Does your quilt guild do anything to help integrate new members?
Years ago I belonged to a large urban quilt guild with perhaps a couple of thousand members. Enjoyed many of their meetings, but after a number of years realized that I was tired of seeing a slide show/lecture every month. I did not know any members going in, and when I left knew some of the members by name only; never got to know any of the other quilters personally. Members were encouraged to join committees to meet other quilters, but I'm not a committee type person at all, and so was content to just find an empty folding chair at the monthly meetings.
More recently I joined a smaller rural quilt guild that had perhaps 50 to 60 people coming to meetings, hoping to meet other quilters. Meetings were somewhat hectic what with minutes, committee reports, show-and-tell, and presenters all packed into 1-1/2 hours. Again I went in knowing no one, and left knowing a few people by name only. When I did not renew my membership, the guild president emailed to ask about it. I replied at some length, detailing the difficulties I had had with actually getting to know anyone, and suggested perhaps they should consider setting up a "welcome" table staffed by longstanding members to help newbies integrate. (I had noticed several other newcomers encountering the same problems I had at the meetings, never having a chance to talk to the regulars who all sat together in their own groups.) The guild president thanked me for the input (apparently few who leave ever told her why) and said that she had been lucky enough to start attending the guild with two neighbor friends.
Anyway, this experience got me to wondering if any quilt guilds actually do something positive to help newcomers become part of the group. I can see where it would help a *lot* to know someone who is already a member of the guild. What about people who come knowing no one?