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Project - Grow Your Ham
Club
The Revival of
"Ham Bone College!" Do You Think Your
Good Enough to Help Grow New Members to Ham Radio?
by
Bob Ledford, WA4IDI If our radio club is going to survive it has to have one thing for certain
and that is
new members. Without new members it is just a group of
older people with a common interest, ham radio. So our goal this
year is to get some new members. How do we plan on doing that? We
are going to grow our own members.
The 2009 Ham Bone College (HBC) teaching season was in a few
descriptive words a total dismal flop. The General course
did its best to graduate a few students but they never passed their final
examinations and upgraded to General Class. Half of the class never
finished the curriculum phase.
What was the reason behind this happening?
No one knows the total reason other then it has to be the failure of the
instructor to instill that burning need to learn more and pass the final test
the class license examination.
Late in 2009 the hierarchy of HBC was totally
revamped from the top manager down to the instructors. The new "Chair,
Boss, Head Instructor or Leader" is William "Bill" Schwartz, WS1C. If you think
you are qualified and want a teaching slot
email Bill.
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Do You Have What it Takes to be a Gardener
or Elmer?
by Bob Ledford, WA4IDI
The latest rulings by the FCC have increased the number of new hams that we see
coming into the hobby But the question is will they stay? In the days to come
each and everyone of them is going to face a problem that looks insurmountable
to their minds eyes. EVERY member is a potential Elmer to help grow this
person in question. EVERY DBARA
member can help welcome these newcomers to our hobby. Be assured that your experience and
expertise will be valuable to someone.
How can you help? I'm glad you asked! Here are specific steps you can take at every meeting. These can be done BY EVERY MEMBER, not just board members:
1. Help greet people as they come into the meeting hall.
Everyone who comes to one of our meetings is asked to sign in. If someone who signs in is a guest or visitor, we want to be sure they are warmly welcomed and given a "stick-on" name badge that clearly shows their name, call and visitor status. We need to clearly mark or identify our visitors so they can be welcomed warmly by everyone else.
2. If you see someone wearing one of these "stick-on" name badges, walk up to them,
extend your hand and greet them.
You can say something like, "Welcome to DBARA! We're glad you're here!" We speak to strangers on the air all the time. I suspect that the "anonymous" nature of our on-the-air encounters helps to overcome our natural shyness. Being warmly outgoing and openly friendly is absolutely the most effective method of encouraging newcomers and visitors to visit us again. This has been clearly proven time and again by those who actually do these things.
We've all heard many times that giving a smile costs you nothing but returns many times the investment. Simply making newcomers and visitors feel welcome will do more to build DBARA membership than anything, yes, ANYTHING else we can do to build membership. If only half of those in attendance at any meeting were to make the effort to make a newcomer or visitor feel welcome, we would easily increase our membership by 10% a year. It's that simple. Will you be one of the 50% who makes the effort? DBARA would become best known for being the friendliest club in Florida! That's a worthy goal, wouldn't you agree? (Think how you would want to be treated! Would you rather be welcomed or ignored? I bet everyone will agree that "welcomed" will take the majority vote).
3. Engage a newcomer or visitor in conversation about them, not you. One of the most useful lessons I have learned in life is how to make friends instantly. It's not rocket science. In fact, it's really very simple. There are only two steps:
(1) Learn their name and
(2) ask questions that allow the other person to talk about themselves.
What is the one thing someone can say to you that instantly gets your attention? It's your NAME, of course. What sweeter music is there? Learning someone's name is easy once you develop a method that works for you. When you learn someone's name and use it often, especially when you see that person again some time later, you have achieved a permanent bond with that person.
Who are the best conversationalists you know? Most likely they are the people who let you talk about yourself. Most likely they are the people who let you speak without interruption. We love to talk about ourselves. We rarely get a chance to do that. When we do, it's a special occasion that stays in our memory. The secret to being considered a great conversationalist is to let the other person speak about themselves and listen carefully to what they say. If we do this with all newcomers and visitors to our meetings, we will become the most popular ham radio club in
Florida.
4. Offer to help others.
The simple act of generously giving of one's time is remarkably powerful. In DBARA we call our efforts to help each other, "Hams Helping Hams." Today it seems that most folks are consumed by the idea that it's not appropriate to ask for help. "I didn't want to BOTHER you," is the single most frequently heard comment. So it is incumbent upon us to make it clear that we are willing to help. We can't force ourselves upon someone who doesn't want our help. Yet we need to make it abundantly clear to everyone that we stand ready to help if needed. How often have you heard, "If you want something done, ask the busiest person you know!"
In the last two years different groups of hams have helped erect towers, take down antennas, put up new antennas, helped people learn how to use their rigs, helped people understand the different modes of operation in ham radio and troubleshoot rig problems. DBARA is the single best resource for people who have questions or need assistance in the hobby. Are you willing to make yourself available? If so, tell me and I'll add your name to the list of those who are willing to help.
5. Be courteous.
Why is it people are a great deal more sensitive today than years ago? I tend
to believe that to many of us today tend to be to thin skinned and everyone
wants to be "politically correct (PC)." Being PC is not the answer!
Words are incredibly powerful. Once uttered, they cannot be taken back. A wise person once said, "Make all your words sweet for someday you may have
to eat them." Another axiom is, If ypu have nothing good to say, keep quiet." Both of these have helped me greatly.
Your feet will spend less time in your mouth as a result. The reward is the many new friends
we will gain for DBARA and Ham Radio.
Once we get to know someone better, we can more easily gauge their level of sensitivity to the jabs and gags we are so prone to toss at each other. This familiarity is gained across time. With the
extraordinarily high levels of sensitivity evident today, crossing a minefield can be easier than getting to know someone well enough to call them a friend. Yet our mission, as a club, is to build friendships and share the joys of the hobby together. Getting to know each other well enough to call ourselves friends is the best way to build the club's membership and build a cadre of Hams willing to help other Hams.
We must make newcomers and visitors to DBARA meetings feel welcome. Since we usually don't know these folks well, we have to choose our words carefully to insure that we welcome without being condescending, intimidating or patronizing. This is the greatest challenge there is, at least to me.
We have fought a lifelong battle against this trio of friendship killers. Being able to come across as genuine, real and caring is the single greatest challenge
we face. We are still not there yet but we must keep trying.
So what has worked well? The steps above have won many new friends in the club:
- A warm smile
- A hearty handshake
- A genuine welcome to the meeting
- Learning their name and offering to help are the basic components of
a successful strategy for welcoming newcomers and visitors to our meetings.
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