September 2008

How do you make a new member, a member who attends meeting infrequently or a guest feel comfortable?  Your GREETERS!

Have your Greeters at the door before the meeting starts to greet people as they enter the meeting hall and give them a NAME TAG. If your lodge doesn?t have any, ask one of your gifted members to volunteer to make some - the computer can do some amazing things.  Or, have the children in your Barne Norsk group make some for the lodge.  Or, in a pinch, you can use the "Hello, I am ____" stick on ones you get at the office supply store. Try to use them at all your meetings; this makes everyone feel like they are part of the lodge. 

Name tags are particularly helpful at an initiation of new members -- they are great ice breakers.  Speaking of initiations, does your lodge set aside a specific time throughout the year to have an initiation ceremony at a meeting?  With the New Year approaching and the lodge calendars being made, maybe this would be a good time to incorporate your initiations into your lodge's meeting schedule. Two to four times a year would be great.  (If, at the designated meeting, there are no new members, no initiations will be held that night.)   Having it on the lodge's calendar makes it nice for the lodge members and the Secretary.  They'll know in advance when new members will be joining the lodge so they can be sure to attend.  And the new member is notified in advance of the date and can be welcomed in a big way!

Better yet, if there are a good number of new members, why not have an open meeting or social after the initiation ceremony, and let the new members invite friends and family to the event.  This is a good way for your lodge to spread the word on Sons of Norway.  You never know,  maybe that friend or family member could be your lodge's next new member.

Alt for denna ganeg,
Gail