Best way to organize unicycle club meetings

Here's a question for folks that have active, organized unicycle clubs.
What are your suggestions about how to organize unicycle club meetings?
Do you have structured schedules during your meetings or are your
activities just improvised when you get together? We want to get the
Atlanta Unicycle Club off to a good start. Our previous meetings have
been improvised, but I think future meetings could be better if we had
some structure. I know that we also have to work on publicity
(t-shirts, newspaper listings, club website, etc...) for the club to get
a good critical mass of riders at the meetings.

We'd appreciate your input. There's no need to get too wordy in your
reply in this thread. Even if you can include a weblink to your club
meeting schedules, that would help.


--
reidj - Looking for a uni-basketball game
------------------------------------------------------------------------
reidj's Profile: http://www.unicyclist.com/profile/5755
View this thread: http://www.unicyclist.com/thread/31856

Hi Reid,

I suggest that your meetings not involve riding and that someone make an
agenda and even take minutes. I know the formality stinks but ithat
investment will pay tons down the road. The few meetings that we've had
were week days at lunch. Ther reason that there are so few meetings
with the MUC is that we are using an old, tried-and-ture form of
organization called dictatorship. It seems to be working quite well -
from my stand point.

Tommy


--
Tmornstar - Student of Christopher

Tommy Thompson
Memphis Unicycle Club
Please vist our web site:
http://www.memphisunicycleclub.com
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Tmornstar's Profile: http://www.unicyclist.com/profile/658
View this thread: http://www.unicyclist.com/thread/31856

My experience is as a member of a large, organized club (Redford), and
then the starter of a couple of less organized, less formal clubs (Long
Island Unicyclists and Gold Country Unicyclists).

Tommy has a point on the paperwork aspect. Keep it separate and you'll
hopefully get people involved. Try to mix it with the riding and none of
it will likely get done, except by you.

My experience suggests you need a little bit of structure, or people
will not know what's going on, and your meetings will not have a clear
beginning and ending. If you have something structured at the official
start time, and again at the end time, You can attach whatever necessary
activities and announcements onto that, while leaving a portion of your
time wide open if that's what works for your riders.


--
johnfoss - Walkin' on the edge

John Foss, the Uni-Cyclone
"jfoss" at "unicycling.com"
www.unicycling.com

"Hey, could I have some of that spinach? I need to get this pork rind
taste out of my mouth." -- Ryan Atkins to Kris Holm, on the way back
from Moab after sampling some of my pork rinds. They grossed out the
whole van!
------------------------------------------------------------------------
johnfoss's Profile: http://www.unicyclist.com/profile/832
View this thread: http://www.unicyclist.com/thread/31856

The challange is to make it interesting for riders of all levels. Since
neither of us have experienced a true thriving unicycle club, it seems a
little mysterious. You have some riders who have had a unicycle for 10
years and can idle, hop, ride backwards etc... While others have yet to
ride ten feet, or freemount. I can see how things could be broken down
to skill level groups if you have a lot of members, but what if you have
5 all different levels and ages?


Also is it wise to set up a club based on the specific types of
interest?
Such as Muni, Trials, Freestyle, Performance, Touring, or do people make
clicks on their own based on their own passion?

Though I enjoy the skills that you can develop through freestyle, I
don't see myself performing in freestyle events at any future NAUCC
events. Though Muni, Trials, Touring and Racing does appeal to me. I
have yet to play a single game of hockey or basketball, so I am not to
sure how I would like those.

Last is the geographic issues that we deal with in Atlanta. I live
maybe 20-25 minutes from Reid, but almost an hour from most of the
meetings we have had. I would like to see more frequent "local"
meetings with larger less frequent area meetings. Even if the "local"
meetings are just two people hitting the trails.


--
bugman - Survivor 2004 Wolfman Duathalon
------------------------------------------------------------------------
bugman's Profile: http://www.unicyclist.com/profile/3812
View this thread: http://www.unicyclist.com/thread/31856

Yes, I definitely see Tommy's and John's point about having separate
planning meetings and riding "get-togethers". Good advice. Are your
riding "get-togethers" also structured, like your planning meetings?

I guess the best way to get the club going is for Chad and me to go
riding together more often and invite everybody in the Atlanta club and
Atlanta Juggling club to join us. We will naturally get more organized
(we'll have to) as we increase our rider numbers.


--
reidj - Looking for a uni-basketball game
------------------------------------------------------------------------
reidj's Profile: http://www.unicyclist.com/profile/5755
View this thread: http://www.unicyclist.com/thread/31856

The way that we do rides in the MUC is sort of loose. However, there is
a general plan (MUni, urban playing, freestyle, basketball-gym stuff,
etc.) and within that we make-up the specific part on the spot after we
see who is there and what we feel like doing. I think that if you
present too much structure to your rides you will dilute your herd too
much. I think that most of us just like sharing the camaraderie of
being together. Anybody can ride to their heart’s content by themselves
but we get together to share that screwy passion we have for playing on
one wheel. Our Tuesday evening practices (and most well attended) are a
perfect example of this. We meet at a public park plaza. The plaza has
flat, smooth places to learn and develop skills, tons of steps and is
adjacent to some easy trails through an old-growth forest. The plaza
serves as a rendezvous point and sort of a hub. We ride and focus on
what each individual is more interested in doing and then generally
hang-out at the plaza between playing on trials challenges, playing on
the trails and/or learning to mount.

However, back on topic here, I try to keep the business part of running
the club somewhat separate from the playing part. Be joyous and silly
at your riding gatherings but sometimes you’ve got to make some
decisions that are not based in being silly – like insurance, 501(C)3
status….Oh geez, I’ve got work to do…. Gotta go.

Tommy


--
Tmornstar - Student of Christopher

Tommy Thompson
Memphis Unicycle Club
Please vist our web site:
http://www.memphisunicycleclub.com
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Tmornstar's Profile: http://www.unicyclist.com/profile/658
View this thread: http://www.unicyclist.com/thread/31856

As for Tommy Thompson's suggestion of meeting around a table without
unicycles, that may work in Memphis, but it would never fly in NYC. You
pretty much have to go with the flow of your group. And face that this
keeps certain members coming back to your group, and makes others lose
interest. As an example,
I have suggested that our club try some of the group riding routines
many uni clubs do, and got seriously chewed out for suggesting that.
The idea was just killed quickly. That's what I mean by each group
finds its own interests/activities and resists changes in the status
quo. You have to see what your group attracts.

In NYC, we just meet outside (first Sunday, third Saturday of each
month) with all the unicycles we can gather. We ride, chat, munch,
juggle, and provide LOTS of encouragement and teaching for anyone. We
also exchange informal product reviews and tips on quality of products
and such. David Stone keeps the minutes and emails them to everyone.
That works.

If we need to do some business, like website design or tee-shirts or
planning an annual party, we just pull a few interested members off to
the side for that and do the job.

A website helps (NewYorkUnicycle.com), and meeting in a public park with
many passerrs-by may bring in new members, though we haven't found that.
Lately we have been getting TV morning shows and major local magazines
to give us coverage!!

I suggest you try different things, and see what your group likes--what
keeps members coming back.

Good luck!


--
BillyTheMountain
------------------------------------------------------------------------
BillyTheMountain's Profile: http://www.unicyclist.com/profile/5357
View this thread: http://www.unicyclist.com/thread/31856

Hi Billy,

I could not agree with you more. It is the "off to the side" part of
what you are talking about that I suggest is what works for us. We have
found that when we need to "talk business" it is best to dedicate a
place in time and space for that to happen.

I agree, too, that you need to do what works for the group. Last year
at the NAUCC we held an all-comers, round table discussion on what works
for each club. The clubs represented at that conversation were as
diverse as they could have been - from very structured to the most
serendipitous gatherings. Whatever works – works.

There are so few of us (unicyclist) that we have few options to choose
from in regard to organizations, clubs, etc. When ego, agenda and
vision get in the way of having fun folks will vote with their feet.

Tommy


--
Tmornstar - Student of Christopher

Tommy Thompson
Memphis Unicycle Club
Please vist our web site:
http://www.memphisunicycleclub.com
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Tmornstar's Profile: http://www.unicyclist.com/profile/658
View this thread: http://www.unicyclist.com/thread/31856

I think having really cool shirts and logos make a big difference. I
think what you call yourselves makes a difference as well. In Atlanta,
I want to make it as inclusive as possible. At the same time, you have
to be aware of what your initials spell out.

MUC
NYU
AZU
LUC
TCUC
RTUC

All good.

AUC Atlanta Unicycle Club
SUC Southern Unicycle Club
TAU Team Atlanta Unicycling My favorite so far.

The TAU of Unicycling. Finding your inner balance. Logo
could be a wheel with the ying/yang symbol... I published it here first,
so I am Copyrighting, Trademarking the idea here and now. I can think
of all kinds of one liners and logo ideas. Of course some may find it
offensive. Not sure. What do some others think? It isn't as offensive
as Southern Unicyle Club to me.


--
bugman - Survivor 2004 Wolfman Duathalon
------------------------------------------------------------------------
bugman's Profile: http://www.unicyclist.com/profile/3812
View this thread: http://www.unicyclist.com/thread/31856

I don't have much experience with a unicycling club, but here's a few
suggestions from a juggling club.
We meet every week for about two hours. We have any announcements an
hour into the meeting. That way, people have time to get there late,
leave early, etc.

Try and get into a newspaper if at all possible. Write up an article
about yourselves and send it in. I was riding down the street and a
reporter for a local newspaper stopped me and asked if he could do an
article on me. We set up a time and we had an excellent article written
about me and the juggling club. After that, we got a lot of exposure
and a lot of gigs which helped with the size of the club. We now have a
relatively large club and make lots of money (we're a not-for-profit
organization and will do volunteer gigs just as fast as paid gigs, but
people just want to give us money for some reason ).


--
paco - Co-Founder of the PacoGild Movement

Every car should come equipped with a midget with a periscope.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
paco's Profile: http://www.unicyclist.com/profile/3715
View this thread: http://www.unicyclist.com/thread/31856