| sleepysurf |
10-10-2013 09:38 PM |
Although I'm far from NY, thought I'd throw out this suggestion for folks in ANY geographic area interested in starting/growing an audio club. I hope I'm not violating any Forum Rules by posting this.
Here, in the Tampa Bay area, we had a small audiophile club, founded in 1994 as the Tampa Bay Listening Society. By 2009, active membership had dwindled to <15, and the future looked bleak. One of our members suggested we look at Meetup (dot com), which was used by a Photography club he belonged to. It looked promising as a growing social website catering to LOCAL clubs/groups sharing a common interest. We renamed our club the Suncoast Audiophile Society (more descriptive) and gave Meetup a spin. Within 3 months we had doubled our active membership, as local audiophiles who previously never even knew we existed discovered us. Today, we have 87 members (~50+ active), and have grown so large that we're now looking for larger venues for our monthly meetings, as few of us can accommodate the typical 30-40+ meeting attendees in our homes.
FYI, I have no financial relationship with Meetup, but do believe their platform is ideal for developing and growing an audiophile club. As brick and mortar stores fall by the wayside, I think this approach (combined with regional audio shows) is our best hope for keeping this hobby alive.
There are other "group-centric" websites out there, but Meetup (being the first) seems to have the most users, and (at least for us) has worked exceedingly well for recruiting like-minded audio aficionados. Meetup does charge the club a modest monthly (or annual) fee, but that becomes negligible when amortized among all members.
I strongly suggest the New York (or other geographic contingents) check it out! Also, once you have a critical mass, post your audio club contact info in the Stereophile listings.
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