Successful scuba club?

[Elvistheking]

Decent boat(s) (I know of a couple of clubs on the south coast of the UK with there own hard boat).
Own compressor with O2, He
Decent bar
Decent space for lectures.
I know of a club with a minibus to haul divers and dive kit.

Will that do?

 

[Elvistheking]

The club I belong to is not associated with a dive shop but it is a teaching club. In fact, it has been teaching diving since it began in 1957. Yes, that is two years before there was a national certification agency.

Key milestones in BSAC's history - British Sub Aqua Club

Or 4 years after this national certification agency (how old is CMAS?)

 

[MXGratefulDiver]

My club, North Coast Divers (in northern Calif.), has a whole of don't haves:

No dive shop affiliation
No meetings
No dues
No formal officers

What DO have:

Monthly local dives
Active forum on our website
Welcoming attitude for new divers or divers new to the North Coast
Lots of fun and fellowship

The North Coast Divers

That would also describe Northwest Dive Club ...

... Bob (Grateful Diver)

 

[MXGratefulDiver]

Having 2 dives shops makes it harder, as there is some bad blood between the owners.

You would think that with just two of them, they could get along. That sort of foolishness does more damage to local diving than just about anything else possibly can ... and ultimately harms both of their businesses ...

... Bob (Grateful Diver)

 

[captndale]

Key milestones in BSAC's history - British Sub Aqua Club

Or 4 years after this national certification agency (how old is CMAS?)

Perhaps I should have appended, "in the US." Of course, the "nation" I was referring to was my own.

 

[CamG]

Greetings fellow divers,
IMHO it takes active divers to keep a club going!
New blood in membership and leadership!
Be careful with affiliations unless that is the purpose of the club, example of a LDS forming a club to promote diving.
Have diving and non-diving events to include everyone, cook outs are a winner. BYOB!

Avoid the trap of the same old same old meetings!
When new ideas come from members make them a part of the decision process even if it is just to pitch the idea.
If it is a winner get them involved in the planning.

Do not beat your leadership into the dirt, have terms of service and make individuals skip at least one term to run for positions again.
Have both local and exotic dive opportunities and shake it up a bit.
Try some different environments to draw new divers and old ones alike.
Draw upon the depth of members to mentor new upcoming divers.

These are a few ideas and the toughest one is it takes more time than one thinks to keep it really happening.

Good luck and have fun.

CamG Keep Diving....Keep Training....Keep Learning!

 

[SwimJim]

I belonged to the then only "local" dive club for about 6 years. I saw that club drift away from diving and there were other issues involved with it. The membership suffered and we lost members. I decided to become president of that club in an effort to right the ship. My efforts we somewhat successful, but in the end I saw it as a no win situation and left. I felt there was a need for a proper club in the area as I knew a bunch of guys who wanted to go diving without all the baggage. So in January of 2008 I formed the Deep Six dive group. Deep Six Scuba Dive Group Website .
We are not affiliated with any dive shop. I wanted our membership to purchase and have their gear serviced where they feel comfortable doing so. We do have a dive shop owner in the membership and he does hawk his wares on occasion, but no one is pressured to go to his shop. he's fine with that. We have no dues for membership. All that is required is an interest in diving. We have two elected offices. A president and a vice to back him up. The only real rule I have put in is that no office holder can serve consecutive terms. In other words, you serve your year and then you get a get out of jail free card for a year. After that year is up you are once again elligable to take office if you like. By doing this I hope to avoid the group being considered a single persons group. Also, who ever takes on the office knows they are not going to be stuck with it as it does take some effort. I've found that past officers tend to help out the new ones and it works very well. I believe if everyone feels they have a stake in the goings on, the group tends to be stronger and much closer knit.
Our meetings vary in content with the season. We often have video presentations put together by our membership. Last month we had a guest speaker from the Coast Guard Aux come in. In the past we have had people involved in underwater archeology and wreck history. I did a presentation on regulators and their workings one night. We try and keep it fresh. By the way, some of the video's are in the movie theatre section of our website. If you have some time on your hands that's certainly worth checking out.
I believe a proper dive club needs to have something for all facets of it's membership. We try and have at least one activity for all levels during any given month during the season. We do everything from shore diving to the Rouse Simmons. I'm all for off season activities, but they must be dive related in some fashion. Just sitting in a tavern some place or going bowling isn't going to cut it. We have get togethers during the frosty months that involve hot chili and cool dive videos for instance. Trips to a maritime museum or a large aquarium are things that members find interesting. Locally theres the Our World show in Chicago and the soon to be here Ghostships festival in Milwaukee.
Finally, it should be a family thing. If it gets to rigid it won't work. Avoid clicks like the plague as they will really create division and cause problems. Don't be afraid to do joint activites with other clubs. That can be a blast. We regularly do ice dives with other groups and we have been attending the Neptunes Pearl Harbor day dive from when we started. Always a good time. I also attended a camp and dive up at Wazee with the Bucaneers one year. Good luck and safe diving!

jim

 

[AngusHDay]

There are two things that I think go a long way in making a scuba club successful.

1. You need a strong shop presence. I know not all but most scuba clubs are associated with a local shop. I can speak from experience when I say that the more successful clubs are going to be clubs where the shop owner, staff, instructors, and DM's buy into the importance of the club, attend the club meetings, and promote the club to new students. In most cases, the shop is the life-blood for the club.

2. Club members need to be very outgoing to new members. Again, speaking from experience, it makes all the difference in the world when a new guest or visitor comes to a club meeting and several members of the club introduces themselves to the guest, makes them feel welcome, and invites the guest to sit with them or something like that. People will come back if they feel they are wanted back.

Number 2 is excellent advice to any club that wants to thrive SCUBA or not.