Need help with a herp society!!

I am a member of the Southern Herp Society based in the Shreveport-Bossier metro area in LA. Currently, this herp society serves as a branch under the LGCHS. However, we are looking to expand and become a more independent society. I have been selected as an interim president with the task of building the society up and gaining more members.

What I am looking for from you are any suggestions, opinions, advice and help on achieving this daunting task. I have a feeling that the biggest problem facing our society is the lack of exposure. So how do I get the word out that we exist, with the hopes of attracting new members? We have been holding monthly meetings for a few years, but participation by the existing members is fleeting and sporadic to say the least. Does anyone have any ideas on how to keep the members interested and committed to coming to the meetings a little more faithfully? We only have about a dozen members of the 35-50 total that come regularly, many being students in high school. Our meetings are Tuesday nights at 7pm, does this seem to be an inconvenient time that prevents a better attendance by our members?

I appreciate any help or suggestions that you may have and welcome all comments.

Robert Charvat
Southern Herpetological Society

When I was involved with the local herp society, consistent attendance was a problem. Meeting location, and scheduling, can be very big factors. Obviously, none of us can say if Tues at 7pm is a good time for your members...but I can say that I would never have made it to one here. I would lean toward the simple approach - ask the membership if Tuesday at 7pm is a good day/time for them, or if another would work better. If you have a solid core of attendees, you might want to consider their input fairly seriously...it may not be worth changing the date to accommodate people that may or may not show up, especially if you lose some of the regulars in the process.
You will also need to consider the availability of the location, if you contemplate changing dates.

Does the facility you use for the meetings advertise them in any way?
What generally goes on at your meetings? Is it just a get together (meet n greet)? Do you have speakers? Animals on display? Animals for sale?
Have you tried getting your meetings included in the events/what's happening section of the local newspapers? You could also try to get them to run an article about the herp group, a speaker, or a meeting a few days beforehand...try to get a picture with a herp included.

Stage a display someplace - we used to do them for one of the stores in the mall (actually, at a few of the area malls)...check with learning, nature, or science stores. The store itself will usually promote it ahead of time, and a representative of your group could alert the TV news...maybe get a quick spot ahead of time, and coverage of the event.

btw - the consensus was that weekend afternoons were the desired time, when I was dealing with scheduling issues. It was pretty much evenly split between Sat & Sun. This works easier for most families than weeknights, + you can sometimes draw traffic from nearby events, and get bigger crowds for your PR activities (mall displays, etc)

I was one of the founding members of the Maine Herp Society in 1990. So we've been going for 18 years now. While not huge, we've been steady at about 100 members with many of them sticking with us since the beginning.

We meet on the 3rd Sat. of every month. Most members do not attend meetings. 15 would be a large turn-out. This will probably go down as the price of gas goes up. Some people have to drive 3 hours to attend. What binds us together is the monthly newsletter(that is mailed not on the web), yahoo group site and our annual expo in Portland.

Advertising is word of mouth and we set up an MHS table at a number of expos in New England and New York. This is for members to sell from and give out information on the society. Also since we have our own show each year we do get a number of new members each year from that.