On Sunday Feb 24th, Woot.com put up the Shriner's Hospital as their side deal. For those of you not familiar with woot, they offer a deal a day on electronics, when they sell out its gone. they also always offer a side offer usually another product. Today's side offer is a link to the Shriner's Hospital Donation Page. If you get a chance, atleast click on the link and show the some traffic as support.
GREAT JOB WOOT!!!!
Main Page
http://www.woot.com
Use this link if it's after Sunday to get to the forum page
http://www.woot.com/Forums/ViewPost.aspx?PostID=1989392
Sunday, February 24, 2008
Tuesday, February 19, 2008
Post meeting follow up
Recruitment and Retention follow up.
Brothers,
I hope your fairing this weather well. It has been a wild two weeks for the weather up here. Our meeting was sparsely attended to due the bad weather but we still talked some about this topic. We only had 7 Brothers present and they are all regularly attending so not much could be learned from our newer Brothers or those who have recently come back.
Throughout the meeting the stock answers kept showing up to our questions on both the recruitment and retention discussions. I realized that we seem to be stuck in a rut in our thinking and involvements.
The first questions asked were related to our visibility around the state and the links in our local community. The sponsoring of Tiger's baseball and Red Wing hockey came to mind quickly as well as the billboard campaign that is concentrated in the major cities. Locally we could only come up with our efforts in getting MiCHiPs off the ground, the earlier attempts to get the beacon project in the schools, our pancake breakfasts and our spaghetti dinners that we hold for those in need and as fund raisers to help with school trips. Other things that came to mind were the commercials for the shriner's hospitals, the parades and the yearly circus that we send the 8th grade class too. These last examples are all Shrine related, it is good advertising, but doesn't cover the Blue Lodge itself.
Locally we have also joined our chamber of commerce as a way of attempting to build name recognition throughout our area. We hold a circus every other year on our property, as a small fund raiser as well as a chance to bring families onto our site.
The next question was "Can our members explain what Masonry is, what we stand for and what we do at a local and national level." This garnered the biggest discussion and left us short of our goal of having an 'elevator speech'. Through our next couple meetings and our membership committee, we hope to come up with at least a basic response and hope to work on refining it to reflect what we do in our community.
We next spoke about retention, keeping our current members active. Looking through program variety, activities and needs of our current members show that we really haven't been offering much outside of a straight business meeting and not many other social activities, whether they be a night for cards and friendship or outings for dinners or events.
As for the next set of questions, referencing our new Brothers and how welcome we make them feel, utilize them in roles in the Lodge, and use our mentoring program. Our newer members we not in attendance that night so we will have to add this to a further discussion.
Our final questions we related to ritual (too much or not enough emphasis). A whole agreed need to spend more time on ritual. Hopefully with one of us taking a DDI spot, we will spend more time in our ritual and hopefully be able to spread our knowledge through our sister Lodges. The final question was do we make efficient use of our members time in our meetings. We have started to include something extra in every meeting, be it reading a short talk booklet, a reading of a Masonic letter or poem, watching a video related to the Craft or a power point or other presentation.
We have identified some areas where we could make ourselves more known. Hopefully we can motivate most of our Brothers to step up and assist in our attempt to renew our Lodge in our community and make Masonry more appealing to those looking who have been thinking of joining and those who are looking for something to enhance their lives.
Let's hear your short speeches on what Masonry stands for and what we do. Post your comments.
Brothers,
I hope your fairing this weather well. It has been a wild two weeks for the weather up here. Our meeting was sparsely attended to due the bad weather but we still talked some about this topic. We only had 7 Brothers present and they are all regularly attending so not much could be learned from our newer Brothers or those who have recently come back.
Throughout the meeting the stock answers kept showing up to our questions on both the recruitment and retention discussions. I realized that we seem to be stuck in a rut in our thinking and involvements.
The first questions asked were related to our visibility around the state and the links in our local community. The sponsoring of Tiger's baseball and Red Wing hockey came to mind quickly as well as the billboard campaign that is concentrated in the major cities. Locally we could only come up with our efforts in getting MiCHiPs off the ground, the earlier attempts to get the beacon project in the schools, our pancake breakfasts and our spaghetti dinners that we hold for those in need and as fund raisers to help with school trips. Other things that came to mind were the commercials for the shriner's hospitals, the parades and the yearly circus that we send the 8th grade class too. These last examples are all Shrine related, it is good advertising, but doesn't cover the Blue Lodge itself.
Locally we have also joined our chamber of commerce as a way of attempting to build name recognition throughout our area. We hold a circus every other year on our property, as a small fund raiser as well as a chance to bring families onto our site.
The next question was "Can our members explain what Masonry is, what we stand for and what we do at a local and national level." This garnered the biggest discussion and left us short of our goal of having an 'elevator speech'. Through our next couple meetings and our membership committee, we hope to come up with at least a basic response and hope to work on refining it to reflect what we do in our community.
We next spoke about retention, keeping our current members active. Looking through program variety, activities and needs of our current members show that we really haven't been offering much outside of a straight business meeting and not many other social activities, whether they be a night for cards and friendship or outings for dinners or events.
As for the next set of questions, referencing our new Brothers and how welcome we make them feel, utilize them in roles in the Lodge, and use our mentoring program. Our newer members we not in attendance that night so we will have to add this to a further discussion.
Our final questions we related to ritual (too much or not enough emphasis). A whole agreed need to spend more time on ritual. Hopefully with one of us taking a DDI spot, we will spend more time in our ritual and hopefully be able to spread our knowledge through our sister Lodges. The final question was do we make efficient use of our members time in our meetings. We have started to include something extra in every meeting, be it reading a short talk booklet, a reading of a Masonic letter or poem, watching a video related to the Craft or a power point or other presentation.
We have identified some areas where we could make ourselves more known. Hopefully we can motivate most of our Brothers to step up and assist in our attempt to renew our Lodge in our community and make Masonry more appealing to those looking who have been thinking of joining and those who are looking for something to enhance their lives.
Let's hear your short speeches on what Masonry stands for and what we do. Post your comments.
Sunday, February 3, 2008
Recruitment and Retention
Our WM has decided that membership is going to be a top priority during his time in the East. So during the month of February my presentation to the Lodge is based around membership recruitment and retention.
I chose this presentation to go along with the re-formation of our membership committee.
First we are going to look at Recruitment.
Questions we are going to discuss include: How are we known throughout the state? How are we linked to our communities? Where can we look throughout the community for potential members? How do we support our membership committee? Can we as members explain what Masonry stands for and what we do at the local level and the national level? Do our members actively talk about the Lodge and Masonry with their friends?
The second section of our talk will be about Retention:
What activities do we offer our members? Do they meet the needs of our members? Do we offer enough program variety? Do we remind our members of the benefits of being a Mason? Do we make our new members feel welcome? Use our mentoring program? Do we attract younger members and offer them roles in the Lodge and its leadership? Do we meet their expectations? Do we emphasize ritual memorization too much or not enough? Do we offer opportunities to network and make friends? Do we encourage participation in planning and decision making? Are our meetings making efficient use of our members time?
We will be discussing this in an open forum during our meeting and I will post a follow up with results from our discussion and answers from the Brothers present. If we can help others to survive and thrive, it can only make our ranks stronger and our Fraternity closer.
I chose this presentation to go along with the re-formation of our membership committee.
First we are going to look at Recruitment.
Questions we are going to discuss include: How are we known throughout the state? How are we linked to our communities? Where can we look throughout the community for potential members? How do we support our membership committee? Can we as members explain what Masonry stands for and what we do at the local level and the national level? Do our members actively talk about the Lodge and Masonry with their friends?
The second section of our talk will be about Retention:
What activities do we offer our members? Do they meet the needs of our members? Do we offer enough program variety? Do we remind our members of the benefits of being a Mason? Do we make our new members feel welcome? Use our mentoring program? Do we attract younger members and offer them roles in the Lodge and its leadership? Do we meet their expectations? Do we emphasize ritual memorization too much or not enough? Do we offer opportunities to network and make friends? Do we encourage participation in planning and decision making? Are our meetings making efficient use of our members time?
We will be discussing this in an open forum during our meeting and I will post a follow up with results from our discussion and answers from the Brothers present. If we can help others to survive and thrive, it can only make our ranks stronger and our Fraternity closer.
Monday, January 21, 2008
Maybe we are on to something?
Here's a great article to help kick off the website:
http://themiddlechamber.blogspot.com/2008/01/e-masonry.html
The Middle Chamber is written by a Brother MM from South Dakota, Looks like its time we get you sideliners and PM's onto the Web, or at least writing this down to help promote our Lodge through these sites.
http://themiddlechamber.blogspot.com/2008/01/e-masonry.html
The Middle Chamber is written by a Brother MM from South Dakota, Looks like its time we get you sideliners and PM's onto the Web, or at least writing this down to help promote our Lodge through these sites.
Sunday, January 20, 2008
New message board forums
Brothers we have now added a message board forum to allow for calendar of events, posting of educational websites, links and power points and a general discussion forum. Please make use of what I am trying to provide to further Brotherhood, education, fellowship and inter-Lodge events.
http://northernmimason.proboards100.com/index.cgi
http://northernmimason.proboards100.com/index.cgi
Thursday, January 17, 2008
My new Masonic year
Two years in the East. A long journey for a relatively new Mason. My journey started in 2003 after my father was diagnosed with cancer. It was discovered during another test and they didn't give him long.
I had been putting off joining a Lodge when we lived downstate as I knew my wife's plans included moving "up north" to be closer to her family. I didn't feel right having my father's Lodge putting all the work into bringing me in, then with a quick wave, leaving for another Lodge.
Now was the time to join as he has talked about it in the past. Only one of my brothers had already joined the Lodge, I called my other brother and talked with him about joining also. With that, my dad was on the phone with our secretary and had my application and dues already in the mail.
Within a few months, I was on my way. The key night was my raising to MM which occurred on my birthday and had my father and brother both present and taking part in my raising. What a great night to think back too. He planned ahead during his life and made sure to have three rings that he wore throughout his 40 years. This allowed all of his sons to wear a ring that belonged to his father. I wear mine with pride.
Through all his years of Lodge activities, pancake breakfasts, plays at the Detroit Masonic Temple and the great Shrine Circus I realized this was something I wanted to be part of my life.
Once I finished my degree work, I was asked to fill a seat in the South for the rest of the year. What a challenge that turned out to be. Did I mention that they forgot the tell me I get to serve dinner? We don't just do sandwiches or a snack. We think that having a good dinner helps keep those on the fence coming in. I know over the years that it draws Brothers from other Lodges in also.
I continued my next year sitting in the South and worked into the West and then the East during the next years. Without help from the Master before me I would have still been lost. His help during my early years helped to steer me down the right path.
I then spent two years in the East, either because they liked what I was doing or thought I was a big enough sucker, they still will not tell me which. During this time I took the momentum from the previous year and built on it. We restarted our breakfasts, continued going to other Lodges (up to 100 miles each way is a normal trip) to assist with degree work and started working on community events to promote our Lodge.
After my two years in the East I have decided to take a shot at DDI for my district. I am hoping that what we accomplished at our Lodge, including the Brothers getting off the sidelines and helping with building improvements and gearing up for a county wide MiChiPs event, can be spread to other Lodges also, sharing our zeal and recharging them also.
Any help or suggestions are welcomed to help me improve this blog to make it an effective tool for education and communications. If we don't try to make our Lodges more visible and inviting to the communities, we won't have long until we shut our doors. A bigger problem, I think, in our small Lodges up here.
I had been putting off joining a Lodge when we lived downstate as I knew my wife's plans included moving "up north" to be closer to her family. I didn't feel right having my father's Lodge putting all the work into bringing me in, then with a quick wave, leaving for another Lodge.
Now was the time to join as he has talked about it in the past. Only one of my brothers had already joined the Lodge, I called my other brother and talked with him about joining also. With that, my dad was on the phone with our secretary and had my application and dues already in the mail.
Within a few months, I was on my way. The key night was my raising to MM which occurred on my birthday and had my father and brother both present and taking part in my raising. What a great night to think back too. He planned ahead during his life and made sure to have three rings that he wore throughout his 40 years. This allowed all of his sons to wear a ring that belonged to his father. I wear mine with pride.
Through all his years of Lodge activities, pancake breakfasts, plays at the Detroit Masonic Temple and the great Shrine Circus I realized this was something I wanted to be part of my life.
Once I finished my degree work, I was asked to fill a seat in the South for the rest of the year. What a challenge that turned out to be. Did I mention that they forgot the tell me I get to serve dinner? We don't just do sandwiches or a snack. We think that having a good dinner helps keep those on the fence coming in. I know over the years that it draws Brothers from other Lodges in also.
I continued my next year sitting in the South and worked into the West and then the East during the next years. Without help from the Master before me I would have still been lost. His help during my early years helped to steer me down the right path.
I then spent two years in the East, either because they liked what I was doing or thought I was a big enough sucker, they still will not tell me which. During this time I took the momentum from the previous year and built on it. We restarted our breakfasts, continued going to other Lodges (up to 100 miles each way is a normal trip) to assist with degree work and started working on community events to promote our Lodge.
After my two years in the East I have decided to take a shot at DDI for my district. I am hoping that what we accomplished at our Lodge, including the Brothers getting off the sidelines and helping with building improvements and gearing up for a county wide MiChiPs event, can be spread to other Lodges also, sharing our zeal and recharging them also.
Any help or suggestions are welcomed to help me improve this blog to make it an effective tool for education and communications. If we don't try to make our Lodges more visible and inviting to the communities, we won't have long until we shut our doors. A bigger problem, I think, in our small Lodges up here.
Wednesday, January 16, 2008
Guestbook
Leave any comments or suggestions here. Feel free to just say hi and let me know where you hail from.
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