For the past 3+ years, there’s just been a few of us at meetings 5-6 most times. So we would just BS and drink homebrew for a couple hours… We rotated from house to house.
Now we have LHBS that opened up in our town, (previously had to drive 75 miles) and the owner allows us to have our meetings there on Sundays, when he is not open for business. Well, the first month we had 15 our so folks, and this month there were well over 20.
It’s almost like we a “real” club now. LOL.
We do have “officers” or such, and the three of us kind of run things. Our agenda is basically:
Club news
Education session
RDWHAHB
Just looking for advice on things. Managing the membership list, is our agenda “normal,” We really don’t want to collect dues, but is there a point where it becomes necessary, and why?
Sadly, no. Me and the other “leader” are both comitted with other things on Saturday. But, I did brew two, ten gallon batches yesterday. Search for my name on facebook for pic of the fermenting chamber.
+1 Collecting dues got rid of a bunch of slugs who frequented the meeting and gave more “ownership” to those who really wanted a useful organization. Dues also cover our monthly commercial styles purchase as we taste our way through the BJCP style guide - 2 style examples per meeting.
micsager, how have things progressed? I am interested because my club’s meetings are exactly how you described yours minus the educational session. I have been trumpeting to become more organized with some education tossed into meetings but I have been getting resistance from most.
We’re doing pretty good. We had our July meeting yesterday, and while we only had 8 or so folks, it was a great time, with all sharing some of their homebrew. One guy mad a Rye IPA, that rivaled Denny’s. I wish I still had a bottle so we could have done a side by side tasting.
