I first joined a quilt guild shortly after learning to quilt (at about age 23). The main meeting was nice - show and tell, and I brought and showed the small wall hanging I was working on hand quilting. After the meeting was disappointing - it was a social time and nobody invited me into their circle and I didn't feel comfortable breaking in. At the next meeting, I was told that all members were expected to work at the upcoming show that was only two weeks away. At the time, I was working long hours and also taking a graduate course in the evening that had a lot of homework. I felt this expectation was sprung on me at the (relatively) last minute and it felt unfair. I still felt unwelcome during the social portion at the end of the meeting. I think I might have gone to one or two more meetings before I stopped going altogether and did not renew my membership after that.
Several decades later, in fall of 2019, I decided to try joining another quilt guild. This one felt much more welcoming. The people who sat next to me during the main part of the meeting introduced themselves and chatted nicely. One nice thing the guild did was have a small gathering in early December with all the new members (about 7 of us) with the officers at the club at one of their houses. We each brought a show and tell item and talked about how we started sewing and quilting. The officers each talked about how they had gotten involved with running the guild - clearly the intention was to get new members to consider get involved with running the guild at some point, but there was no pressure to do anything right away. I volunteered to work some shifts at the guild's show in the spring, and had a nice time chatting with other guild members, especially when taking a break in the kitchen.
I think any guild that wants to have new members join and get involved would be wise to think about how to make new members feel welcome. Having someone assigned to introduce new comers to some other members would be one way to approach the issue. If nobody is responsible for actively welcoming and chatting with new members it can end up with nobody doing it and driving away new members who would be wonderful assets to the guild.