*Ramble Mode: Full*
I donāt know if this has changed, but back when I attended an āOpen Houseā in January explicitly to get my door badge, as per the instructions, it was made clear that member meetings were only for members and not guests.
I know we have improved the ability for any guest-come-member to get their door cards, it seems most members have no idea how to facilitate this.
Secondarily, as shown here, the āhow to joinā still says you must attend a āThursday meetingā to get your key/card/fob/badge/thingy.
And, unless it has changed, the email welcoming newly paid members is equally confusing, stipulating that only board members (BTW, as a new member, itās remarkably intimidating to go searching for āa board memberā) can make the door card thingy:
And finally, the
New Member 411, though fine in its scope, is not conducive to helping new members get their door cards and get started, in my opinion. The two most useful pieces of info on that are the āimportant contactsā.
Everything seems pointed toward making the Thursday meeting and Open House everything, and the night I attended (I only get about 4 Thursday evening free annually if all goes to plan) it was a zoo.
So, I guess I would vote for moving to a weekend for guests, but that makes it harder for members, who are also free-er on weekends, to get their stuff done around the looky-loos.
I agree with most of the above: whomever is doing the tours should decide when they want to give them; having several people doing them, perhaps on different schedules, could be beneficial; without having read Stanās suggestions on honorariums, some sort of compensation for the folks giving the tours sounds like a fine idea; after all, we get compensated for taking our time to teach a class, so why not for tours/member recruitment; and finally I like Lisaās recommendations to combine events, but if you want non-member participation, we need a better way to make that clear to interested parties than the blurb on the events page that says āevents open to the public unless stated otherwiseā. Also it needs to be clear for members. For example, if members are to let non-members through the door on Saturdays for the āGame Day/Meet&Greet/Member Meetingā, both members and non-members should know EXACTLY to whom they should be referred and where. Nothing prevents you from wanting to help like not knowing who is responsible or where the guests are being welcomedā¦ Signage could help, with, perhaps, something on the ātvā in the lobby: āWelcome guests, please proceed to the Fortress of Solitude for Game Day. Ask for Stan Simmons!ā
I hope my ramblings are useful, and I would like to see more ānew membersā chime in here, as we have most recently navigated these waters and should have the most to offer to improve moving the public from non-member to member.
*Ramble Mode: Reduced*
tl;dnr:
From my experience, the most important thing would be to get the actual door card process completely removed from the āOpen House/Tour/whateverā process so that people know they can drop by any time and make their own card request and/or ask any member on hand to make their card request anytime after theyāve paid their dues.
BTW, what is the āpickupā procedure after youāve made the card request? This document states 24-48 hrs. but nothing about what to do after that to GET the cardā¦
