I live in a mostly rural area and joined my Guild in order to take the beginner classes they offer yearly. That was about 6 years ago and while the first few months felt like jr. high being the "newbie", I've gotten very involved and love it! We meet monthly, always have a program (either a member doing one or an outside presenter) do workshops about once a month (the big discussion when I first joined was whether to have the workshops on Sat so the working members could attend--we have both a day and an evening meeting). We are a fairly large group, and as someone else said, there is always a bit of cliqueyness. But really, with that large of group, what it boils down to is groups that are friends and hang together because they are friends outside of Guild, too. (having spent 27 yr as a middle school educator, I KNOW cliques!) And we are all friendly with one another and supportive of each others quilting tastes and work. I also belong to a long arm quild that only meets quarterly or national teachers. It's good too, but really isn't as fun as the other Guild.