Earlier this evening, I had a phone call from one of MWM's members that, in part, was about one of our listed SIGs and the low number of members who belong to it. While I have sent an e-mail to the person who runs that SIG offering some advice for growing the SIG, it seems appropriate to share that advice more widely.
SIGs are different things to different people. Between the three groups I've been a member of in my years in Mensa, I have had, essentially, three different types of local SIGs:
1) Community-oriented
2) Mailing list-RSVP essential (a "lesser" version of the first type, IMO)
3) "SIG" as term of art
In the first instance, a sense of belonging, ownership, and membership is desired. You are getting together because of some sense of a common bond, moreso than "just" the activity at hand. To me, this is the appeal of such groups as the GenX, GenY, and other such "affinity" groups. Building these requires the most time and effort, as the ideal situation would have the SIG leader building and maintaining some online venue for conversation and discussion - yahoogroup, Facebook, Twitter, whatever. Bring that online venue up in in-person conversations. Encourage people to join, get to know the others in the group, and come out to events that are held (be they scheduled on-calendar or impromptu off-calendar events).
The second instance seems, to me, to be a slightly less involved group than the first. This is what I used for my Bridge SIG back in New York and what I know the Bridge SIG here does as well. There is an e-mail list where advance coordination is necessary. In bridge, if you don't have full tables of 4, it pretty much kills the game. In New York, I struggled to have 4 people (from the about 10 or so on my list) coming in any particular week. If we knew in advance there wouldn't be enough people coming, we'd cancel. While intermittent non-SIG e-mails might have been sent, that wasn't the primary purpose of that SIG up in NY. So, while we got along, no sense of "community" was fostered. The only effort involved was sending out the reminder in advance and a cancellation when necessary.
The final instance is, essentially, what I do with the Tourist SIG. There is nothing "formal" about this SIG. People come to the events that interest them that fit into their schedule. There are times when I get about a dozen people. There are other times when it's just me. It truly is just a conceit/term of art using "SIG"; it's an excuse for me to get off my duff and do something I otherwise might not expend the energy on, and invite others to join me. The sense of community from the SIG lasts for the event, but is not an ongoing feeling, per se, in the context of the SIG. No e-mail list is maintained, and rarely is an RSVP of any sort needed (though they're usually requested so I can know if I should look for someone, or just march on solo or with a small group).
All of these methods work. It depends on the type of SIG that you are trying to run. What's more, publicity is also needed. The two primary methods of publicizing the SIG are: 1) putting an event in the calendar (using the SIG name in the title, of course), and 2) writing up an article (even if it's just a small paragraph) for the newsletter. Even when you are alone at an event you're running, write everything in the plural "we" instead of the singular "I", and you can make it sound like you had a large turnout for the SIG activity - which is always more attractive to fence-sitters than a group that sounds like there's no interest out there.
Interested in running a SIG? Contact our SIG Coordinator - Member-at-Large Chuck Divine - with the SIG's name, brief description, and your contact information to be included.
Interested in putting together a calendar entry, whether it's for a SIG or not? Contact our Programs Officer - Ben Paul - with that information. All calendar entries are due in by the 5th of the month for publication in the following month's CapM.
Interested in submitting an article talking about the great time you had host an event, whether it was for a SIG or something else in the chapter? Contact our Editor - Dave Aronson - with that. All submissions to the newsletter outside of the calendar are due in by the 10th of the month for publication in the following month's CapM.
Interested in having something related to your SIG (any of the above, or something else you may come up with) posted onto our website? Contact our Webmaster - Chris Rittweger - with that. There are no specific deadlines for submissions to the website, though the further in advance of your event, the likelier it is that it will be noticed by your target audience.
All of the contact information for the above individuals is listed in the inside front cover of CapM each month.
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