On Sat, Apr 20, 2013 at 8:49 AM, "Mark Bolitho" < mboli...@creaselightning.co.uk> wrote:
> The British Origami Society Questionnaire will be remain open until > 30th April 2013. We have had about 60 responses, but we would like a > few more. > Ack. I finished the survey before I added in a comment I wanted to make on it - and it's somewhat relevant to this list and other groups. The big question in my mind I'd ask is "What does my organization provide that others can't get for free without joining?" The biggest, clearest answer is "diagrams," which is the basic need of most people, particularly those only initially tangentially interested in origami. And they are plentiful online. Beyond that, I'd highly recommend assessing your services in terms of the population out there who will use them, and whether that number is great enough to sustain an organization. For example, if membership includes a service and clearinghouse for origami copyright issues, how many people are going to use that, and why would they use the BOS service over another? That's just one idea - but the one thing I find most commonly problematic in organizations over time is a disconnect between what leadership values and believes about how members (and the public) *should* feel about something, even when they don't. Or that people should have to go through an initiation or information process or wall before they get to what they're looking for. Commonly this manifests as an organization forcing people to click through twenty pages of web content about the history, acts, etc etc when what they really want to get is the contact information, the diagrams, or the information. In roller derby, my other nerdy hobby, many leagues form with a few members and then grow very large. Sometimes, the founders and builders can't let go or let people in, or let someone else make decisions or do work, or adapt to changing conditions. They also start believing they "own" particular things or that they are entitled to particular discretion or treatment. Usually these people have poured their hearts and souls and effort into things until those things become a "part" of them. We call this disease "Founder Entitlement Derangement Syndrome." In any case, having been out of touch with fine origami organizations like the BOS, I have only my small and medium-sized organizations to draw experience from, but I think some of that translates. Cheers. Rob
