Indianapolis Modern Quilt Guild
March 23, 2010
We just had our second meeting on Saturday…1 person came. It was pretty disappointing. We had 7 ladies at the first meeting who all seemed very enthusiastic about getting together to sew – and quilt a few new people sign up on the website, so I’m not really sure what happened. I’ve never organized a group before so I am unsure what I am really doing wrong or if this is to be expected. I don’t know what I need to do to keep people interested and active in the group. I am not an entertainer. I cannot sustain interest in this group on my own. When I started this thing, I figured having the forum would be enough to maintain some sort of connection between the group members and a running dialog going with an active message board…I mean, from what I’ve seen in other cities’ guilds that is what is happening. It’s been frustrating.
I found an awesome space in downtown Indianapolis to hold our meetings at the Harrison Center for the Arts – the Harrison Center was very exciting about having us as a group. They are interested in displaying our work in one of their galleries for a First Friday. I was super pumped about this! But at this point I don’t know if we can keep meeting there. It’s 25/hr to rent the space and I can’t keep paying out of pocket hoping people will show up. I didn’t force dues on anyone since it was a new group – I agreed on a pay as you go type of membership so if you come to the meeting, you pay 5 dollars, and your first meeting is free. So our second meeting – one person showed up besides me! We had a good time talking and sewing together, but its a waste to reserve that space every month when no one shows up.
So for April, I am not sure what I am going to do for the next meeting. I’m not doing the Harrison Center. Anyone who runs a group or knows how to get this project back on track please share your ideas with me. I want this group to succeed!
JanMade 
March 23, 2010 at 6:59 pm
Well, I know two or three ladies from north of Indy who might be able to come. Two of us have kids and it’s dicey for us to plan days/evenings without them! LOL
I’m sorry the second meeting was disappointing. I admire your willingness to do this, but maybe we can make April a little better?
email me at mayhem5@softhome.net
March 25, 2010 at 10:14 pm
I will email you- sorry I haven’t responded sooner! I understand having kids makes schedules way more hectic than mine most of the time!
March 25, 2010 at 3:17 pm
I’m not going to lie… between the thought of packing up my machine and everything else, deciding on a project to bring and the first warm sunny day of the year, I couldn’t bring myself to be in a basement and I bailed. I’m really sorry, I’ll take the award for bad guild member of the month!
March 25, 2010 at 10:19 pm
I’m not blaming anyone, my whole issue with no one showing up was that at the first meeting everyone said they wanted to sew at every meeting, so that’s why I reserved the space…so it is more of a WTF thing for me than anything. I suspect asking people to contribute some cash also had something to do with it.
April 14, 2010 at 11:13 am
Try not to be discouraged I think it will take some time. I thought of two other people I could invite next time. Like I said perhaps we should start out smaller – especially until we have a base of people coming.
June 17, 2010 at 12:42 pm
Hi there,
I’m Kit, president of the Toronto Modern Quilt Guild.
We have a similiar problem as you – in that we have nearly a hundred online members, but when it comes to actual meetings, we have only 10 or so people who show up, and they do so on a revolving basis – in other words, we rarely have the same ten people show up at any given meeting!
I’m lucky though,in that I have a great executive and we’re meeting tonight to discuss how to make the group not only stable, but grow. I have some ideas – one of which is that our meeting day/time may be all wrong for most people. Anyway – after our meeting tonight, I should have some more ideas which I’d be more than willing to share with you. You can write me at divaquilts@gmail.com
Keep up the good fight! 🙂
March 28, 2012 at 9:17 pm
Hi Jan (and hi to you, too, Kit, if you’re reading comments here)
I joined the NY Metro MQG when it first started and for a couple of years it has been meeting in someone’s home. Everybody brings a snack to share and it’s been great. That’s a good way to start that doesn’t cost you any $$ and if there are only a few people at first, it’s fine. Don’t worry – the NY group is now so large that the informal has given way to “guild” with dues. It will take off!
There is now a New Jersey guild and even though it is not near me, I want to go to a meeting and see what’s what. Every group is so different — some are very free-form and don’t worry about matching seams or using patterns; others are more traditional but with bright, funky fabric and color combinations. It’s great!
I taught in Bloomington a couple of years ago and hope to get back to IN one of these days! Meantime, I invite you to visit my blog http://studio78notes.blogspot.com.
Keep doing what you’re doing – the virtual group is great, too!
best regards,
Rayna