Dorothy Feltner , VISTA volunteer at Lotts Creek Community School reporting in.
We have had low participation for the last two garden meetings/classes.
I have a few ideas as to why:
-I am new to the area and not everyone has met me.
-People may find the presentations boring.
-It’s summer, so people are busy.
-I am contacting people too early and they forget.
-The way I am contacting people is not the best medium.
I am going to try some new tactics with our upcoming meeting. Instead of calling two weeks ahead of time, I’m calling/messaging/texting a week or a couple of days ahead instead. I’m hosting the meeting near the beginning of the week instead of at the end. I made flyers for the meeting and posted it on facebook. I changed the structure of the meeting from a presentation styled meeting to a hands on workshop. I also reminded people that these meetings are mandatory for the program. I might also just ask the gardeners how to get them to come. I’ve also pondered creating a newsletter to send out, but everything would have to be planned in advance for that to work. Feel free to share insights and come to our workshop next Tuesday the 12th at 6pm in the school garden.
I am not one of your members, but I am a person who sits on the board of a couple non-profits…And I have a bad memory…What we do to help people make it to our board meetings is first set the meeting time, place and date way in advance and notify everyone, but also one board has a person that calls everyone the day before the meeting to remind them, they other sends out e-mail notices the day before…those things really help me get to those meetings…sometimes I forget to check my calendar, but the phone calls the day before help me best….the e-mails help me too, but I am a person that checks my e-mail every day and my social media for messages…not everyone does that. Hope it helps…
Hey Dorothy, I definitely think that you’re on the right track with all of the adjustments you’ve made in your approach. I personally think that staggered reminders work best. I would remind everyone of upcoming events two weeks ahead of time and also reach out in the couple of days prior to each event.
Also, I wonder if there are any other local events with the gardeners that you could attend to become a little more immersed in the community. That way, you could meet some of the participants before your workshops and they would have a face to go with your name. (It’s harder to turn down a face than a name.)
Once you’ve built a little bit of momentum, word-of-mouth should do the rest, and all will be well. 🙂
Anyway, I see that hugelkultur is tonight, so I’ll just say that I hope that all is well!