[TheForge] Attracting new members

[Bruce]

Thanks for the "babble."  The sympathy is appreciated, though I don't feel
any closer to a solution.  I've considered "throwing money at it" but don't
see how that would help either.

I chucked over "...I got stopped the other day here in Albania wearing my
2010 ABANA shirt."  I can't help imagining he'd through you'd just
misspelled "AlBANiA"!

Maybe this should be a topic for the upcoming ABANA meeting -- but I'm not
sure I'll even go to that.

Bruce
from the great "socialist" state of New Jersey


On Wed, Apr 17, 2024 at 5:27 AM Vincent Nakovics <restoreman123 at msn.com>
wrote:

> I feel for you Bruce. It’s hard work, and thankless for the most part, to
> keep a group going. FB presence and probably Instagram are essential these
> days. I remember when I switched to an e-newsletter, many weren’t happy,
> but they didn’t want to pay for it either, so… We only handed out print
> copies at meetings and only until they ran out. So gathering by what you
> said you should only need two or three.
> The time consuming job of the newsletter editor. My experience, basically
> you have to be willing to write it yourself. It’s wonderful when members
> give you something, but I basically wrote it, or badgered someone for an
> article. We had plenty of people with talent and no one wanted to do demo’s
> – they were embarrassed, shy, had inferior complexes and the list goes on.
> But… this is part of it. Yes the newsletter editor gets involved because
> hopefully the guy will write an article before giving his demo. In the 7 or
> 8 years I think I managed this about four times. The rest I did – I did
> interviews, showcased people’s work, talked and talked and talked about
> BSing and the future of it with old and young.  It was much more than I
> wanted, but I kept at it.
>
> Now in your case someone will have to pick up the banner and run with it
> until your editor gets his affairs in order.  How many core people do you
> have? Divide all the work between them. Everyone has a forte, some even
> know it. Ask someone to start up an Instagram page, another FB – promote,
> promote, promote. Wear the group T-shirt, hat, and logo around – people
> will ask you about it. Shoot I got stopped the other day here in Albania
> wearing my 2010 ABANA shirt. First time in 9 years, but hey it sparked an
> interest. The kid (30 year old) is coming over tonight. My forge here in
> Albania isn’t what I had in VA, nor has it been well maintained in the past
> three years because of an injury to my arm, but I will give him a chance to
> see if he is interested. Who knows, maybe it will be the start of
> something.  You get my point.
>
> There is a segment of our society who believe that you can be a better BS
> by learning off of YouTube alone than attending our groups. This has been
> coming down the pike for years. I was told this by a woman running the
> Blacksmith museum in Slovenia of all places. They don’t believe they need
> anyone’s help. Of course they spend a good amount of time reinventing the
> wheel, even with YouTube. This is another place that you need to have a
> page. A separate volunteer would be nice because it is a lot of work
> maintaining a page there. But people will find you through it. Pinterest is
> another, but lesser used venue.
>
> Then once you have them in front of you I have to tell you. You can only
> talk about horseshoes, nails, tools etc so much and you will lose them. Yes
> they need the basics, but you need to have projects, both singular and
> group projects for people to work on. More complex projects that require.
> Now because of the nature of our projects members of these projects need to
> be motivated to get their own set ups and work with the people of their
> group between meetings. If your group has a forge to meet at.
>
> I have to admit I am a bit surprised your group has this problem because I
> always found tons of useful information in your newsletters.
>
> If I can help out in someway don’t hesitate to ask. I will tell you I am
> busy from now until the third week in May, but email if and if I can do
> help you out I certainly will.  I am still living in that great socialist
> state of Albania so I won’t be stopping by anytime soon. 😊
>
> Good luck! Hope my babble helped.
>
> Vince Nakovics
>   Author, Blacksmith, Sailor
>
> Website<https://vincenakovics.com/>
>
>
>
>
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