Thanks to you and Gnangarra for your efforts. It is a pity that the event didn't attract others, but, I think, this highlights our need to think hard about how to get more public engagement. At the public meeting (as you will see from the IRC log) we did have some talk about the need for a membership drive, which isn't exactly the same as getting more public engagement, but I think good public engagement would naturally lead to more WMAU members over time, so they are somewhat overlapping issues.
We need to think about the nature of our "target market" and what kinds of events/activities etc would attract them to get involved (and/or become a member), and how to get in touch with them. In that regard, maybe it's useful to share how existing members 1) first became aware of WMAU 2) first engage in some kind of WMAU-related activity 2) what made you actually fill out that membership form and join up as that may give us tips on how to go about finding new folk. I'll start. I started editing on WP in 2005 and continued to do so sporadically over the years; I found it a somewhat lonely experience; I think I would have been attracted to physical meetups if I had known of them. I think I first heard of WMAU when I went googling for Australian GLAM organisations as part of a research bid and stumbled upon GLAM WIKI http://www.wikimedia.org.au/wiki/GLAM-WIKI two days after the event (maddeningly as I would have attended the event had I known about it in time). A year or so later, a contact from State Library of Queensland told me that some folk from WMAU would be meeting with SLQ and asked if I would like to come along and meet the WMAU as it might be of mutual interest. I met John V and Craig F that day and, on learning about the SLQ regional workshops (which resonated with my own interests in Queensland history), joined WMAU. So, the key elements in my story are * already WP editor * interesting events * word-of-mouth recommendation * face-to-face meeting But I think for me, ultimately, it was about face-to-face. It was face-to-face that ultimately triggered my joining and I think I would have joined/engaged earlier if I had known of upcoming face-to-face events. Note, one of the ways some societies get their members is they hold (or sponsor) an event and offer a discounted price for the event for society members (that is, it is financially advantageous to become a member). Of course such strategies would see a lot of non-renewals at the end of the year, but one would hope that some would be retained through our excellent program of Whatever It is. Kerry -----Original Message----- From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of Sam Wilson Sent: Monday, 3 December 2012 11:12 AM To: [email protected] Subject: Re: [Wikimediaau-l] Transcript of today's public IRC meeting On Sun, December 2, 2012 8:04 pm, John Vandenberg wrote: > The transcript of today's meeting is available online. > > http://www.wikimedia.org.au//wiki/Meeting:Public_%282012-12-02%29/Transcript > I just added a note about Freopedia to the talk page of the above's parent. Meant to come to the meeting. :-) http://www.wikimedia.org.au//wiki/Meeting_talk:Public_%282012-12-02%29 - Sam. _______________________________________________ Wikimediaau-l mailing list [email protected] https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimediaau-l _______________________________________________ Wikimediaau-l mailing list [email protected] https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimediaau-l
