tranum

Two or three veteran members should be assigned to one new member so they feel included. That’s what happened to us when we spent a month in a campground in AZ. We walked into a Bingo hall full of unfamiliar faces. Two people left their friends and met us at the door. They sat with us, showed us the ropes and answered any questions we may have had. Not just the first night either. We became good friends and still keep in contact.

copycat

We just had a Christmas in July program. We had 3 members do a demo on a quick gift idea. The guild members took a color strip when they signed in to the meeting. This divides the members into groups to visit the 3 stations at the same time. Yellow group goes to 1 table to view the demo and other 2 colors go to their matching color tables. After 15-20 minutes at 1 demo, the groups rotate until they have all seen the 3 demos. Its fun and you get to talk to members you may not have had a chance to get to know.

JudyG

A lot of our guild members are gone for the summer, so last year we had a "get to know your fellow quilter" at our first meeting in the fall after most everyone was back. We were each told to bring in something that represented what we had done that summer. One gal had gone on a trip to Alaska, so she brought in some fabric with items found in Alaska on them, another had gone to a wedding, so she brought in some memento from the wedding, one gal brought in a piece of lumber. She had worked on a Quilter's Lumberyard patter during the summer. We all put what we had brought on a table and each piece was assigned a number. Then we were all given papers and tried to figure out which item belonged to which guild member. There was a prize for the person getting the most right. It was really fun and got everyone to talking to each other.

We have two meetings each month. The first is our business meeting and after the meeting we have a "sewcial" where we bring our machines and work on whatever we want. Sometimes one of our members teaches a class of something that people want to learn. The second meeting is usually some sort of program, trunk show, or class taught by someone outside the guild.

Maggie8801

I felt just like you last week. We are moving to a new town in a year. I joined the local quilt guild at their show and attended my first meeting last week. No one greeted me but I am former military spouse, so have never met a stranger. Introduced myself and asked the membership/sign in person what I should do. She got me signed in and then said, go join a group and introduce myself. That did not work, so went into the meeting area and found a seat. Introduced myself to the two ladies on the row, they were pleasant but not welcoming. After the initial "my name is" stuff the meeting started.

Flash back two years ago. There had been some complaints that my current guild was not welcoming. I decided to make it my mission to greet every new person. I did that at each meeting and then found them a guild member to sit with and introduced the new person all around. Now I am the guild president and I still personally welcome all new members and chit chat with them. I also introduce myself to people who attend guild that I do not recognize. Sometimes they are old members who are just coming back or someone who rarely comes, rarely are they a friend, but at my age my mind is slipping. Our guild has 170 members so I guess I can lighten up on myself. Anyway, I will continue to attend the guild before we permanently relocate to Tyler, Tx. It is the only game in town and we have bought our retirement home.

Onebyone

I am a member of three guilds. My first time ever going to guild meeting they asked for volunteers to help with a committee. I raised my hand. That's all it took. If you are new then raise your hand and offer your help. You will be a known by name member in no time.

just janet

I like onebyone's answer. Great idea. Every guild is looking for volunteers of some kind. I'm sure you will be more then welcome!

tuckyquilter

Block of the Month? See who's willing to teach a workshop on guild day, or share family quilts and give a talk.

We have FatQtr Stack (about 5) tied with a ribbon, and when everyone is signed in they draw a number out of the jar and that person wins.

lisalovesquilting

Look into your local historical society.