Enquiries about chess clubs

[Andrew Zigmond]

I wondered if any other club officers have some across the same issue.

You receive an email or a telephone call from somebody interested in joining the chess club. So you give them details of where and when the club meets and tell them you'll look forward to meeting them. Then, more often than not, that's the last you ever hear from them. I would estimate that for every five who contact me about joining the Harrogate Club only one actually turns up.

For me it can sometimes be frustrating because Harrogate currently use two non connected rooms in the same venue; a downstairs room for friendly games with matches played upstairs. I've been getting quite intense about there always being a committee member in the downstairs room (normally myself but there are times I have to be upstairs) and also preventing members without a match from going upstairs so they don't congregate talking, leaving visitors to walk into an empty room. As with everything first impressions count.

[MSoszynski]

I wondered if any other club officers have some across the same issue.

You receive an email or a telephone call from somebody interested in joining the chess club. So you give them details of where and when the club meets and tell them you'll look forward to meeting them. Then, more often than not, that's the last you ever hear from them. I would estimate that for every five who contact me about joining the Harrogate Club only one actually turns up.

[...]

I'm afraid that this is normal. Club players looking for a new club will often just turn up, without initial enquiries. But people unfamiliar with club chess will be different. They don't know what to expect of a new committment among strangers — who are likely to defeat them.

"I've been meaning to join a club for years". That simply means that they might "mean to" for longer still.

[J T Melsom]

Andrew

Not an uncommon experience.

Have you considered collating a list of inquirers and then writing back? I'm not sure it has proved that successful in getting people over the initial hurdle of a first club night, but some did reply mostly to postpone a decision due to being busy or to say it wasn't for them. I think some appreciated the reminder, so might be closer to joining because of that.

In similar vein I'm unclear whether some of our juniors have gone missing because of the level of fees, school work, internet is better, discovered dating, or any other reasons. So I wrote recently to say we were missing them, and inviting feedback. No responses yet but early days.

Your observations about visibility of club members indicate that you are putting a fair degree of thought into this. I'd be a bit wary of over-thinking, as you are probably doing more right than wrong and are just experiencing the often unfathomable whims of potential members.

[Ian Thompson]

I'm afraid that this is normal. Club players looking for a new club will often just turn up, without initial enquiries.

When I wanted a join a new club, a long time ago, I did just that. After being ignored by everyone in the room for about 10 minutes I left, having found out all I needed to know about the club. Perhaps not surprisingly, the club in question no longer exists.

It had a happy ending though. The next club I tried was Hertford who were very friendly and for whom I was happy to play for for the year or so I was working in the area.

[Joey Stewart]

It is quite a fine line to walk when dealing with new members. Obviously in an ideal world there would be a whole section of club members who served as greeters and coaches to help welcome and retain new players but at the same time it has to be their own choice and trying to conscript them into the role is likely to have the reverse effect on club growth. Well worth the time investment for struggling clubs to do though as once you have taught a few new players and integrated them into the club it tends to get easier to bring in more.

[Kevin Thurlow]

Redhill had an embarrassing moment when a stranger arrived on the night we had a home match, and we assumed he was a visiting player, so just said, "hello" and left him to his own devices. It was only when the opposing captain arrived and we said one of your players is here, and he said it wasn't, that we rushed over to apologise and find him a game. He took it surprisingly well.

We did have one player who was very happy to greet strangers and either play them himself or arrange suitable opposition. He was a good enough player to quickly estimate the strength of newcomers.

But not many people will want to prioritise friendlies against newcomers.

[Andrew Zigmond]

Thank you to everybody for their responses. This was prompted slightly by the events of last Monday where I was expecting potentially up to six new members (due to a backlog of enquiries over Christmas and New Year when we were closed). So as I wasn't working that day I made a point of getting to the venue early, setting up the tables and clocks for the club championship and also the sets in the downstairs room so that I was ready. I even told my championship opponent we would need to start a bit later so I was there to greet any newcomers - that's why I was a bit peeved not one of them turned up.

It helps that at Harrogate our inter club chess is played on other nights so new members can be easily identified (although other groups do share the venue, another reason why I like to be organised). At the end of the day we were all new to chess at some point.

[Ljubica Lazarevic]

Dare I say it, think of it as a typical marketing funnel. You get some enquiries (leads), of which a percentage will turn up to view the club (market qualified leads) of which a percentage of that will become members (conversions). There are some things you can do to try and up the percentages at each stage, including as mentioned above, nurturing your leads with follow ups, e.g. "sorry we missed you last night, if you've got any questions or concerns, let us know", or "it was great to meet you at the club last night, we hope you enjoyed it. Would you like to come back again next week?" Etc.

Of course, the big difference here is that this is all driven by voluntary effort. Your milage may vary...

But there will always be that drop off. Be impressed with your clubs presence that it was enough to get those folk to enquire, that is to be celebrated.

[Paul Habershon]

Nothing original, but my top three requirements:
1) Good website to encourage visits and enquiries. Also information for, wonder of wonders, the ready-made player.
2) Two rooms (perhaps rarely achieved), one for 'Shush!' and one for casual games, normal chat and social interaction. Even better if the second room is a welcoming bar.
3) A couple of members who are not too nerdy and can empathise with what beginners may be feeling and thinking.

[Stephen Westmoreland]

With the increased interest in chess, we are seeing more appear that not. It helps to have a thriving junior section in that encourages parents to join, tying families to the club.

Paul Habershon is exactly right above. Sadly we do not have two rooms though.

[Joey Stewart]

Paul Habershon is exactly right above. Sadly we do not have two rooms though.

Keep growing and maybe one day that dream will come true - with all the stories you hear of pubs struggling to stay in profit it must be a bit of a buyer's market for hiring chess premises right now.

[Kevin Thurlow]

"Keep growing and maybe one day that dream will come true - with all the stories you hear of pubs struggling to stay in profit it must be a bit of a buyer's market for hiring chess premises right now."

You would think that, but those that survive seem to have many people wanting to rent rooms, and pub landlords seem to think chess players don't drink, so they don't want them.

[J T Melsom]

Just got home from a club night to an fresh inquiry on a conversation thread started two years ago. ' Are we still meeting? ' This from somebody with 'an appetite to learn more'. I hope he turns up and since I have a match next week, he is welcomed by those members not involved. I hope they don't assume he is with our visitors from Uxbridge (Kevin's anecdote resonated!).

Perhaps the oddest inquiry that has yet to come to anything was from a gentleman who was evidently reading some sort of chess book, unfamiliar to me, but which upon googling i found to be far from basic. He no longer had an opponent and I think mentor available at his London club (not chess) but his keenness to learn has obviously been overtaken. I'd even chatted for some time on the phone. Perseverance and patience needed.