(JohnD) wrote in message . com...

In my area clubs are having a hard time due to decreasing membership.

I can offer a half dozen things that I've never seen tried
consistantly, and they don't depend on waiting for any national
organization to move, or depend on a commercial concern that is more
interested in their own survival.

Get permission first, go to as many parks as you can that you know
people visit, set up a SIMPLE glider, not something that has a panel
like a 747. If there's another activity happening at the time, so
much the better, but set up someplace where you won't interfere with
that activity. You don't want to try to intercept everyone, only be
where you can be seen and heard by people that had enough interest to
come and look.

You don't want to send the club, (or commercial operation's) hotshot,
or the guy that won't fly anything below (insert L/D here), send an
average pilot, armed with enough paperwork to be able to answer most
of the questions. Send two of them, easier to put the plane together,
and you might have an audience while you're doing it. (2-33 or Lark,
bad choice, small committee needed.)

Sure, someone's going to have to give up part of a day, or a day, but
the next week it will be someone else's turn to do the same thing. If
the first time gives no results, keep trying, once is usually not
enough. I've been doing it for thirteen years in amateur astronomy,
but we've been having a slow growth of people that come back every
week now. We've also had a slow growth of people that come back with
telescopes of their own, ("Can you help me with this?")

By being consistant, and by being there, we bring in converts, but
then we also realize that at night, there isn't a lot of competition
for the audience. We also work with the park admin, and have posters
all over the place saying when and where we are and at what time.
(Usually sunset.) You also have to tie in with an activity they
understand, such as "Hmmm, birdwatchers, constellations that are named
after birds," (Corvus, Aquila, Cygnus) and do anything you can to grab
their interest, if only for a few minutes. We've even been known to
capitalize on the mysticism practiced by Tycho or the dedication of
Keppler, depending on if we're talking to serious students or UFO
freaks. You have to be flexible, have some knowledge of what they're
interested in, although just enough to know a little on the subject,
and above all, be willing to answer question after question, even
though it may seem like you just answered the same thing fifteen
seconds ago. Boy Scouts, Girl Scouts, YMCA, School groups, we welcome
them all, fully knowing that gaining even one is unlikely, but we
don't know when that one will show up. LIke soaring, we can't afford
to miss that one.

In the thirteen years, we've seen our number grow from just the two of
us to the seven or eight that we can count on seeing on a halfway
consistant basis. That's what two can do, think of what could be done
with a dozen clubs doing the same thing, and I'm not a member of any
club. As we get people from all over, we don't know how many looked
up the local astronomy club when they got home, but it's nice to think
that maybe we did make a difference.

If anyone can tell me why it wouldn't work with soaring, I'd be
interested in hearing it.