Open vs Closed clubs

I touched on the Open vs. Closed groups topic in "Finding the right members for your IPC,” and I want to expand on my thoughts in this post. In that post, I describe the basic differences between the two modes, and my argument why IPCs should remain closed. This post also supposes that at some time during the life of your IPC, there might be a call to loosen up membership requirements and open it up to the public. Here, I strengthen my argument to the contrary and provide some logic to present members to advocate for an open group.

The truth about open groups

In "Finding the right members for your IPC,” I describe the difference between closed and open groups like this: “Open groups allow anyone to join, and closed groups makes an allowance for an organizer or moderator to ask the potential members questions before allowing them in.” Collecting as many members as possible is alluring for many groups. I admit with my gaming group, at one time there seemed to be a certain cache and clout for sporting large numbers of members. But with big numbers come big headaches; problem members, lurkers, scope creep and bloat.

Problem members

Problem members are the biggest problem that face an open group. This is part of the reason why most groups become closed groups in the first place. In my experience, problem members express themselves in some notable ways: 1) they tend to be awkward socially and express this awkwardness in either aggressive or inappropriate ways, 2) they attempt to force their vision of the group on everyone else, or 3) they’re outwardly antagonistic with club leadership or certain members who did not provoke such treatment. Although you need to treat problem members carefully, you also need to show them the door as quickly as possible. If not, these members will quickly erode your confidence and the you member’s enthusiasm. In future posts, I’ll address how to deal with problem members.

In a closed group, these members are filtered out for the most part. Sure, you’ll get the person who puts up a good front to get in the group, but these people are rare and can be dealt with through the by-laws.

Lurkers

I mentioned lurkers in “Attendance - what should you expect from your IPC members?,” but I’ll expound on this more here. Lurkers are not inherently bad, and in online groups kind of acceptable. Lurkers want information, but they’re not the types to share or participate. As I said in my post, lurkers tend to be takers, but not givers. They do not help the group to grow and evolve, instead they watch, and even then, very occasionally. In an IPC, lurkers are deadwood. If you’ve run an online group, lurkers are the largest sector of membership. In my gaming group, lurkers comprised upward of 60-75% of the membership. For an IPC, this would spell disaster.

Lurkers are still an issue in closed groups, but not the extent of an open group. But they do make more of an impact in a closed group where members are filtered on their willingness to participate in the club’s activities. This where you need to add in by-laws that establish minimum attendance to mitigate members who want to lurk.

Scope Creep

As I mentioned in the problem members section, one of the issues mentioned was forcing an alternate vision of the group on members. This is the extreme version. The other version is a softer, gentler turn when folks come in that aren’t quite sold on the club’s mission, but who aren’t problem members. They want to expand into things not within the club’s scope, but that some club members have an interest in. My gaming group didn’t have an issue with this, but I’ve heard the problem from other club organizers.

For example, there might be a case where some of the Atlantic Philatelist Club members are interested in knitting. They want to schedule events that include that activity because they know some members who share the same interest. Allowing this will cause scope creep, because other members will want to want to add their own outside interests. This has a couple of simple solutions; a gentle but firm No, and offer alternative out-of-club solutions.

Bloat

Membership bloat is related to lurking. Some people walk away from the club without quitting, which causes deadwood. No controls on member intake will allow bloat to happen. Again, this an issue in open groups that cause the group to appear larger and more active than it is. This can be considered deceptive by potential members who are expecting a vibrant club.  This is something that a closed group can remedy from the beginning by careful editing of inactive or non-compliant membership.

Conclusion

While an open club allows the public to come and join, and closed group also helps to assure a level of quality that is usually lacking in an open group. I recommend not falling into the trap of opening your group for anyone to join. You owe it to members to put a check on member quality.

Attendance - what should you expect from your IPC members?

When people join a club, it’s reasonable to assume that they want to participate in activities that the club presents, become better informed about the club’s topic, and to meet people with the same interests. But, in the online world, it’s easy to join a group and walk away from it or watch it from a distance, becoming a ‘lurker.’ In the context of group membership though, lurkers are takers, not givers. They’re not interested in contributing to the group and helping it evolve. They very occasionally watch it from the virtual sidelines. If you’re new to an online group, lurking is usually acceptable at first, because it’s assumed that you’re catching up with the group’s conversations. However, it also comes with the promise that as a good member, they’ll start posting intelligent and insightful questions or comments in ongoing threads to encourage more conversation and idea-sharing.

But in a face-to-face club such as an IPC, the lurker’s role is more than just passively observing from the sidelines. They’re a factor that can be fatal to its success. Lurkers contribute to membership bloat. Bloat represents inflated membership numbers.  Bloat deceives new participants into thinking that the group more active than it really is. It fools the group managers into thinking if they do something novel, they can get those members to participate. The truth is:  they’re deadwood, and they’re not going to show up, no matter what you do.

What do you reasonably expect from members to participate in the club? How do you encourage participation?

Reasonable expectations

Assuming you are defining the minimum membership guidelines for your IPC (refer to “Finding the right members for your IPC”), start with reflecting on the purpose of your IPC (refer to “Why create an informal private club”). Invariably, part of the reason for your IPC is to encourage people with the same interest to associate. It’s reasonable to expect members to get out and associate. If a member isn’t participating, they’re not contributing to the club.

Granted, you don’t know folk’s schedules, so thinking that members are going to go to every club function is unreasonable. As an IPC leader, you offer opportunities. Every member should have the opportunity to join an activity. So, what is a reasonable attendance rate? I personally have considered using a 25% marker. If I’m offering 32 events during the year, I think it’s reasonable to ask members to attend at least eight of those events. This way, if some programming is not interesting, members can fall back on other suitable activities within the club, and not be in danger of running afoul of the club’s guidelines.

Set up the expectation that members don’t have to attend all events, but that they can pick and choose what they want to attend. Use empathy and be alert. There might be good reason that a member cannot hit the minimum number of events (new parenthood for instance). On the other hand, the problem may not be the members, but with what you’re offering. Both of these scenarios need you to use judgment on how to proceed.

Encouraging participation

You should consider a variety of events that are suitable for your IPC. When you’re first starting out, pick out at least three different event types. I suggest starting out with a casual meet (refer to “Adding aCasual Meet to your IPC”), and branching out from there, guiding on the needs of your IPC. If you’re finding that people are not enthused about what you’re offering, be open to member suggestions, and be very willing to act on them if they are reasonable. Also, surveys are great to see where your member’s interests are now. Be cautious that you use surveys sparingly, maybe no more than once every other month, and no more than ten questions. Also, if you act on someone’s idea, it gives them a sense of ownership in the club.

Being an enthusiastic leader and event host also helps. People thrive off excitement and a positive atmosphere, so set yourself up for success. Talk to people, make introductions, and be part of the event. Don’t nervously buzz around like a busy body, or overly structure your event. Allow for some organic flow and progression around your event. This helps to make your events memorable, and sets up the desire for repeat attendance.

Conclusion

Be reasonable with your members. You’ll need to create some structure and set expectations, but keep the bar low enough to where participation is fun and not an overbearing hassle. Use good judgement if members run into participation obstacles, or if your events are not as appealing as they should be.

Adding online activities to your IPC

The question of taking your IPC online with a chat, messaging, or web meeting application might come up at some point. While online activities might save time and effort, they’re not always the best solution for every activity. Bear in mind, most established clubs are based on social interaction. You go to personally meet people who you want to associate with. The club pre-screens people to make it easier for you to associate. Our fictional Atlantic Philatelist Club will make sure that all members have a certain amount of knowledge about stamps and postal history, while my HP Lovecraft literary and gaming club will insure that members are knowledgeable about Lovecraft’s works. This leads to the question, when is it appropriate for activities to be hosted online, like a chat, messaging, or web meeting application?

I’ve always looked at online activities as a filler of sorts, especially when your IPC is growing and developing more programming. Workshops and educational presentations come to mind, maybe as a follow-up to a live presentation. You can be very creative with what you put online, but I would caution that this shouldn’t eclipse your in-person activities. In-person activities are your IPC’s main purpose, which is to allow people to connect personally. This is very apparent with professional and social IPCs, where personal contact is the primary purpose. Other types of IPCs would benefit on various levels by keeping the membership engaged between in-person events. Also, committee meetings can be made easier by scheduling them online, or at least using them to fill-in in case members cannot meet in-person.

Whatever you decide, consider carefully how you’re going to integrate online activities in your IPC, or why you’re not considering them at all. Above all, using online connections should be looked on as a tool that benefits your IPC, but not as a crutch. Whether you deploy that tool is strictly up to you. My next post will cover what application to use, if you go this route.

Book review: The Project 50 (Reinventing Work)

I’ve almost made it a hobby to read career improvement and self-help books, and I’ve found some of Tom Peter’s ‘50’ books to be some of  the most useful. Although they look like they’re written and laid out by someone who was dropping massive quantities of speed, the ‘50’ series of books are packed with some good information. Although written 1999, most of the information presented in the books is still good. For creating and managing IPCs, The Project 50 (Reinventing Work) is the most pertinent of the series.

The Project 50 is a book of 50 action items to take when developing, selling, implementing and finally exiting your project. Or as Peter’s puts it, your ‘WOW!’ projects. Although I get the impression this book is directed at IT professionals, most of the information can be ported to conceptualizing and creating an IPC. Your ‘WOW’ project is the IPC that you’re creating.  The information that he writes about, particularly with creating, selling and exiting the project relates to IPCs for the most part. The implementation section probably isn’t as useful for IPC purposes, but is worth a read through anyway.

Conclusion
If you can get over the layout and high-energy writing, Project 50 is an inexpensive ideas book for getting your IPC moving forward. I recommend reading it through for IPC and career ideas. As of this post, Amazon has it in stock for around $5-6 US dollars.

My IPC Journal - The HP Lovecraft IPC Concept and Approaches

In “My IPC Journal - Statement of Intent for a new IPC” post last week, I decided to go all in and create an IPC. This one has been on my mind for the past couple years, but I’ve never acted on it until now. In that post, I outline some issues to think through as a first step. Also, on the heels of that post, I wrote “Writing a statement of intent for your IPC.” This post was about writing a formal statement of intent. To start off my IPC journey, I’ll use the list in “Writing a statement of intent for your IPC” and begin fleshing out my IPC. I’ll also discuss the rationale used to come that solution.

Overall reason for starting the IPC

Here I want to make sure what I’m thinking about has relevance, and it’s not some lark. My first step is to articulate the description and reason for my IPC.  Since this is a local HP Lovercraft, or more aptly ‘Lovercraftian,’ fan club, my proposed description and reason goes like this:

The proposed HP Lovecraft literary and gaming club will engage in social activities that promote and explore Lovecraftian themes in literature, movies, radio, and gaming. The club will provide a comfortable place for aficionados to discuss and exchange ideas, as well as engage in a wide array of activities. The club will also help promote a higher understanding or Lovecraft’s work, as well as the derivative works based on his writings.

At this point, if you’re starting any IPC, you may want to do some ‘market research.’ This research could range from the very informal, i.e. drop the idea to some friends and check interest, to very formal, i.e. identify interested people and conduct a survey and interviews.  My research has been very informal.

Also, by no means are you trapped by this description you’ve written. Although I’m dubbing in ‘HP Lovecraft literary and gaming club,’ as a starting name, this descriptive title will eventually change to fit the final goals of the club, and probably be a lot more creative.

IPC goals

When I wrote my proposed description and reason, I also included the club’s goals. You can do this, or keep the two separated. Either way is acceptable. If you’re looking at forming a more in-depth club, like a professional or charity -related club, you may want to keep your club’s reason/description and goals distinct. When you create goals, I recommend using bullet points. So, if I created separate goals for my Lovecraft IPC, they could look like this:

• Creates opportunities for social activities that promote and explore Lovecraftian themes in literature, movies, radio, and gaming
• Provides a comfortable place for aficionados to discuss and exchange ideas
• Engages in a wide array of activities

Again, you’re not trapped by this list and you can add to them at any time.

Anticipated Activities

This can be another bulleted list. Never shy away from these type of lists, and use them wherever appropriate. Think of the main activities you’ll be hosting (or recommend hosting). Think of this as a starter list. As your IPC grows, you want to make sure there’s room for other member’s ideas. For the HPL literary and gaming club here’s my starting list of activities:

• Discussion group about a Lovecraftian theme.
• Movie or Radio night
• Monthly casual meets for new members
• Arkham Horror board gaming night (or day)
• Call of Cthulhu (or other RPG) tabletop roleplaying night
• Short story reading and social night

Activity and organizational road map

This one will put your planning skills to the test, but I recommend making it as simple as possible at first. Using the activities mentioned in Anticipated Activities, organize a month for your group. I don’t recommend doing a full year of the present calendar year just yet. You’re only establishing the activities at a high level. This is how I define my starting activities for a typical month and special events:

Every month

• Week 1: Casual Meet
• Week 2: Discussion group/Story Reading/Movie night
• Week 4: Game night

Quarterly

• Week 3: Social night

I’m not putting in too much detail right now, and this will change as members join and events are shifted for maximum effect. Also, not too much to allow for member input and growth. Additionally, this is what I can personally handle right now.

The organizational aspect should also be simple, since you don’t know who or how many are joining. You’ll want to anticipate an organizational meeting six to nine months from the start of your IPC. For the first year you can schedule a general meeting open to all members. Here, you’ll outline your vision of any steering boards or any other member organizations.

• Six months from official start - Week 3 – Organizational meeting

Ideal members

This one is tricky. You want to attract people who are deeply interested in what you’re offering, but at the same time you’re not going overboard in describing the perfect member. Nobody is going to be perfect. Instead, you want to define the minimum attributes that would make a member to your IPC. With the HPL literary and gaming club I want to attract members with these minimum attributes:

• Has read at least three of Lovecraft’s defining works, including:

1. The Call of Cthulhu
2. The Dunwich Horror
3. At the Mountains of Madness
4. The Colour Out of Space
5. The Dreams in the Witch House

• Has read works related to HP Lovecraft’s writings.
• Can commit to attending four club events or activities during the year.

My goal here is to make sure members know the literary works and are willing to commit attending club functions, but not so detailed as to eliminate perfectly fine potential members. The member description can be refined as needed.

Conclusion

I’m assuming everyone will have a different approach to their own clubs, and everything described in this post can be adjusted as needed. You’ll probably want to revisit this information when the club is just accepting members to see if certain aspects aren’t clear to you or potential members.

Writing a statement of intent for your IPC

This post comes on the heels of yesterday's post "My IPC Journal - Statement of Intent for a new IPC." This had me thinking about writing actual statements of intent. Why would I want to write one? And if I figured that out, what would go into it?

Why write a statement of intent
One of the best ways to quiz your way through some problems is to write it down. An IPC statement of intent is just that - your attempt to logically look at your idea. If you can articulate it, you can act on it. Also, if what you've written makes sense, you can move on to other steps, like defining your membership and IPC strategy. I suggest writing it down, and leaving it for a couple days. Then pick it up and re-read it. If still makes sense, go on to the next steps. But, if there are gaps in your logic, deconstruct it and rewrite it. Then wait a couple of days, and revisit. If you cannot articulate the idea, then you need to think about viable it is in the first place.

What goes into a statement of intent
A statement of intent is your initial vision and starting ideas for your IPC. It's a working plan or vision that you're starting out with. This will be part of the foundation that you'll use to develop your IPC's strategy. (Refer to "Creating a strategy for your IPC") Here's a list of topic's you'll probably want to cover:

• Overall reason for starting the IPC
• IPC goals
• Anticipated activities
• Activity and organizational road map for the first year
• Description of your ideal member (Refer to "Finding the right members for your IPC")

All this will be subject to change, but the goal is to get this information down where you (and eventually others) can see and edit it.

A quick IPCJ Service Announcement

In addition to the Informal Private Club Journal blog, we're also on these sites:

• Twitter: @informalprivat1

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My IPC Journal - Statement of Intent for a new IPC

I've decided to do it. Since I've been writing about IPCs for nearly three months, it's high time for me to put words into action. I intend on designing and journaling a new IPC concept that I've had knocking in my brain for a while. My wife and I already have a social IPC that is growing (refer to "Our first Salon" for additional details), but we want to keep most of the details to ourselves since privacy is part of what we offer to the membership. The IPC I have in mind will be more open, and hopefully instructive to you. I'll discuss my approach, as well as any successes or failures I encounter.

As I mentioned in "The Beginning," my experience with group formation includes creating and organizing a local role play gaming group that now has around 1400 members. Also, I'm a huge fan of the writings of HP Lovecraft and related writers. My core concept is to create a local IPC of 'Lovecraftian' gamers and literary fans. There's a lot of possibility with this group, plus a sizable fan base to choose from.

Starting from the beginning, I need to figure out the following issues before my move to the next step of creating my new IPC:

• The basic reasons for creating my IPC in the first place (Refer to "Why create an informal private club?")
• Type of members I want to attract ("Finding the right members for your IPC")
• How I'm going to recruit those members ("Basic ideas for recruiting members to your IPC")
• The IPC's focus ("What should be the focus of my informal private club (or IPC)?")

Next week, I'll explain my rationale relating to each of these initial steps, and report on my progress. Also, I'll provide any amendments and additions to previous posts.

Adding a Discussion Group to your IPC

This post will be a short one.  We've talked about Salons as a type of event. Salons usually follow an initial topic, but tend to be unstructured to allow conversation to flow freely. You're supposed to go off on tangents, or totally off topic. The talk is open-ended and organic.

A Discussion is almost the opposite. It is a focused and structured talk on a topic. You can use an agenda to guide the conversation, and the goal is greater understanding or create synergy (to coin an old Stephen Covey word form the early '90s). A Discussion group would fit most types of IPCs, except for maybe a social IPC. I've had great success hosting Discussion groups, and the flow of ideas and useful perspectives has always been fantastic. I would recommend that you do at least one quarterly. People love to talk, and you usually leave a discussion with something useful to think about or to act on.

If you plan to do a Discussion, be prepared. Announce the subject matter in advance and come with an agenda to keep the discussion focused. Also carefully moderate the discussion. Make sure everyone involved has had an opportunity to speak, so it would behoove you to play communication traffic cop. Make sure that the stronger personalities do not overwhelm the softer spoken folks (who often have the best insights, btw). Also, have fun!

Basics of IPC Leadership

© Can Stock Photo / DGLimages

Creating an IPC is one thing, leading it is something entirely different. Taking up the mantle of leader isn't a job for just anyone, but it isn't a talent, either. It's a combination of skills and action that makes a leader. You need to cultivate these skills in order to bring your IPC to a place where it can leave and breathe on its own. What skills do you need in order to be an effective IPC manager?

Interpersonal Skills and Vision
Relating and communicating with your members are the skills to have if you manage an IPC. You've got to be a clear communicator and a great listener. But, the greatest skill to have is to be able to ask questions, of yourself and of your membership. A club is about doing things together, and great clubs are responsive to the needs of its members. Many times you'll need to suss out the information you need. Questions are a good way of getting people to speak about their experiences with the club and what their ideas are in regards to activities and planning. Good leadership isn't about forcing people to see your vision; good leadership is about incorporating other's ideas coherently and meaningfully into your vision. These are the course corrections you'll make while moving toward your own vision.

Flexibility
As I mentioned above, good leadership is about incorporating other's ideas coherently into your vision. You need to be flexible in the way you see your vision coming together. To me, long range plans rarely work out exactly the way you planned them. Instead, you need know where you're going, but be flexible about how you get there. Things may not pan out in your overall plan, so you need to plan for changes. If you absolutely hold on to a plan of your devising, chances are very high you will eventually fail. On the other hand, you have to be open to change or risk feeling that your IPC is tainted because it didn't follow your plans exactly.

Organizing
While the club is growing, you need to guide members into areas that will enable growth. Finding volunteers to host events, or club members to serve on committees is a large part of what you'll be doing. Good leadership skills makes this task easier. You'll be serving as head to a lot of meetings until the club has a functioning governance structure. You'll be doing most of the pulling, but it'll be worth it as you see the club grow. So you need to have in mind what the club should look like as a independently governing structure. Refer to "Organizing your IPC Membership" for more information about club organization,

Letting go
Eventually, you'll need to step down so others can shine. The ship you call your IPC is sailing in the direction you set. Good leadership also involves knowing when to let go. This is not to say you can't serve on committees or host events, but it is saying that you're not a control freak dictator, either. This can be a difficult things to do, but as a leader, it's also your job to cultivate other leaders so you can let go. People have the desire to refine and make better, and allowing new leadership in the mix will help the club grow in ways you didn't ever
expect.

Book review: The Club Woman's Handybook of Programs and Club Management

The Club Woman's Handybook of Programs and Club Management by Kate Louise Roberts is an broad compendium of useful information, but not exactly as the title suggests.

The Handybook was written in 1914 as a guide for women who wanted to create and manage local women's clubs. These clubs seemed to be very salon-like in how they operated, and the programs they offered. The book itself gives little practical how-to advice on how to run a club,  rather it's more a suggestion book and glossary of terms. The books is roughly divvied up into two parts, programs and parliamentary procedure. The programming portion throws out ideas for the club to discuss. These topics range from domestic affairs to history to current affairs to feminism.  The goal of the club was to elevate women's awareness. If the programming section is any indication, they were positively ambitious. I speculate an ulterior motive for the clubs and the book were created to prepare women for the suffrage movements that had been gaining traction at the time.

In our more modern times, and in the context of the IPC, the Handybook has become another kind of resource. While most of the club information the book is dated or very basic, the programs portion of the book gives you loads of  ideas for salons, and points to even different types of IPCs that you can choose to develop. The subject matter is still relevant in many instances, although I will give a word of warning that it tens to touch lightly on certain now controversial topics like eugenics. Otherwise, the Club Woman's Handybook is a worthy resource for IPC managers.

Setting up the programming for your IPC

Once you have your IPC up and running with a handful of events planned and completed, you’ll want to put more meaning or organization behind what the IPC is offering its members. If you’re wanting to be creative, coming up with the club’s event offerings is one of the most creative opportunities you can enjoy. This is also an opportunity to steer the IPC in a meaningful direction. As with any club activity or action, creating the club’s programming should be performed by the club’s steering committee. If the club is large enough to support it, a separate Activity or Programs committee could also be created to handle creating and managing club programming.

If you’re the only one creating the programming, you’ll need to have a calendar on hand. At this point I’ll tell you not to over-commit yourself. If you don’t have assistance, you need to figure out how much you can do and still have a quality product. If you want to expand your offerings, you’ll need to ask for help. As a note, never ‘volun-tell’ people what to do. This is a sure way of turning off your members, and killing your credibility. Instead, tell people about what you’d like to plan and talk it up. Always be open to feedback. Also, empathize that they have a stake in this and you’d like their ideas. With any luck, you may find your IPC’s future steering committee!

Your programming should fit in with your club’s strategy (refer to the “Creating a strategy for your IPC’ post). The events need to be designed to accomplish the club’s overall strategic goals. Creative use of events can be designed to help with this. Also, realize that some events we’ve covered so far in this blog may not be appropriate for your IPC. While a supper club would be great for social or professional IPCs, it’s probably not appropriate for a hobby or certain accountability IPCs. If you’re at a loss, casual meets are always good starting events. Even then, you’ll need to begin formulating events that propel your IPC in the desired direction.

As an example, let’s say you’ve just formed the Midtown Coders Bloc IPC. Your club’s strategy is to network local professional programmers, and to keep folks up-to-date with trends in the industry. You can establish a monthly casual meet to allow your members to just mingle and talk, and speaks to your networking strategy. Also, a member knows someone that is a jobs recruiter, and they’re willing to give a bi-monthly talk about local programming opportunities in exchange for a chance to meet and speak with IPC members. Another member loves hands-on programming, and is more than willing to host a quarterly discussion (we’ll talk about this add-on later) on certain programming topics. Both the recruiter and programming lover speak to the trends portion of your IPC strategy. This serves as your basic IPC programming. From there, the sky is the limit, if you have enough energy and volunteers to go around.