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Help our club has turned into a social club not a dive club. I have been a member of this club for the last 3 years or so and it has seemed that the diving schedule is getting smaller and smaller. We are lucky to have more then 6 - 10 people show up for our meetings and dive events. I would like to help instill the bug in our members once again. I have tried this by setting up a new website that is easier to navigate but we still only have 1 register and that person hasn't even come back. It isn't that there are no divers there are, I know this by the amount of divers that where in the water last weekend for their checkout dives. How do you keep your club going? I really need some help here.
I think that at this current rate we will be switched from a dive club to a social club.
This has been a problem for one of the clubs that I belong to, also. Established nearly 50 years ago, the club has something like 100 members but many of them no longer dive or only dive on vacations - making local events increasingly difficult to fill. For us, the question seems to come down to bringing in new blood to replace the old, but it hasn't been easy.
I'm sorry to say that I don't have any tried and true suggestions for you, but I'm definitely interested in any ideas that folks may have...
Well thanks for the input. We are the same, this club was founded in 1985 and most of the members, like yours, don't dive or if they do only in warn water. Bringing in the new blood is easy for us in a way. We give 6 months free memberships to the students of our club pres who is also a instructor. Most of our members would rather kayak or go camping in thier 5th wheeliers and popups.
Another thing that ticks me off is that I spend hours building a site and not one member signs up. It is so frustrating. Yet on this board you have the TX and FL clubs that seem to do well. "Want to go diving", "Sure, see you at the site". We have 1 lake that is only 5mins away or if you want a good dive site maybe 30mins drive. Then we have Lake George that is only 1hour or so away. Nice diving, yeah a little cold, but thats what wetsuits and drysuits are for. It is just disappointing and frustrating at the same time.
Lets just hope we can get some ideas out of this board.
A little perspective....
I went to a dive club here that was very popular. Lots of folks there socializing, speaker, website blah, blah, blah. But what disappointed me was it really was more of a social club than dive club.
You would think living in S. Florida, I wouldn't have a problem finding buddies, but, there was a time because of other restrictions that hanging out at a dive shop, or the beach wasn't feasible.
Finally I stumbled accross SB, and WhaLA! I have buddies.... I am learning that those who are members of SB actually want to dive. So, here is my club. I am happy. Wanna go diving tomorrow night? We have 3 so far....
Would love too, problem is it takes 27hours to drive and don't have money for the plane ticket, but you are right. I just wish I could some SB members that are in my area. Well I will keep sticking my nose in posts and see if I can find someone or a few.
Keep looking, they are there...
I know one buddy that lives up north that will drive 3-12 hours to dive. Ok, so he's a little more nutso than I am....
(maybe ya'll can meet in the middle...)
NINman check out www.wreckvalley.com there are NY divers there as part of the group that may be close enough to you to dive with regularly. I understand your frustration I joined a club here in Pa that never dove when I was a member, but they talked about it a lot. I don't have that problem now, I found people to dive with from the board here, all the folks I meet from here are great people and fun to dive with. I hope you have the same experiance.
Last edited by sylvester; June 15th, 2004 at 10:43 PM.
Reason: typo
Maybe you can fill some of your trips with people who want to dive. A combined dive event might help breathe some dive spirit into your group. Maybe it will act as motivation for those who don't dive much anymore in the "social" club, when they remember why they signed up in the first place. The enthusiasm from a more active group might be contagious.
Just a thought that might help you come up with other ideas.
Thanks guys I have doing some looking and I asked to join the Wreck Valley Group here on SB. I also signed up on the other forum. The one dive site there in Queens looks nice. Might have to make a trip down there sometime. Thanks for the support, still wish my club would dive more. =(
I ran into the same thing in a club I belong to. Although it is not a dive club, what we did to breathe some life back into the club could be done for a dive club. I would sugest that you plan a couple of dive related club outings in the next few months and maybe a special event for a club meeting. Next, make up some simple flyers promoting the club and the upcoming events to new members and put them on the counter at your LDS. We did something similar (although the shop sold gear specific to the other hobby) and were able to pick up a few good new members that were enough to motivate some of the old-timers to get more involved.
Good Luck!
Steve
Originally Posted by NINman
Help our club has turned into a social club not a dive club. I have been a member of this club for the last 3 years or so and it has seemed that the diving schedule is getting smaller and smaller. We are lucky to have more then 6 - 10 people show up for our meetings and dive events. I would like to help instill the bug in our members once again. I have tried this by setting up a new website that is easier to navigate but we still only have 1 register and that person hasn't even come back. It isn't that there are no divers there are, I know this by the amount of divers that where in the water last weekend for their checkout dives. How do you keep your club going? I really need some help here.
I think that at this current rate we will be switched from a dive club to a social club.
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Originally Posted by NINman
