Nobody is Showing Up

[Kat]

Maybe this should actually be a rant, but I'm just gonna be a Kat and drag the topic out to the middle of the living room floor so everyone can take a sniff and maybe offer suggestions.

For several months now I have been trying to get together a Chicago Ayn Rand group to meet on a monthly basis. It has been extremely disappointing. It is usually only me, my co-leader and maybe one or two others who even bother to show up, yet our Meetup site lists 42 members, with 5 joining within the past month. There have been some people who attend two or three times and then proceed to drop off the face of the earth. We appeared to have a solid core group of five going for a couple of months and now... nothing. Yesterday it was only Scott and myself attending. I don't know if it was because there were other events at the time such the libertarian holiday party, or that people just are not interested.

This problem is certainly not unique to my group and I don't want to give up yet. I just dumped a lot of my own money into the group by covering 6 months of Meetup dues and buying a bunch of copies of Rand's books to give away to newcomers. (Hey, if churches can give away bibles, I can give away The Fountainhead). I have beefed up the marketing too. I have placed online ads and we are now utilizing more structured meeting plans. Now Luke is passing leadership over to me, so at this point it is sink or swim. I want to make the group successful, but this is really very frustrating right now.

Ideas are welcome.

Kat

[Michael Stuart Kelly]

I doubled with Luke Setzer for Solo Florida and RoR Florida yesterday. (I was asked to fill in there since Luke gave up his position.) The original SoloHQ group already was very small.

We had a meeting with Luke, me and one other person. I asked if he was RoR or Solo, and he looked confused. I saw my chance, jumped on it and proclaimed loudly to Luke, "He's mine!"

Luke blinked. Paused. Then proclaimed right back, "No, he's mine!"

"He's mine!"

"He's mine!"

"He's mine!"

"He's mine!"

Well, since this is Objectivism and not Christianity, the wisdom of Solomon was not used, so the poor guy got off without being cut in two.

He might be thinking of starting a third group, though. We never did resolve the issue...

Michael

btw - Other groups also seem to be complaining about lack of people showing up.

[Kat]

Well here is what I posted to my Chicago Ayn Rand Meetup group...

Luke is passing the torch over to me so I will be managing this group locally. We are going through a transitional period right now, but I am interested in hearing what people would like to see happen with our group. I have a couple of thoughts on this, but I really would like to hear from the others too. I want to move the meeting time back to early afternoon and maybe a different day or venue. I'd also like to have more activities like field trips, movies, and maybe doing some shared readings. Rand did write plays too. Anyway please share your thoughts on the board here or email me privately at katdaddy(at)comcast(dot) net.

Thanks

Kat

www.objectivistliving.com

Again, if anyone has any thoughts on how to kick this thing into high gear, please let me know.

Kat

[Roger Bissell]

Kat, not too long ago I kept hearing about meetings of an Objectivist Salon being held in the Chicago area by Marsha Enright and others. Are you in touch with her? You might want to pool your resources, if they are still in operation and open to new members.

Best,

REB

[Ed Hudgins]

Marsha and John Enright do hold events in the Chicago area. Here's a website:

http://www.newintellectualforum.com/

I'm told the last meeting, which is not listed, had Michelle Fram-Cohen discussing aesthetics or something of the sort, and received mixed reviews. But just the chance to talk to John and Marsha is a pleasure in any case!

[Kat]

Yes, I have had some contact with the Enrights. I've even promoted their group on Solo Illinois. They seem to have a pretty good group going and I wish them well. I live north of Chicago, so their group is not convenient for me. I am working on doing a group on the northside.

Kat

[Barbara Branden]

Kat, you may be making a mistake in asking that the group suggest a program; people may be hesitant to do so. You might do better by suggesting it yourself, and asking for their input.

Barbara

[Kat]

Okay, I suddenly got a bunch of new members in my club, four in about a week. Now I have stage fright. I am pretty low key and not exactly comfortable with public speaking and leading a discussion. Like many people, I'd prefer being a member over being the leader, but I'll have to get over that somehow.

I was planning to follow Luke's program for book discussion as a guide, but I really don't want to talk about Return of the Primitive chapter by chapter for a whole year. I'd prefer to pull from several sources not just one book a year. I need some structure and some type of guide. Does Atlas come in a teacher's edition? 8-[

I am not looking to be a teacher or a guru and I am learning as I go and would prefer to talk about the book Philosophy Who Needs It and Atlas Shrugged. I am giving away PWNI to newcomers. I bought a bunch of copies cheap so I'm giving them away like churches are giving out bibles.

Anyway, I am open to hearing about ways of making the discussion flow, discussion questions and some conversation starters. I'm listening.

Kat