Getting more WAMAS members

[Ross's Reef]

Hey there WAMAS family! I'm doing a report for my professional writing class and decided to write about getting more people interested in WAMAS. For this report I am to propose three recommendations to increase membership within WAMAS. If you could take a moment and share your thoughts on the following ideas and if you believe they would increase membership I would be very grateful. For each comment on this thread (one per user) I will be entering the numbers into a random number generator and pick one person to receive a frag of JF Dayglow favia.

 

Please give me your thoughts on the following affecting membership:

 

1) Decreasing membership fees
2) A membership referral program where people bringing in new members get free corals or discounts

3) Having live demonstrations at meetings catered to beginner reef keepers such as establishing tanks or setting up sumps.

Thanks for the feedback and good luck on the dayglow!

 

-Ross's Reef

Edited March 30, 2018 by Ross's Reef

[WheresTheReef]

1) Decreasing membership fees

 

IMO the benefits of membership far out way the low membership fee. I've enjoyed meeting other members, attending meetings with great speakers (and fragfest), traded/sold/given away/received free livestock and equipment just to name a few benefits. I would think most who say that they can't afford the low membership fee in an otherwise fairly expensive hobby wouldn't think twice about it once they joined.

 

 

2) A membership referral program where people bringing in new members get free corals or discounts

 

A referral program would be interesting. I've talked to lots of people at LFSs that were not in wamas and some have joined up. The club has recently started giving away door prizes at meetings and raffle tickets. Additional tickets could be a good prize for referrals.

 

3) Having live demonstrations at meetings catered to beginner reef keepers such as establishing tanks or setting up sumps.

 

There have been some demonstrations at fragfest, which I think brings in more members than most meetings. Free frags is what got me to join wamas. There would need to be a balance of beginner and advanced demonstration topics. I believe the different topics that the speakers cover are compareable to the benefits of some demonstrations.

[madweazl]

Q) Will decreasing membership fees increase membership?

A) My gut feeling is no but in an age where there is tons of information available for free (e.g. other sites), this may be an issue for some. I've yet to attend a meeting/swap/event but still believe the benefits of becoming a member far out weight the cost. I've met some great people, bought and sold some corals, and have used the PAR meter at least three times now as well. 

 

Q) Will a member referral program increase membership?

A) Word of mouth does seem to be an effective method for growth; incentivizing it may boost that further. This doesnt have to be a monetary thing; something as simple as a banner next to their name makes a difference to some people (a gold star from the teacher...). I initially voted no on this but after giving it some more thought, it may be worth a shot (sorry to goon up your data).

 

Q) Will having live demos increase membership?

A) I think this could work if it had some of advertising (local signs, paper, etc.). These may already exist, I just dont get out much LOL. I've really enjoyed BRStv; perhaps something like that could be done?

[Delphinus88]

I think that people who are involved in the hobby and spending the equivalent of the GDP of a small nation are okay with spending 20 buck to join.

Almost all of the reefers I have met, I have met through WAMAS.  It would be a hard sell to get someone who is not a reefer to join.

Live demos seem like a good idea as I am always looking for ways to be better steward.  

[Origami]

1) Decreasing membership fees

Membership fees have been stable at $20 a year for well over 10 years now (maybe 15+). I don't think that this is a limitation, but a benefit/testimony to staying focused on our needs.

 

 

2) A membership referral program where people bringing in new members get free corals or discounts

We don't have free corals or discounts to give, unfortunately. This would have to come from the budget. See #1.

 

3) Having live demonstrations at meetings catered to beginner reef keepers such as establishing tanks or setting up sumps.

We try to do this from time to time. But we need to serve the full membership. That means providing benefit to those more established in the hobby. It might be possible, time permitting, to have a "beginner corner" to take up topics of interest. We're a geographically dispersed bunch, so in order for this sort of thing to be worthwhile, beginners would have to be willing to jump in the car to travel. Of course, the whole community is pretty supportive of most beginners' questions since we all went through that stage. You'll find it said time and time again here - reading is probably going to be your greatest fount of knowledge that you'll find in this hobby. Whether it's from great, landmark books in the hobby of general or specific interests, to information gleaned from forums and from the hobbyist community, you'll find a lot of information - sometimes conflicting; sometimes anecdotal; and, yes, sometimes wrong - but, putting it all together, will give you a broad knowledge of principles that will serve you well.

 

Other suggestions:

 

This one comes from personal experience: I stumbled upon WAMAS about six months after I committed to get into the hobby. My actual track was more like this: I toyed with the idea. I bought a lot of books and started reading on the topics of the day: Live rock and sand; deep sand beds; plenum systems; skimmer design and construction; etc. Then I decided not to (because I wanted to put my money in different areas). Then, when money became less of an issue (years later), I decided to jump in. Still, I didn't find WAMAS for close to six months. I didn't even know much about our local stores - except Marine Scene - at the time. So, for me, the delay was simply a matter of discovering the community. And the way that happened was that I made a post in an outdated WAMAS sub-forum over at ReefCentral and some kind soul vectored me over to our site here.(To give you an idea of how dead that sub-forum was, it took days if not a week or more, for a response to be posted.)

 

What I'm saying is this: You can't join if you don't know we exist. Getting the word out to hobbyists that are in the dark is likely the most productive way to increase membership.

 

That said, we ARE probably one of the largest, if not the largest, most active local/regional reef clubs in the nation. 

[mogurnda]

Q1.  Are you kidding?  Twenty bucks?  I have read some recent posts by people who buy expensive livestock but won't put a crowbar in their wallets to pay for a membership.  I don't get it.

Q2.  There are so many good deals and freebies from members already, I don't think there would be much of an impact.

Q3.  I think it would be great to bring back tank tours and Reefkeeping 101 meetings at members' houses.  That gives new members a chance to see the successes and failures of more experienced members.