Want to build relationships with people who share your interests? Why not try setting up a club to accommodate those desires? In fact, creating a club is not as difficult as you might think, as long as you are willing to put in a fair amount of time and effort. First, decide what kind of club you want to create; After that, define the goals of the club and start recruiting members. For more detailed information, keep reading the article below!
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Part 1 of 4: Making a Plan
Step 1. Identify the goals of the club
Think about what kind of club you want to start and what your goals are in establishing it. As a first step, you can first discuss with people who have similar interests. In line with the club's goals, you can also invite people around you to take action on a specific issue, raise public awareness, play games, design experiments, help others solve a social problem, or organize certain activities.
- Think about why you started a club; Also think about your long-term goals, your agenda at each meeting, and what you can offer each club member.
- Most clubs were founded to accommodate the hobbies of their members. If you want to do something similar, try starting a book club, chess club, math club, knitting club, running club, or science club.
- You can also create a faith-based club, a volunteer club, a club that aims to raise public awareness of an issue, or a club that includes professionals from a particular industry.
Step 2. Choose a meeting location
Make sure the location is within easy reach of every member and large enough to accommodate the number of members in your club. If the meeting will be held in a school environment, make sure you first ask permission from the school authorities. If you want, you can also hold the meeting in a public place such as a city park, cafe, or library.
- If you don't know the majority or all of the club members well, it's best to hold the meeting in a public place instead of your home.
- Once the club is established, try holding meetings at all members' homes in turn; thus, each member has the same responsibility to host the meeting.
Step 3. Determine the meeting time
After determining the meeting location, also determine the time; choose a time that allows the majority of club members to join. If the club is for working adults, try holding meetings on weekends. After successfully recruiting more members, you can invite them to discuss a more definite and detailed meeting schedule. Make sure the duration of the inaugural club meeting is not too long. Generally, even one hour is sufficient for a first meeting.
Step 4. Start recruiting members
The best location to recruit members is in your social circle. In other words, start by inviting relatives, friends, classmates, or even coworkers to join your club. If they are not interested in joining, ask for information about people who might be interested. You can also post hiring information on social media such as Twitter or Facebook, as well as post internet ads using sites like Craigslist).
- Do not forget to include the name and purpose of the club, as well as the time and location of the inaugural meeting in the ad you create; make sure you also include contact information such as your mobile number or email address in it.
- Try creating flyers or posting recruiting information around your neighborhood (such as at a coffee shop or campus notice board).
- Adjust the promotion method with your target membership. For example, if your club is a religious community, try posting recruitment information at relevant places of worship.
Part 2 of 4: Holding the First Meeting
Step 1. Get to know all the members and understand their expectations regarding the club
Make sure you share information regarding the time, location and duration of the meeting with all club members. To lighten the mood between members who still don't know each other, try making a simple, interesting game. After that, spend the rest of the time discussing each member's expectations, ideas for interesting activities, and things they think the club should focus on going forward.
- For example, you could invite members to play “Two Truths and One Lie” to lighten the mood at the start of the meeting. Have each member write two truths and one lie about themselves on a piece of paper. After that, ask other members to guess the wrong information. Trust me, this is an interesting method to get to know other people better!
- To encourage member openness, try asking everyone to write down their expectations of the club along with any activity ideas they have on a piece of paper. Have one person compile all members' ideas and expectations, then read the list aloud without naming the person who wrote it.
Step 2. Determine the frequency of club meetings
Evaluate each club member's free time and find the most suitable meeting time for the majority of members. For example, a club meeting could be held every day after school or work; if the majority of club members are very busy, just hold a meeting once a month. Remember, you won't be able to find the right time to gather all the members; This situation is perfectly normal and nothing to worry about.
Step 3. Have all members exchange contact information and share their communication preferences
Make sure you can contact each club member to provide information regarding meeting schedules and other important news. Some of the communication methods to choose from are by phone, text message, or email. If you want, you can even create social media pages or online forums specifically for posting club interests. In the first meeting, make sure you and every club member present discusses a powerful, long-lasting communication strategy.
Chances are, there are members who don't use social media. Therefore, make sure you choose a strategy that works well for everyone. For example, the communication process between members can be done via text messages or telephone instead of online chat
Part 3 of 4: Managing Logistics
Step 1. Understand the specific rules if your club is linked to a particular organization
If the club is founded within a school, place of worship, or other official organization, it is likely that there are specific rules that you must adhere to in order to carry out club activities. Try asking the authorities!
For example, a club established within a school will require a general counsel from the school
Step 2. Determine the club's core board
If your club's focus is on taking action, completing responsibilities or raising awareness, try creating a core board to manage all responsibilities, disseminate information to all club members and make club performance more structured. In general, the mandatory core administrators are:
- Chairman: in charge of leading the course of every club meeting and activity as well as enforcing the rules that have been made.
- Vice chairman: in charge of assisting the chairman's work and taking over the chairman's responsibilities if he is unable to attend club meetings or activities.
- Treasurer: in charge of managing club finances, collecting membership fees for each person, paying for club operations and activities, and recording all club expenses and income.
- Secretary: in charge of recording the course of the meeting and reading the summary at the end of each meeting. In addition, the secretary is also in charge of making minutes of meetings and documenting the archives.
Step 3. Create other positions on the board and define the responsibilities of each position
A club with a large enough scale will require a more complex management. For that, try to compile a list of other required officers and their responsibilities, and hold a vote to determine who is eligible to fill each position. Some of the positions that need to be in place include:
- Historian: tasked with documenting all club activities and storing the documentation in a structured file.
- Chairman of the event committee: his main job is to ensure the smooth running of every club event by delegating tasks to all club members.
- Public relations team: responsible for making brochures, uploading club information on social media, and mobilizing participants to attend every club event.
Step 4. Work with all members to establish official club work procedures and rules
This step will really help you to determine the communication and decision-making procedures that apply within the club. For example, the procedure will regulate how much time a member has to express his opinion and which member has the right to speak first (if there are 2 members who want to speak at the same time).
- Procedures and work rules are also effective in regulating how decisions are made within the club (for example, what voting procedures are needed to make a decision).
- If your club is not official, you will most likely not need to establish work procedures and rules.
Step 5. Determine the budget and membership fees for each person
The amount of the budget really depends on the type and purpose of your club. If the purpose of establishing a club is to raise public awareness of an issue or to organize an activity, of course your club will need a substantial injection of funds. To get it, you can ask each active member to pay a monthly or annual membership fee.
- Your club can host a charity event to raise funds to meet a club's needs or activities.
- You can also find sponsors to help fund the club's needs.
Part 4 of 4: Running the Club
Step 1. Hold regular club meetings
One of the factors that determine the success of a club is its liveliness! Therefore, make sure you have regular club meetings (for example, 5 times a week or once a month); encourage each member to always attend club meetings. If you want, you can also set a clear agenda for each meeting to make it easier to track whether or not all the visions and missions that have been made have been achieved.
Provide equal opportunity for all club members to have an opinion in every meeting. You can also assign small tasks or responsibilities to each member to make them feel more involved and influential in the club
Step 2. Maintain communication with all club members
Build a sense of involvement in each member because that is what it means to be part of a club or community. If a member is unable to attend the meeting, send them a summary of the meeting or upload the meeting results on the online forums or your club's social media pages. If possible, try creating a weekly or monthly newsletter with the latest club information.
Encourage each club member to have discussions outside of club activities (e.g. by phone, email, online forums and social media)
Step 3. Recruit new members
Enlist the help of each club member to promote your club to their friends, relatives, classmates and/or coworkers. Believe me, word of mouth is the most powerful method to increase the number of members! Try distributing flyers to people in your neighborhood or posting announcements on the internet; Don't forget to include the date, time and location of the next club meeting, as well as contact information where you can be reached.
You can also place ads on various social networks to expand the reach of potential club members
Tips
- When doing any activity, make sure all club members are able to respect each other's opinion.
- If you want to prepare a meal for the entire club, ask each person's allergens in advance.
