ways to improve Club Social Time

On Friday, December 9, 2016 at 12:26:02 PM UTC-5, wrote:
My club is doing well and growing but our set up is not great for socializing. I think it would be nice if there were a few more excuses for people to hang out after flying to further build friendships.
We just moved from another airport that had no good club house or club space other than the hangar. We have an office / clubhouse now but it is pretty basic. When we are done putting all the aircraft away people mostly split and go home.
I think if we had a few more features it would help make the club more family friendly and more social.
I was thinking some picnic tables, chairs, bean bag toss game/"cornhole", horse shoe toss etc.
A pool might be nice but not in the budget. What works well at other clubs?

Any kids stuff work well?

Chris

At harris hill we have a club picnic once per month year round. picnic is a loose term, as at least 1/3 of these events take place inside. as it happens, one of them is a banquet. i think having many social events is a great way to get it started and make connections.

at our club sometimes people have informal bring your own meet/drinks picnics during the summer. an email gets put out usually the day of or something, and it's another chance at a social setting. we also dedicated full on instruction on wednesday evenings which usually has two towplanes, 3-4 gliders, and goes until sunset. often times they'll make 25-30 flights. there's always a ton of people around, and the vibe is social since there's usually a line to get instruction.

you do also have to find a way to make it a place families want to come and hang out. but once you get some friends ships started amongst non pilot spouses, and kids alot takes care of itself as long as you have many gatherings.

appoint a social events officer maybe?

On Friday, December 9, 2016 at 1:19:56 PM UTC-5, ND wrote:
On Friday, December 9, 2016 at 12:26:02 PM UTC-5, wrote:
My club is doing well and growing but our set up is not great for socializing. I think it would be nice if there were a few more excuses for people to hang out after flying to further build friendships.
We just moved from another airport that had no good club house or club space other than the hangar. We have an office / clubhouse now but it is pretty basic. When we are done putting all the aircraft away people mostly split and go home.
I think if we had a few more features it would help make the club more family friendly and more social.
I was thinking some picnic tables, chairs, bean bag toss game/"cornhole", horse shoe toss etc.
A pool might be nice but not in the budget. What works well at other clubs?

Any kids stuff work well?

Chris

At harris hill we have a club picnic once per month year round. picnic is a loose term, as at least 1/3 of these events take place inside. as it happens, one of them is a banquet. i think having many social events is a great way to get it started and make connections.

at our club sometimes people have informal bring your own meet/drinks picnics during the summer. an email gets put out usually the day of or something, and it's another chance at a social setting. we also dedicated full on instruction on wednesday evenings which usually has two towplanes, 3-4 gliders, and goes until sunset. often times they'll make 25-30 flights. there's always a ton of people around, and the vibe is social since there's usually a line to get instruction.

you do also have to find a way to make it a place families want to come and hang out. but once you get some friends ships started amongst non pilot spouses, and kids alot takes care of itself as long as you have many gatherings.

appoint a social events officer maybe?

jesus my spelling and grammar sucked. its friday afternoon in the office, deal with it.....