coming home

Everyone I run into in the meetings world seems to be stressed about sagging attendance at their meetings, or about what they expect to be sagging attendance at their meetings. I, admittedly, am quite stressed out about this too.

The thing is, when you are feeling down and out about your work (or anything in life, for that matter), where do you want to go? Who do you want to talk to? Most likely, it’s people who either are going through, or have been in, the same situation you are. You want people who understand, and who, maybe, just maybe, might have some good ideas about how you might get yourself out of whatever mess you’re in.

My theory is, if I can show my members that not only can they find some comfort, but also some hope, in coming to our meeting, that might be the ticket. Obviously, we don’t want a pity party, but by sharing the experiences of what we are all going through in a specific context of our lives, maybe we can find the hope we need to get through. Maybe, if we talk enough, listen enough and think hard enough, maybe we can even come up with something better than what we have.

I think associations have the power of community at their back. Now it is time to leverage it.