Recruiting new members?

[Lasse_C]

Recruiting new members seems to be a more or less universal problem for organizations and associations. It might be that the number of members is low or the average age of the members is high - or a combination of both - but in either way, new members are desired.

In organizations as IGKT, there is also the matter of taking care of a craft, art and cultural heritage! Knotting is one of mankinds oldest crafts, what we do is based on a tradition literally thousands of years old!

This issue touches on "the Guild Mission", but I would like to outline the question a bit more:
* Do we want to recruit more members? (I suppose we do?)
* What kind of new members do we want? Just anyone to fill the ranks, or...?
* What can we offer them? (=Why should they want to join?) If we want to attract youngsters, for example, how do we make knotting "cool" (or whatever term they presently use )?

I do not have any answers to these questions, I have just been thinking about it, and thought I should toss the questions into the air and see what the rest of you had to say.

Lasse C

[WebAdmin]

We do 9 or 10 craft shows per year, where I demonstrate and sell my pyrography, and Jeff demonstrates and sells knotting and ropework.   He usually has quite a crowd around him, specially when he's using his small ropemaking machine.   A lot of his demonstrations are aimed at kids, and he talks about the Guild and the importance of knots in our lives.    We always have the Guild pamphlet displayed and over the years have managed to get a few people interested enough to join.   We might have even managed to recruite someone on our recent cruise!!

Lesley

[squarerigger]

Thanks for a good set of questions Lasse!

I do not have the "answers" either, but I would suggest that:

1.  I believe that we do want more members, if only to maintain our status quo of the number of members it takes to be a self-sustaining voluntary organization and, not to be maudling but, as older members gradually ravel off the mortal coil (our members are none of us getting any younger! ) we need younger members to continue the traditions & ideals, come up with new uses and types and keep the practice of knotting alive and well.

2.  Knotting has, in my limited knowledge of the practice, normally incorporated teaching others the skills that have been learned by others over the years.  We know that they cannot simply be passed on by reading books, although even that could be achieved with a good teacher (one practised in the art of education), so I would posit that we need members who are interested, willing to learn or to pass on information that they themselves have learned, and committed to sharing .  The attraction for new members would necessarily be a desire to know about knotting, so that should be a foregone conclusion as to what type of member - one that wants to know about knotting.

3.  To attract new members, I think we should offer training in the many practices of knotting .  We have a large number of members who do this privately but, for whatever reason, we do not have a formal training section within our own Guild.  In the original purposes of a Guild, the passing of information to apprentices was paramount.  Those Guilds were practicing masters of the craft already being paid for their work, and this (teaching and apprentice) was considered their payback for what they had themselves learned.  Our own Guild is not structured in the same manner because we are volunteers, nor with quite the same purpose, but I feel that we should nevertheless be offering training.  Now, training is not necessarily the word that comes to mind as an attractant, so maybe we could devise a series of "master classes" around the world-wide membership, to which/whom young people could go for information?  They would be run by members of the ilk of a Brian Fields   or any other of our fine members whose passion for knotting comes through as a shining beacon, in a setting that attracts new members, like the shoreside, or the campfire or the gymnasium?  Certainly young people respond well to advertising, so perhaps we should advertise?  Maybe offer something free, such as membership for six months or a free page of stickers of knots (for young members) or a piece of line, whipped both ends for practice or... any other ideas?

Centrally, I think it is up to us as members to start the ball rolling, write to the President, write to our Council members - you have their names and addresses in the Membership handbook, so use your own writing skills to request an action committee or whatever other formal structure should be used as a guide, be set up to enable our members to go out and do good.  Seek guidance, seek direction, seek out the answers and write to the PTB!  It is hard to ignore letters coming across your doormat, whereas one-way communication across the ether or the internet only serves one end of the communication and is not nearly as satisfying or productive.

That's my two-cents worth - thanks for asking!

SquareRigger

[KnotMe]

Well, unless we want the guild to fade out entirely (eventually) from attrition, we'll be wanting new members.  Plus, new ideas all that makes the group more interesting (and gives us more resources! .

From the more practical, indeed, crucial perspective, the guild offers  knowledge about safety and practical use.  From working safely at heights to best practices WRT your cordage that will keep your mast from falling down at a bad time.  

Across the historical disciplines, researchers have only recently started paying attention to the influence and importance of textile items (which are the first to decay and disappear from archaeological sites).   From recreating chariots to forensic analysis, the guild has much to contribute there.

From the more decorative perspective, macrame and Asian knotting are on the rise.

We offer them knowledge and resources.  We teach who comes.  We attract them by being ... promiscuous.  We go where they are (craft shows, boat/fishing/climbing shows, SCA, guide/scouts, etc).  We write articles for magazines, books, and the local paper.  We announce our accomplishments, achievements and discoveries to all and sundry.

We help as many who ask as we can.

[Fairlead]

I and a small team of members with our Editor have just spent 3 days at the Crick British Waterways Boat Show demonstrating, teaching, making fenders and splicing ropes for people, as well as entertaining those not so 'knotty' as ourselves and the children, with a few little rope tricks a rope making machine.  
We had quite the worst site I have ever experienced, the whole area was awash with mud, the weather more like February than the end of May, plus a large industrial fire causing the closure of the roads to the site - BUT still the public came and apart from signing up 4 new members (1 a junior, who we all assumed was a member already!) we sold Guild Publications and collected a few pounds in donations for the Guild.

The purpose of that  preamble is not to blow our own trumpets but to follow this thread as to why people join the IGKT.  I find that in the majority of the cases here in the UK, and it was certainly evident at this show, the main reason for joining is that they want to 'Get together with other knotting folk' and exchange ideas and learn on a one-to-one basis, having failed with the book method in many cases.  
I hope we don't let them (or ourselves) down now that they have joined.

Gordon

[Amphiprion]

Just some thoughts/ couple of ideas, based on the idea of recruiting youths:
Might I suggest finding a way to work with cub scouts and boy scouts.  They are a natural way to gain new members.  U.S. Cub scouts have to learn new knots each year to progress through ranks.  This could be at a high level or locally with packs and troops.  (my experience to this point is with cubs, not the older boy scouts).  Encouraging kids to make any kind of knot is a step in the right direction. 
Does the IGKT have an option to join as a family instead of as an adult or youth individual? (I don't know the answer to this).  This could gain members that you might miss for a couple of reasons.  For example, for many kids, just being part of a group is intriguing to them.  So, in my case, if I joined myself, you have one new member, if I join as a family, you have five new members.  Admittedly, one would have no interest in knotting, but my three sons, two of whom are interested and one too young yet to know, would now be members also.   

[Willeke]

Welcome Amphiprion,
Yes we have family membership, and also group membership.
We try to get those people who are into knots to join the IGKT, but we also need to offer what they want. It is not usefull to get a new member only to loose it next year, dissatisfied because they did not get what they thought they were promised. Or we need to learn to promise what we can deliver.

You, and your family, are welcome to become IGKT members, you can find the details on the main part of this site:
http://www.igkt.net/membership/index.html

Willeke

[Amphiprion]

I understand that it may not seem beneficial to gain a member today and loose them a year from now.  However, if you introduce kids at an early age, you have a chance to show them something new and exciting.  That is a benefit in and of itself, regardless if someone joins or not.  Hopefully, they will join and grow with the organization. 

To be fair, I have no idea what measures the guild is taking to increase membership.  I was going through the posts and saw this topic and it interests me.  Membership is a challenge for all organizations, I know this first hand.  The particular local kids group(not related to knot tying) I participate with was having the same problems, until a year ago.  We doubled our ranks in a year by focusing on what the members and their families would respond to, by recruiting strong leadership, and by aggressively "advertising" who we are.  Again, to be fair, I'm talking about going from a group of about twenty kids to a group of over forty, not hundreds of people.
To sum up, how does someone know if they are interested in an aspect of knotting if they are not exposed to it?

[Amphiprion]

I emailed the NAB to see if they had a family and a group membership, and currently, unlike the IGKT, they do not.  Please do not read any criticism at all into this, I just wanted to post what I found out since I broached the question to begin with.  The NAB secretary was friendly and helpful in the email sent back to me, and that is important to me as someone considering joining a group.  I will most likely join myself and share the info I gain as I go with the cub pack I work with and my own kids.

[chucko]

As the Program Director of a Boy Scout Camp in the US I can guarantee that Boy Scouts are interested in knotting, not only practical knots that they can use for Pioneering projects, but also decorative knots.  I just taught a couple of scouts the other day how to capsize a grief knot into a two-strand wall knot and they became alive with excitement and wanted to know more!  In the ten years that I have worked at summer camps I have learned most of what I know from interaction with experienced knotters, and hold these skills more dear than those that I have learned from books.  I am seriously considering joining the guild (with university expenses through the roof it's hard for me to find any extra cash lying around), and think that the oral and personal teaching of knots should be the primary goal and activity of the guild.  It's great for members and experienced knotters to sit around and discuss theory and advance the craft, but unless these skills are passed on they might be lost forever.  In the last few months the BSA has made changes to the requirements for the Pioneering Merit Badge that have essentially stripped it down to being a little more than what scouts need to know to reach the First Class rank.  I have been trying to contact our national advancement committee to tell them what I think of the changes, but i am curious what any of you think about the changes.  You can see the old requirements as well as the changes at: http://www.usscouts.org/usscouts/advance/boyscout/advchanges06.html#Pioneer
My major complaint is the change in the number of knots now required and the loss of actually building a full-size anchor for a pioneering project.  The loss of several knots is by far the most troubling, especially when you consider how few people can tie much beyond an overhand or reef knot.  If there are any other US Scouters out there who feel as I do, let me know!  Thanks, I just wanted to chime in
Chuck

[sledge]

I don't know if this is relevant, but I have just realised about the amount of non-advertising  by the I.G.K.T. There were many places I visited in 2004 in England & America where it may have been advantageous to have a bit of info available. All the place visited were to look at rope work. e.g. Dockyards, Muesuems, Historic Ships, Clubs. In none of these places did I see mention of I.G.K.T.

Just wondering if some leaflets and the Symbol at some of these places might help. An idea?

                                                                                                                         Sledge

 

[squarerigger]

Hi Sledge,

I agree that there is not enough advertising, and I would encourage you, as an IGKT Member, to go to those places you mention and do the following:

     Find the person responsible for allowing advertising placement
     Set an appointment to talk with them
     Go talk to them about our organization and seek advertising and product placement space
     Put up advertising with a web-site address or other contact information that is monitored regularly by a volunteer
     Regularly re-stock the leaflets with new ones that are paid for by donation or your own money and pick up the trash that arises from the discards
     Monitor that advertising for effectiveness

We put on demonstrations, exhibitions, training, volunteer our time and make sterling efforts to get our information out to those who like to know about it - we could always do better and advertising may be one way to do that.  If you do the math of dividing 6,000,000,000 by 1200 members worldwide to get some idea of how many people we each have to reach out to (that's 5 million people each IF we each do our part) you get some idea of how much effort it takes to do what you are suggesting, so go out and do your part!  Of course, we get nobody from advertising that we do not put in place, so it doesn't mean we should not do it, and, we know, it is not necessary to reach out to everyone in the world - that would be silly.

As one of the people who has been making some efforts now and in the past to reach out to people by demonstrating, exhibiting, teaching and volunteering my time, I can tell you that the idea of advertising is nowhere near as good as being there, by a factor of thousands.  We do need to advertise, but let's not do so with anything less than two or three members demonstrating what it is all about, so that people want to take part.  We are not selling cars, we are inviting others to take part in an interesting hobby, occupation, craft or science, depending on your point of view.  Let's be there to share that art, rather than just putting a symbol or logo in place, and then watching and hoping for responses.

Thanks for a good suggestion!

SR

[Lasse_C]

Hmmm... Interesting discussion.
I feel we need to, in our minds, keep the distinction that we are not talking about recruiting new members is the meaning that we should find them and persuade them to join! As someone pointed out, we are offering them to join us. It is not up to us to make them interested or curious in knotting. To make ourselves known to those who are interested or curious in another thing.

As squarerigger points out, the world´s population leaves about 5 000 000 to each one of us, so that task can be just as great as we make it. Here I think that each and everyone has a responsibility to DO our part! Not reaching all of those 5 million people (not that I would stop anyone who tries! ) but to mention IGKT when we talk to people asking questions, get interviewed by media, etc, and so forth. That is an effort we can all afford.

Lasse C
(Presently on vacation, and not much in front of the computer... )

[dent]

hi, i'm new here and had just posted some questions and was looking at what the membership would offer and this is what i've come to the conclusion or thoughts from someone that's thinking of joining.
first and foremost, there's no branch here in toronto, least none that i could find.  I know the basic knots being a sailor and a rock climber, i'd like to learn more about fancy and decorative knots.  Reading books helps but nothing compared to hands on training with someone experienced near by.  the news letter is nice but the main thing i guess is some support from the group is what i'm looking for more than anything else.
my 2 cents
take care
sam

[squarerigger]

Hi Sam

There is a Branch of the IGKT in North America called the North American Branch and they have a web-site at igktnab.org.  They have meetings from time to time through local chapters of the Branch - would it be difficult for you to get there to New England (Quincy, Massachusetts)?  How about starting up a group yourself by going to a local Yacht Club, Sea Scouts meeting, Boy Scouts meeting, climbers meeting, etc to recruit new members?  Also, take a look at KHWW.net and join the group for very good instructions on making fancier knots.  Hope this helps you! 

SR