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Building EAA Chapter Membership - Conquering the Caveman - FunPlacesToFly.com
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Before I say anything about building EAA Chapter membership I have to talk about men. I'm not leaving women out because they aren't important to an organization; it's just that women don't seem have the same issues that men do when it comes to being a social animal. Women have an inherent ability to "join in" and become part of any group they show interest in.
My wife, who was a research scientist for many years, used to work with a team of Nobel Prize winning scientists, who at times, drove her nuts. Sometimes she would come home at the end the day, steaming and yelling "ARRRGH! Those MEN! They are a bunch of stubborn Neanderthals!" Although I often took offense to some of her comments, I knew it was probably best to just lay low and not throw fuel on the fire. Having had been an EAA Chapter President in the past, I soon gained a better understanding of her frustration.
For quite a while, before joining an EAA Chapter, I would visit a chapter meeting here and there hoping to get in with a group of fellow aviation enthusiasts and share my love of flying with them. What I typically found was a tight knit group that didn't take a shine to "newcomers". This, combined with my shyness was a recipe for rejection. I usually left disappointed and in a huff, vowing to never return.
Although I was as much to blame as these chapter members were, I decided that if I ever get a leadership position in an EAA Chapter, things were going to have to change.
Now, enter the Caveman.
Following my wife's lead, I decided to approach the building of our Chapter from a caveman's point of view.
In my opinion, we men have inherited some prepackaged mental software from our hunter/gatherer ancestry. Back long ago, a caveman's main concern was to try to stay alive and find food. Fortunately today, we never think about getting eaten by a predator or where our next meal might come from, but sometimes still fall back into our primal behavioral programming.
Here is a list of rules that a typical caveman probably followed:
1. I have to be part of a tribe to survive. If I go out on my own, I'll get eaten.
2. Anyone new, who is not part of my tribe, is a threat. They could steal from the tribe or hurt somebody.
3. If I talk too much with other tribesmen while out on the hunt, we'll scare off the pray (or get eaten). I'll keep my conversations short and to the point.
Sound familiar?
These rules to live by are why we are still here today as a species, but in order to build a cohesive EAA Chapter; these male traits must be addressed.
Caveman Rule #1. I have to be part of a tribe to survive.
This is the good male trait. Do you remember when you turned 14? For some reason we male types had a burning desire to be part of a group or at least a cause. We all had this innate desire and need to be part of a group, yet we didn't really understand why. We just know that we feel better when there are others, like ourselves, in a tight knit group, where we have a sense of acceptance and belonging. An EAA Chapter is such a group.
Caveman Rule #2. Anyone new, who is not part of my tribe, is a threat.
For those of us (guys) who want to admit it, we have felt this way now and then. Also with this rule, we don't know why we feel this way, but we often do. We have become comfortable and secure with those we have built personal ties with, and we know that we can depend on these other tribesmen for the tribes safety and security. Someone new to the tribe is a total unknown and is seen as a possible danger and really "not worth the effort" to try and integrate into the tribe.
Cavemen Rule #3. If we talk too much with other tribesmen while out on the hunt, we scare off the pray (or get eaten).
My wife hates this rule. When our ancient forefathers went out on the hunt for food they had to keep quiet in order to not scare off the intended prey. All conversation, if any, was kept to a minimum, often reduced to hand and/or facial gestures to one another. If you don't think that this is true, just watch a football game in a living room full of men. Complete silence; especially when there's a play in progress. When the touchdown is made, the silence of the room is broken by loud cheering (i.e. they killed the gazelle). The same scenario applies at an EAA Meeting. Almost all men's conversions are short and to the point, unlike their female tribe members, who love to talk.
Here's what to do about your EAA Chapter cavemen:
Get the word out:
First of all you have Rule #1 beat. You already have a group, a tribe, ready for new members, advertise it! Take advantage of the innate need of people to be part of group. The internet is already on your side. Just do a search on Google for "EAA Chapters" and you'll see the National EAA listing for locating a nearby EAA Chapter. Your chapter information and website is listed there. Be sure to update your website with contact information and directions to your meetings.
Make your meetings "visitor" friendly:
OK, now that you've enticed people to come your meetings, don't let them slip through your fingers.
Here are a few facts about visitors to be aware of:
1. People come to your meetings to do just that, "meet" other people. Sure, a good program presentation is essential, but to a visitor, it's secondary.
2. Men (both visitors and members) are hesitant (to the point of paranoia) to walk up to somebody they don't know and introduce themselves, much less start a conversation.
3. Men must be pushed into doing things they don't want to do. (Just ask my wife).
Here's some things you can do at the beginning of your meetings (rules of visitor engagement):
1. You have Officers, use them! Make it a rule that all Officers are required to speak to everyone they don't know (or can't remember if they know).
2. Have your Officers pull the visitors they meet into the small groups (probably already formed) with regular members. Introduce them to the members if possible, or instruct the members to introduce themselves to the visitors.
3. After the meeting starts and the announcements are given, take a short break before the main presentation. Before the break, instruct the audience to look around and find 3 people they don't (or think they don't know) and introduce themselves to them.
4. During the break, the same drill applies using items 1 and 2. Officers, do your duty! There are usually some later-comers who need attention.
5. Consider asking for volunteers as greeters. Good luck with this one with the men. Here's where getting the ladies to be greeters works great!
If you apply the above ideas, you'll soon notice things starting to change. People will start showing up early for the meetings and you'll have to force them out the door at the conclusion.
Sustain, sustain, sustain; keeping the ones you have:
Remember the guy on the Ed Sullivan Show from the old days that used to balance spinning plates on the ends of sticks? He really had to be on top of things or grab a broom for cleanup. The same scenario applies here. Now that you have em', ya' gotta' keep em'!
Email your members, often! Keep track of what's going with your chapter, your members, your airports and the various new items posted by EAA and other aviation news sources. Email your members with news and updates, not only to keep them informed, but to remind them that they belong to an official EAA Chapter and that they matter.
I hope that the ideas that I've put forth will work for your EAA Chapter and make it grow!
Blue Skies and Tailwinds,
Smitty
PS: Watch the video below. It is possible!
- FunPlacesToFly.com
My wife, who was a research scientist for many years, used to work with a team of Nobel Prize winning scientists, who at times, drove her nuts. Sometimes she would come home at the end the day, steaming and yelling "ARRRGH! Those MEN! They are a bunch of stubborn Neanderthals!" Although I often took offense to some of her comments, I knew it was probably best to just lay low and not throw fuel on the fire. Having had been an EAA Chapter President in the past, I soon gained a better understanding of her frustration.
For quite a while, before joining an EAA Chapter, I would visit a chapter meeting here and there hoping to get in with a group of fellow aviation enthusiasts and share my love of flying with them. What I typically found was a tight knit group that didn't take a shine to "newcomers". This, combined with my shyness was a recipe for rejection. I usually left disappointed and in a huff, vowing to never return.
Although I was as much to blame as these chapter members were, I decided that if I ever get a leadership position in an EAA Chapter, things were going to have to change.
Now, enter the Caveman.
Following my wife's lead, I decided to approach the building of our Chapter from a caveman's point of view.
In my opinion, we men have inherited some prepackaged mental software from our hunter/gatherer ancestry. Back long ago, a caveman's main concern was to try to stay alive and find food. Fortunately today, we never think about getting eaten by a predator or where our next meal might come from, but sometimes still fall back into our primal behavioral programming.
Here is a list of rules that a typical caveman probably followed:
1. I have to be part of a tribe to survive. If I go out on my own, I'll get eaten.
2. Anyone new, who is not part of my tribe, is a threat. They could steal from the tribe or hurt somebody.
3. If I talk too much with other tribesmen while out on the hunt, we'll scare off the pray (or get eaten). I'll keep my conversations short and to the point.
Sound familiar?
These rules to live by are why we are still here today as a species, but in order to build a cohesive EAA Chapter; these male traits must be addressed.
Caveman Rule #1. I have to be part of a tribe to survive.
This is the good male trait. Do you remember when you turned 14? For some reason we male types had a burning desire to be part of a group or at least a cause. We all had this innate desire and need to be part of a group, yet we didn't really understand why. We just know that we feel better when there are others, like ourselves, in a tight knit group, where we have a sense of acceptance and belonging. An EAA Chapter is such a group.
Caveman Rule #2. Anyone new, who is not part of my tribe, is a threat.
For those of us (guys) who want to admit it, we have felt this way now and then. Also with this rule, we don't know why we feel this way, but we often do. We have become comfortable and secure with those we have built personal ties with, and we know that we can depend on these other tribesmen for the tribes safety and security. Someone new to the tribe is a total unknown and is seen as a possible danger and really "not worth the effort" to try and integrate into the tribe.
Cavemen Rule #3. If we talk too much with other tribesmen while out on the hunt, we scare off the pray (or get eaten).
My wife hates this rule. When our ancient forefathers went out on the hunt for food they had to keep quiet in order to not scare off the intended prey. All conversation, if any, was kept to a minimum, often reduced to hand and/or facial gestures to one another. If you don't think that this is true, just watch a football game in a living room full of men. Complete silence; especially when there's a play in progress. When the touchdown is made, the silence of the room is broken by loud cheering (i.e. they killed the gazelle). The same scenario applies at an EAA Meeting. Almost all men's conversions are short and to the point, unlike their female tribe members, who love to talk.
Here's what to do about your EAA Chapter cavemen:
Get the word out:
First of all you have Rule #1 beat. You already have a group, a tribe, ready for new members, advertise it! Take advantage of the innate need of people to be part of group. The internet is already on your side. Just do a search on Google for "EAA Chapters" and you'll see the National EAA listing for locating a nearby EAA Chapter. Your chapter information and website is listed there. Be sure to update your website with contact information and directions to your meetings.
Make your meetings "visitor" friendly:
OK, now that you've enticed people to come your meetings, don't let them slip through your fingers.
Here are a few facts about visitors to be aware of:
1. People come to your meetings to do just that, "meet" other people. Sure, a good program presentation is essential, but to a visitor, it's secondary.
2. Men (both visitors and members) are hesitant (to the point of paranoia) to walk up to somebody they don't know and introduce themselves, much less start a conversation.
3. Men must be pushed into doing things they don't want to do. (Just ask my wife).
Here's some things you can do at the beginning of your meetings (rules of visitor engagement):
1. You have Officers, use them! Make it a rule that all Officers are required to speak to everyone they don't know (or can't remember if they know).
2. Have your Officers pull the visitors they meet into the small groups (probably already formed) with regular members. Introduce them to the members if possible, or instruct the members to introduce themselves to the visitors.
3. After the meeting starts and the announcements are given, take a short break before the main presentation. Before the break, instruct the audience to look around and find 3 people they don't (or think they don't know) and introduce themselves to them.
4. During the break, the same drill applies using items 1 and 2. Officers, do your duty! There are usually some later-comers who need attention.
5. Consider asking for volunteers as greeters. Good luck with this one with the men. Here's where getting the ladies to be greeters works great!
If you apply the above ideas, you'll soon notice things starting to change. People will start showing up early for the meetings and you'll have to force them out the door at the conclusion.
Sustain, sustain, sustain; keeping the ones you have:
Remember the guy on the Ed Sullivan Show from the old days that used to balance spinning plates on the ends of sticks? He really had to be on top of things or grab a broom for cleanup. The same scenario applies here. Now that you have em', ya' gotta' keep em'!
Email your members, often! Keep track of what's going with your chapter, your members, your airports and the various new items posted by EAA and other aviation news sources. Email your members with news and updates, not only to keep them informed, but to remind them that they belong to an official EAA Chapter and that they matter.
 | Hang out at the local airport! Sponsor an event for members and guests to come out to a designated hangar one Saturday each month. This type event attracts many visitors and is an excellent opportunity to get new members. You'll be surprised at the number of spouses and kiddos that come as well. No agenda is necessary, just coffee, soft drinks, confections, just good fellowship. We use the same "rules of visitor engagement" as the regular monthly chapter meeting. Our chapter secretary is always on hand to sign up new members for those visitors who come to see what it's all about. Our Chapter has literally doubled it's roster by doing this! |
I hope that the ideas that I've put forth will work for your EAA Chapter and make it grow!
Blue Skies and Tailwinds,
Smitty
PS: Watch the video below. It is possible!
- FunPlacesToFly.com
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