events.

[barney]

Hi everyone,

I know im probably still considered a new member but feel i could make a good contribution to the site in the future.

My first observation is that one area of the membership i would love to see thrive would be the events diary.
I do feel that not enough effort is put into getting everyone together and organising a few meetings around the country.
Ok so you all say put your money where your mouth is.
Which is fine , i would be more than happy to try and arrange a day here or there to get to meet a few people if there was any interest there.

It doesnt have to be anything specail, maybe a day watching seals in Kent, or a day seeing Adders in Surrey,or a day at the wildfowl centre at Arundel, or a day at the British wildlife centre Surrey , or a morning checking a moth trap over coffee.

Just a few ideas all it needs is some enthusiasm

Any takers?

Jon.

[John]

Hi Jon

I suppose a Members meet forum could be established. Other forums do it. As for meets. There are a few that go on from time to time. I organised one to both Bempton and then Anglesey. Fourwings has organised a couple at Wicken Fen (the 2nd one this weekend) so it does go on.

We could do with a few more suggestions as it is a good idea to have these occasional meets so lets see what others think.

John

[Wild-Woman]

It's a good idea so long as the events are organised along way ahead so that we can plan our calendars well in advance. Also there's always the difficulties of where people live and travelling to them in some cases. I'm all for it and it would be nice to have a map with locations marked for events,stations, nearest towns and reasonable priced over night accomodation. Hope my input helps. Julie

[eeyore]

Originally Posted by barney

I do feel that not enough effort is put into getting everyone together and organising a few meetings around the country.
Jon.

To be fair we have had four meets in the last couple of months one at bempton , one at anglesea , and 2 at wicken (the second of which is tommorow thinking about it)

when you say "not enough effort is put in" I have to wonder who you are saying is slacking , Stu and co already put a huge ammount of effort into wab both on the site and off and a number of the rest of us are also working very hard behind the scenes.

To my mind if members want meets they will organise them , as we have seen with Fourwings and John /Alan so my reply to your criticism is, as you said, put your money where your mouth is and organise something , pick a venue and a date and just go for it.

[barney]

Hi,

It wasn`t meant as a criticism of anyone,i just thought it would be a good idea to try and get everyone together more often.

Obviously i should keep my nose out.
Jon.

[nightshade]

There are always constraints;Time,Distance,Cost,
I should love to meet some of the other members
but the only constant is the keyboard
As long as some of the good writers go along and
report, along with the photographers images we all
"get to go" my thanks to those that do for the
excellent reporting

[eeyore]

Originally Posted by barney

Hi,

It wasn`t meant as a criticism of anyone,i just thought it would be a good idea to try and get everyone together more often.

Obviously i should keep my nose out.
Jon.

you really ought to keep your nose in. If you think there ought to be more members meets then, like i said, organise something. Actions speak louder than words and all that

[John]

Originally Posted by barney

Hi,

It wasn`t meant as a criticism of anyone,i just thought it would be a good idea to try and get everyone together more often.

Obviously i should keep my nose out.
Jon.

Hi Jon

You meant well, that's the main thing. The problem with WAB (and it's a good one) is that the members interests are very diverse and getting like minded people to a meet can be quite hard. I organised an event in Yorkshire, part Birdforum members and part WAB members that was fairly well attended yet when I organised the Anglesey event only a married couple turned up from WAB. That took quite a bit of organising and I have to admit it was a bit soul destroying to see that I was only taking four people around (two others were friends of mine, Diane and her husband Keith from WAB, but they were going anyway).

The Dragonfly meet Fourwings organised was a great success but the one problem is getting enough people to respond that are prepared to travel as I doubt there are many local to an area. We are all spread out.

Birdforum has near 50,000 members and they struggle to get large meets together. I have organised a few very succesful ones, equally some haven't worked out as well.

I think as time goes by, and more members join, I think you will find that more meets are organised and more members attend those meets.

As eeyore has said. Why don't you come up with some ideas of meets and we will see what interest we can generate.

John