Ok I resisted putting my two cents in, mainly because as of yet I have not been able to make a meeting, and why is that you ask. We don't know far enough in advance when and where they will be.
Scott Bob can tell you how often I ask him WHEN AND WHERE?
If you schedule the next one far enough in advance Brenda and I will do our best to be there no mater were it is. But we need to know, Brenda is already scheduling her Saturdays off through February 2016. She pretty much get's one a month so if we know when the meeting is we can plan for it.
What does doing things consistently accomplish. 57 people being at our Christmas Dinner this Thursday Night.
John, in all fairness, most of our meetings are scheduled 3 months in advance. With the exception of the last 2, we have had a place and a date with a minimum of a month in advance. We did have a date set for the meeting in September, but nobody stepped up to host. So it was cancelled. That was the 1st time since we started that a meeting was cancelled.
Yes there have been times where we didn't know 3 months in advance. But that was few and far between, and we took steps to change that. If you remember, the meeting in March was scheduled for Scott's house more than 2 months in advance, and I think there were 8 or 9 people (about our average crowd). I know you couldn't make that meeting, but not because we didn't plan it in advance.
The meeting in May was also scheduled 3 months in advance. I was set to host, but as you know, I had some family issues come up, but we had a new member step up to host even though he'd never been to a meeting. From what I understand that meeting was a good one.
Comparing our IAP local group to DSWT is really comparing apples to oranges. And while I've only been to a few DSWT meetings, I do like a lot of how things are done. But there is the advantage of having a meeting location that doesn't change. It is also a larger group with most of the members being located in Central Arkansas. At least that's the impression I have from my few meetings.
But the format for the meetings are entirely different. The IAP meetings are usually a half day or more depending on who wants or can stay longer. Generally the demos are open demos and allow people to be interactive. It's not always the case, but many times it is. And it's less structured with allows for people to discuss things away from the demo if they choose to do so. There is also always a shared meal. Sometimes the host prepares the main meal, but sometimes all that's furnished is a place to cook. To be a member, all you need to do is belong to IAP, and live in Arkansas.
The DSWT group has a formal meeting with an agenda. I think the meetings are about 2 hours or so. I really didn't pay close enough attention to the time though. And that's good in that it held my interest, and I wasn't looking at my watch. There are annual dues, and sometimes a raffle (maybe every time). There is a community lathe available for demos (a PM3520).
So the goals of the groups are entirely different, and any real comparison as far as meeting schedules are concerned is like comparing the beaches in Florida to those in New Mexico.
I've read a lot about what this group needs, and criticism of what people have or haven't done. What I haven't see is very much of "I'll do this." or "I'll help with that." Anyone can host. Anyone can volunteer to do a demo. Anyone can invite new people. Anyone can text, e-mail, post to our facebook page, or call others to let them know what's going on. The question is: Will they?
I told her that we only have them every 3 months, and they don't get much smaller. :biggrin: