Starting a dive club - What now...

[sflabrkr]

I'm also looking to start a dive club. does anybody know where I can get a reservation system so people can sign up and pay for their dives online?
Thanks
Stefan

 

[fire_diver]

I'm also looking to start a dive club. does anybody know where I can get a reservation system so people can sign up and pay for their dives online?
Thanks
Stefan

Thats a whole nother creature from a "dive club". You need to talk to somebody about E-commerce.

FD

 

[girldiverllc]

Used to run a dive club that had about 100 members. Not saying that this is THE way to do it...just a way that proved successful for us.

1) We charged a yearly membership fee and used that money for activities. $25 for individuals, $35 for families.

2) Offer weekly or twice monthly dives to DIFFERENT locations. Depending on the makeup of your group, you may want to offer on more than just the same night each week. We offered 2 - 4 Thursday dives per month and a Saturday dive (depending on the season...). This gave people with busy lives (who doesn't fit in there...?) a chance to get together at some point for a dive.

3) EAT. People like food and socializing. Food at your local eatery/pub post dive creates that community that will bring divers back again and again.

4) Holiday Events. Underwater Easter Egg Hunts, Pumkin Carving and Treasure Hunts. Christmas Gala's and Summer Dive/Beach Parties.

Creating a dive club is about bringing together a diverse group of people who get to know each other above the water as well as below. You get vested into each others lives, and want to share new adventures with your friends.

Good Luck...lots of work...but well worth the effort!

 

[eckybay]

I just joined my local dive club. Meeting are the first sunday of every month. Dues are $10 a person or $15 for a family. During the winter they are at the local Y where there is two hours to use the pool. During the summer they are held at various locations depending on what the plans are. The main problem seems to be lack of membership and figuring out how to get the word out to more divers.

 

[theskull]

I just joined my local dive club. Meeting are the first sunday of every month. Dues are $10 a person or $15 for a family. During the winter they are at the local Y where there is two hours to use the pool. During the summer they are held at various locations depending on what the plans are. The main problem seems to be lack of membership and figuring out how to get the word out to more divers.

If you dive often (not meet, but dive) and don't charge dues (who gets to keep the dues money and what do they do with it?) the word will get out. Your happy diving members will meet other divers and invite them to come diving. Other local folks who meet you at dive sites will enjoy the camaraderie and want to come along.

A couple tips:
*Make sure divers of any skill level will feel included, and dive buddies will be provided for the new, rusty, or insecure divers who will ENJOY making simple dives with them to help their buddies get better.
*Do some fun skill-acquiring stuff sometimes, like playing with liftbags or finding weighted tokens, or riding DPVs.
*Dive often at sites near enough that folks will feel it is worthwhile even if they can only join you for one day of the weekend.
*Email a report of the dive conditions and funny stories or activities enjoyed to all the members each week so they will feel included and know what fun they will be missing when they cannot join you.
*Have fun! Dive safe and have fun!

theskull

 

[eckybay]

who gets to keep the dues money and what do they do with it?

Any idea what it costs to rent out the Y pool for two hours? $95. This is done for 5 months. There's currently between 40-50 members. You do the math and figure out what's left over.

There's only one dive shop with in an hours drive from here. They don't have a pool, so the winter Y dives alone are worth it. During the summer they do the local quarries as well as the great lakes. Sounds like Florida trips happen from time to time and there's talk of heading over to Bonne Terre in Feb. Anything other than local quarries requires several hours in driving one way from where I'm at so there's not a whole lot for variety of diving.

 

[spectrum]

I have a network of about 2 dozen divesr. I have buddy cards which are business type cards with my contact info. I will initiate many of the dives some in the group will also initiate. It's a lot of fun. Dive shops are actually passing my info to divers anxious to find buddies.

You will find that lots of people are divers but few dive. they are certified, have the gear but it's just not a priority. Sometimes they are just in a spot in life where diving does not fit. none the less we keep them in the loop and they do get out occasionally.

Anyway it gives me lots of conacts and we can be from 2 to 8 divers for a given dive.

I dislike the "club" work and like the idea of simply networking.

Pete

 

[theskull]

Any idea what it costs to rent out the Y pool for two hours? $95. This is done for 5 months. There's currently between 40-50 members. You do the math and figure out what's left over.

There's only one dive shop with in an hours drive from here. They don't have a pool, so the winter Y dives alone are worth it. During the summer they do the local quarries as well as the great lakes. Sounds like Florida trips happen from time to time and there's talk of heading over to Bonne Terre in Feb. Anything other than local quarries requires several hours in driving one way from where I'm at so there's not a whole lot for variety of diving.

Certainly not criticizing something that works for you. If your local divers want to dive in a pool, someone does need to rent it for them.

Our club dives are in open water. Our winter dives are in drysuits, except for a very few hardy individuals. The local (3-hour drive) quarries only charge $20-25 per day entry fee, and the local (4-hour drive) lakes are free. And once in a great while we get feeling affluent and spend the $195 it cost to dive in Bonne Terre for a day (at least it's only 1-1/2 hour drive). However, Bonne Terre is not much warmer than the local lakes for the greatest part of the year.

theskull

 

[Bob_B]

Just set up a site for members to stay in contact with each other and before long a "club" will happen..

We started with 4 people that wanted to dive all the time but could not always get together at the same time. We started a web and a forum to post our planned dives and before you know it NCDivers.com became the #1 site for finding a dive buddy, dive shop or dive location in NC. Our group has gathered to build DIY O2 analyzers, Christmas parties, Key West trips, Cave trips and most importantly, weekly local dives.

IMO, the worse thing you could do is start a structured club with officers and dues and such.. money and power struggles will kill a club before it has a chance to mature...

 

[Bob_B]

I'm also looking to start a dive club. does anybody know where I can get a reservation system so people can sign up and pay for their dives online?
Thanks
Stefan

if you know anything about web sites, you can setup a simple on-line store and use paypal to collect and track the payments.. we use it for several group trips per year and it works out great...