best?" If you want club members to think of ideas themselves, have them fill out a planning sheet and vote on it. Organization and creativity are keys to a healthy club.
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5. LEADERS/ADVISERS
The Red Cross Club at my school has suffered greatly from insufficient leadership. Currently, the club is on it's 5th adviser in three years but has had two presidents for all three years. The membership is down to two people. Leaders/Advisers can make or break your club. When starting a club or voting on positions, know who can stick around and who is there merely because no one else will. Choosing based on the things below can help you with your decision.
Most Important: Know how much time and effort they want to invest.
-Are they involved in other clubs? How many? If the answer is two+, count them out. They may say they can handle it but they won't. Trust me they won't. If they have led beforehand, count them in as they have experience. A new adviser/leader may be iffy and can quit when they realize that the club is more work than they had in mind.-Are they scatterbrained? If the answer is yes...stay far away. These people tend to blab, procrastinate, and mosh pit meetings.
-Are they organized/strict? If the answer is yes, then you say yes. Strict people get stuff done and will let you know when something is amiss. Some may hate them as teachers, counselors, etc. but if they can get you out of the deep dark depths that is lack of members, you stay with them. Let me put it to you this way, if you had to escape prison would you choose Elmo or Vin Diesel to get you out?
-Are the likable? I know I just stated that some may hate them as a person so deal with it; just trust me this is different. Being strict is more like being organized but on Red Bull; they seem to be overbearing but they have all the right equipment. If that person is known for being a jerk then you say no. These people are more like sugar; they seem to be in charge but in the end, you were and now you're sad. The reason is that your adviser/leader will have to associate with other people whether it be the principal or a board. If they suck at talking, or presenting, or get emotional fast, count them out. No one wants to listen to an annoying voice when they can be charmed by a sweeter one, or at the very least an organized one.
-Are they athletic coaches or are athletes? If the answer is yes, you should probably say no. Grant, coaches or athletes are usually motivated, organized, and self-made leaders but there are multiple things that could go wrong. First, will meetings interfere with their practices or games? If so, they will always choose the sport over the club. Athletics pay (either by a paycheck or scholarship) and advising/leading rarely does. Second issue will be time. These people either have to have a certain GPA and will skip meetings to study or there may be so many hours they can work for your school. They will choose their education or job over you. Every. Single. Time. (Even volunteering for your club can be considered 'working' as they are still are participating in a school event and the school will force your adviser to quit the club. Yes, it's happened to me before.)
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6. MEETINGS ARE BORING OR DISORGANIZED
There a few things you can do.
Boring
-Playing music has been shown to increase attention. In fact video game music was created for that purpose. Mario is usually a good choice to play in the background or the Hans Zimmer station on Pandora. Music with lyrics or dancing music can be distracting.
-Start meetings with something fun and QUICK! Don't spend more then 10 minutes on a warm up game. You could start off with something as easy as musical chairs. One great way to increase relationships is have everyone (even the adviser) go to a complete stranger and have them either tell them their future dreams or come up with a secret handshake.
-Give out stress balls or anything else kinesthetic. Having something physical forces that person to pay attention as their mind will wander less often.
-Instead of having every meeting consisting of planning, and choosing, and arguing...do blender events instead. Choose something that pertains to your club or club's motivation that is fun to do and run with it! For example, the Art Guild at my school built spooky creatures and placed them around the campus on April Fool's Day. It was both fun and held to the artistic values of the club.
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| Courtesy of Mary Rose Fiedler |
-Don't know what Robert's Rules are? Get to know them and enforce them. These rules prevent talking over others and arguments. http://img.docstoccdn.com/thumb/orig/4862573.png
-Think of Murphy's Law: Anything That Can Go Wrong, Will Go Wrong. Predict when there may be a problem and think of solutions for it. You don't have to be over paranoid but it's better to think Murphy then to be run over by craziness.
-Have an agenda. At the start of the meeting hand out what will be discussed. Include time limits by each subject if needed. At the end of each meeting, there should be time to have "free talk" where members can discuss anything they wish to include in the next meeting.
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7. RELATIONSHIPS ARE POOR AMONG MEMBERS
There are two major issues that cause depleting numbers. Either there are not enough people to create energy or they don't know each other well enough to come back. You can advertise all you want on Facebook, twitter, or whatever else and people will not come. It is the club's job to sound exciting or have close relationships among members. Ways to do that are...
-Have members talk to one another. Give them a chance to socialize.
-Get to know them! People are usually in events because they know friends who are at them. Be that friend or at least acquaintance. Getting to know them is a good start. (What are the passionate about? Who is their favorite super hero? If they could meet anyone dead or alive who would it be?) Look up Ryan Clauson for more tips on 'attracting' other people. http://www.mrattraction.com/
-Use ice breakers for your warm up event at meetings. Look at this link for a whole bunch of ideas. >http://indulgy.com/post/t1f6NY18T1/chrysanthemum-first-day-name-activity
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End On a Happy Note:
Dress for the job that you want! http://funsubstance.com/fun/112188/dress-for-the-job-you-want/
