Quilt Guild Meetings
 

Hi,

Our Guild is now 200 members and thoughts are it is getting too big.

Do any Guilds have two meetings?

If so, how do manage guest speakers, challenges, officers, etc?

Thanks,
Drew

I belong to 3 guilds - a very small one (fewer than 30), a very large one (over 300), and one in the middle. The very large guild (in Salem) has a morning meeting and an evening meeting. Most people come to the morning meeting, so it can be very crowded. Each meeting has the same speaker, but there is a different set of officers for each meeting (a morning president, an evening president, etc.) They meet together for board meetings. I never thought about the challenges, but I think they are the same for both groups.

I belong to a guild in a neighboring town and in January 2011 there were 22 members and this year so far we have 42 members, almost double what it was last year and it keeps growing.

We have always had two meetings, one in the morning and one at night to accomodate everyone. At the beginning of the meeting we take care of buisness, old and new, praying for those who are sick and/or need prayers for other things, share about our families and then we have someone teach us something, and then show and tell of our projects we are working on or have completed. At the morning meeting when all is said and done we decide where we want to go to lunch. :-)

Two of the Guilds I once belonged to had wait lists when a certain number of members was reached.
Seem to work out well.
I moved and opened 2 slots.

I am past president of my guild... we are rather small, 50 members, usually about about 35-39 present for a meeting. We have a waiting list, and it seems that the wait is never all that long. People move, or become too ill, or family stuff gets in the way and they leave.

I must say, after having been a member of at least 8 or 9 quilds over the years, I have never met a happy or understanding want-to-be guild member who didn't 'make it' because some guild limited its membership. To a person they have all had hurt feelings and a bad taste in their mouths for a group of fellow quilters who could be so exclusive as to reject another quilter. No matter the reason.

I have also been in two guilds that have made the serious and sometimes painful decision to move the meeting location to accommodate growth. And that quickly appeared to benefit everyone!

Wouldn't it be awkward if Quilters Newsletter Magazine or McCall's Quilting magazine printed only, say, 50,000 copies because that's how many rolled off the presses in one 24 hour day and they just didn't want to bother to run them a second day?

Jan in VA

With our large group in Florida, it came down to fire code laws. Only so many people in certain amount of space. After moving once to larger and more expensive place, we had no choice but to limit membership. It had nothing to do with not wanting more members.

My guild has about 100 people give or take at every meeting, we have lecture and the classes from lecturer with a limited number if seats ( they cost separate too) works well we just meet in a place that can accomedate that many people... Changed locations twice in the last year, not because of size but because they needed to do construction on the site, and we would be unable to park and what not....

My guild has about 250 members. The guild has 2 chapters, a morning & a night. Executive board consists of a president, vice-pres, secy, & treas. Also a day co-ordinator, day secy, day treas and a night co-ordinator, night secy & night treas. Each chapter plans its own program, but a few times a year the "guild" sponsors the program & workshop with nationally known quilters. Challenges & holiday mystery are " guild" activities, but each chapter plans its own block of the month, small workshops, etc. Hope that info helps you.