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Club surveys or questionnaires???

Joined
Feb 21, 2011
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Location
Elkhart, IN
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www.riccsdesigns.com
Anyone involved with a club have any club surveysquestionnaires they want to share? I am looking to help put together a survey for our club members to see what their skill levels are, areas of interest turning related or non-turning related - especially if their non-turning sklills/interests can be used to help the club in some way like web design, news letter, etc. Or maybe to see if they are interested in getting involved in other things like mentoring a new turner, or one on one helping another club member develop a new specific skill to expand that club member's skillset outside a regular club demo topic, etc.

But, I don't want to leave the questions too open for them to write whole paragraphs for each answer. I guess I'd like to be able to have questions that have multiple choice answers so some sort of data can be tabulated without having 30 or 40 different answers for each question that then need to some how be consolidated into meaningful data.

My idea is to use an online survey service like survey monkey so they can answer anonymously.

If you have a written survey questionnaire that you want to share it can be sent to me at rv.havens@gmail.com

Thanks
Ricc
 
Joined
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Erie, PA
Ricc in the ten years that I was my clubs President twice I put out questionnaires. for me a waste of time. 70% or more of the club does not care, all they want is to be entertained at each meeting. What I did was make sure that everyone if they wanted that they had the opportunity to learn. That old adage is so true that you can lead a horse to water but you can't make it drink. In my estimation you have to gear the club in the direction of those that want to learn. If you do that you will teach those that want it and the others will be entertained. Your core group that does 95% of the work to make the club work changes very little.
 
Joined
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Bill. thanks for the input. You are correct and I don't expect the majority to respond. In my younger days I was a semi-professional clown. I was the president of the area clown club so I am familiar with the percentages of those who does the work of the club and those who enjoy the work that the others do. But, with the pandemic and doing meetings via zoom it's hard to get some involvement. I knw some who just log in and never say a thing they just watch. Especially the new onesthe survey is always a good start. Especially for those that are new and don't feel like they can have much input. If we keep the survey anonomous we hope to get a slightly higher percentage of respondes (even though we know the overall survey participation percentage will still be low.)
 
Joined
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Bozeman, MT
My experience with surveys and questionnaires for our club members, and experience with club members in general, echoes Bill's comments. Most surveys were not returned. The few we would get back didn't really help much.

We periodically change president and each one seems to have a little different style and a little different focus for what they think we should do. As one of two stuck with the job officers, getting used to the new leadership can be a challenge, but the change provides variety over the long haul. Eventually we get around to nearly everything anyone could want.

I like your idea of finding out what skills your members may have, however. If your club is big enough that you don't know everybody pretty well, then pairing your questionnaire with a president who understands Army style volunteering could work out well.
 
Joined
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Dean, thanks for your input. The club isn't huge. Around 40-50. But, with being remote zoom meetings for the past year it's hard to know everyone and to know what types of turning interests they have. As far as the leadership understanding "Army style volunteering" - they have determined they need to learn to delegate more. I'm not on the Board but in the past I had opened my mouth on volunteering to help and they remembered. So, here I am :cool: :). And, I OK with that!!!
 
Joined
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La Porte, IN
Ricc--if it's for the Michiana Chapter, i'll take any education i can get. Relative novice, and while YouTube has helped--it's not the same. Any plans to go back to live meetings? Thanks!!
Earl McLain
 
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Ric, I have found it almost impossible to get involvement outside of the meetings. I have done the newsletter for our club for two years and have repeatedly asked for input and none given. If I were to do a survey it would be at a meeting, as I don’t think I would get 5 responses in a request from an email. Good Luck.
 
Joined
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Elkhart, IN
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Earl, it is not for the Michiana club. While I am a paid member of that club I have not been to a club meeting in a few years. I don't drive due to a vision issue and there is no one in Elkhart where I live that wants to drive to that club meeting on a tuesday night. It is for another club that meets on a saturday which my "chauffeur" prefers. But we have been meeting via zoom since last year. I will send you a private message
 
Joined
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Ricc I do the website for our club and the only two surveys I had a good response for were three years ago for a picnic and this year for what demos they wanted this year. For that last one we had 24 responses out of the near 50 members. So Yes I too agree with Bill but there will be exceptions.

As to "Army style volunteers" well that would be orders and that will not work in a club. What does work is instead of asking for volunteers select a qualified individual and ask them to do a job. You will not get a hit every time but much better than the "we need a volunteer"
 
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Gerald, thanks for the response. 24 out of 50 is about 50% which I would consider a good response compared to normal percentages. When you did your survey on demos did you use a multiple choice or allow free response? Is that a survey you could share with me?

Thanks
Ricc
 
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We did the survey on our website powered by Club Express. I set it up as a check box list. The copy below is the results. The types of demos were mostly one word unless adding more than one item in that line. Hope this helps.

Survey: Program/ Demo Survey
Question: Choose demos
Total Answers: 112
Answer Count Percentage
Basic Bowl Turning 6 5.36
Basic Spindle Turning 8 7.14
Embellishment- Carving, Painting & Burning 10 8.93
Finials 10 8.93
Hollow Forms 13 11.61
Lathe Maintenance 7 6.25
Off Center Turning 9 8.04
Platters---Round & Square 12 10.71
Rings,Bracelets kits,Pendants,Earrings,&others 10 8.93
Sanding and Finishing 8 7.14
Sharpening 10 8.93
Tools & best uses -Manufactured & shop made 9 8.04
 
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