Originally Posted by
dc989
Our guild is very clique and it is hard to be the newbie. Folks who seem to assimilate well are friendly, not too braggy and are willing to help without acting like they know it all. Those seem like obvious behavior, but in our guild which is in a retirement area we get interested members who try to remake the group or are constantly telling everyone about their history. I'd say try to make a friend early so you have someone to sit and visit. Ask questions, but don't monopolize the conversation. Go to the classes, sew ins and so on so you get acquainted with folks. It's hard to meet people at a business style meeting.
Great advice! I went to one American Sewing Guild group here. After spending a big part of the hour listening to one woman tell us how much better the group were where she used to live, I decided that it wasn't the group for me.
And, yes, getting more involved than just going to a meeting is how you meet and get to know people. Go to classes, sew ins, volunteer to help out. You'll meet lots of nice people.