Hi all,
Todd, I'm not sure you caught my comment at the end, so I'm starting us
off.

Please reply to this email with any questions or ideas you might have
regarding how to help our Chapters become their best selves!

Here are some of my thoughts to start us off.

I was taking a quick look at our chapter blogs and it seems like a lot of
them have not been updated in a while. Are chapters sending out email
newsletters/ printed newsletters instead? Perhaps a blog is too
cumbersome and unnecessary. I would love to help streamline our online
communications anyway I can, and make whatever online communications we do
have work to their best abilities. I think posting upcoming chapter
workshops front and center on our home page could be one way to help
encourage participation.

It's probably too much to ask the chapters to chime in with updates about
their happenings at these meetings, but you should all feel free and
welcome to use this email address to forward any newsletters, or just send
a quick update with any good stuff you may have going on. Word of mouth and
grassroots movements are likely our best bets at growing the GBW, so the
more we all know about whats happening in other chapters, the more likely
we are to share that info. I'm in a lucky spot, as I get to make all the
registrations for chapter workshops and am generally in communications with
most of you, but I do think it would be beneficial if more people knew what
the chapters were up to, especially if the workshops are going to be made
accessible via zoom or recorded sessions. Use the listserv as a way to
publicize your events! A communal calendar is still something I would love
to see come to fruition. Henry and I have brainstormed ways to make one
easy to use, and inexpensive to build, but haven't taken any real steps
yet. The newsletter, instagram and facebook are also excellent places to
advertise workshops etc.

San Diego Book Arts has over 200 members, spanning four countries. Perhaps
we should start picking the brains of other organizations to see how they
foster engagement?

Long-distance engagement seems really important for anyone outside of a
city center- the valentine exchanges seem like a great idea. This could be
something the chapters all adopt so that the national board can help spread
the word. Other chapter specific, but nationally recognized events could be
created. Then we as an organization could say that all the chapters take
part in certain yearly events, not just Standards. These can be small
things such as a valentine exchange, paper swap (think yarn swap) or
hosting an online demonstration (The SDBA is currently hosting a demo by
Shawn Sheehy, for example). Co-sponsoring an online workshop with another
chapter, or even another organization could be beneficial in a lot of ways
as well.

And just because numbers are fun, we have 3,116 instagram followers.
People are interested in what we have to offer, we just need to think up a
few more ways to capture their interest in the form of memberships. I'm
using SDBA as my example because I happen to receive their email newsletter
in the communications inbox and finally made it to their website two days
ago. The Sheehy demonstration really caught my eye and I started looking
into becoming a member, despite living in NH because of it. There are lots
of members who teach and host workshops that are not sponsored by our
chapters. Could there be a way for us to partner with members already
teaching classes they have already set up? Karen Hanmer is a prolific
workshop host, previous board member, and has recently let me know she was
interested in volunteering with GBW again. She could potentially have some
great ideas on this topic...

Communications Chair for the Guild of Book Workers

GBWEXEC mailing list -- gbwexec@list.guildofbookworkers.org
To unsubscribe send an email to gbwexec-leave@list.guildofbookworkers.org

Hi all,
Todd, I'm not sure you caught my comment at the end, so I'm starting us
off.

Please reply to this email with any questions or ideas you might have
regarding how to help our Chapters become their best selves!

Here are some of my thoughts to start us off.

I was taking a quick look at our chapter blogs and it seems like a lot of
them have not been updated in a while. Are chapters sending out email
newsletters/ printed newsletters instead? Perhaps a blog is too
cumbersome and unnecessary. I would love to help streamline our online
communications anyway I can, and make whatever online communications we do
have work to their best abilities. I think posting upcoming chapter
workshops front and center on our home page could be one way to help
encourage participation.

It's probably too much to ask the chapters to chime in with updates about
their happenings at these meetings, but you should all feel free and
welcome to use this email address to forward any newsletters, or just send
a quick update with any good stuff you may have going on. Word of mouth and
grassroots movements are likely our best bets at growing the GBW, so the
more we all know about whats happening in other chapters, the more likely
we are to share that info. I'm in a lucky spot, as I get to make all the
registrations for chapter workshops and am generally in communications with
most of you, but I do think it would be beneficial if more people knew what
the chapters were up to, especially if the workshops are going to be made
accessible via zoom or recorded sessions. Use the listserv as a way to
publicize your events! A communal calendar is still something I would love
to see come to fruition. Henry and I have brainstormed ways to make one
easy to use, and inexpensive to build, but haven't taken any real steps
yet. The newsletter, instagram and facebook are also excellent places to
advertise workshops etc.

San Diego Book Arts has over 200 members, spanning four countries. Perhaps
we should start picking the brains of other organizations to see how they
foster engagement?

Long-distance engagement seems really important for anyone outside of a
city center- the valentine exchanges seem like a great idea. This could be
something the chapters all adopt so that the national board can help spread
the word. Other chapter specific, but nationally recognized events could be
created. Then we as an organization could say that all the chapters take
part in certain yearly events, not just Standards. These can be small
things such as a valentine exchange, paper swap (think yarn swap) or
hosting an online demonstration (The SDBA is currently hosting a demo by
Shawn Sheehy, for example). Co-sponsoring an online workshop with another
chapter, or even another organization could be beneficial in a lot of ways
as well.

And just because numbers are fun, we have 3,116 instagram followers.
People are interested in what we have to offer, we just need to think up a
few more ways to capture their interest in the form of memberships. I'm
using SDBA as my example because I happen to receive their email newsletter
in the communications inbox and finally made it to their website two days
ago. The Sheehy demonstration really caught my eye and I started looking
into becoming a member, despite living in NH because of it. There are lots
of members who teach and host workshops that are not sponsored by our
chapters. Could there be a way for us to partner with members already
teaching classes they have already set up? Karen Hanmer is a prolific
workshop host, previous board member, and has recently let me know she was
interested in volunteering with GBW again. She could potentially have some
great ideas on this topic...

Communications Chair for the Guild of Book Workers

GBWEXEC mailing list -- gbwexec@list.guildofbookworkers.org
To unsubscribe send an email to gbwexec-leave@list.guildofbookworkers.org

Good Morning Everyone,

I have two ideas that might be of interest in the conversation about
chapter structures. Right now we use a regional model based on geograophic
proximity. This has its strong points but also some weaknesses. Distance is
always an issue. Development of volunteer base is extra challenging as is
any type of networking. Strengths might include shared regional interests
(local history, arts, cultural aspects, community). Another thought I had
is that chapters have been changing…they no longer need to meet in person
(people often are too busy for that), electronic communication is the norm,
and there is an overall informality about chapter business….at least that’s
the case here in the NW. I found that I could actually get volunteers if I
severely pared down the duties, kept meetings to a minimum, and conducted a
lot of business via email. I ask members to help out on a case-by-case
basis and this seems to work pretty well, too. I have a member who does our
Instagram posts, another who does just the technology for our zoom
meetings, and a third person who designs all the publicity for our
programs. These all could easily be board positions, but none of these
people are willing to commit to attending board meetings. And they do each
of their jobs perfectly, on time, and cheerfully!

My two ideas are:

1. Create chapters that are function-based like design binding,
papermaking, conservation which would likely have subcategories,
librarians, teachers, book arts. These chapters would be across the entire
membership and could offer monthly/bimonthly programs. Communication would
be via a monthly email/newsletter/blog and be electronic. The chapters
would be managed by volunteers…might take two or three people per group.
Members could join any number of these that they wanted to.
2. Federation model where there would be large chapters that are
composed of smaller units, likely by city or smaller geographical region.
Here in PNW in the Seattle area there are three active groups that are
dedicated to bookish activities: NW Chapter of the Guild, Puget Sound Book
Artists, and the Book Arts Guild. Many people are members of all three, but
the most common reason given for NOT being a member of GBW is the
membership dues cost. The other two orgs charge less than $40 a year and
provide monthly programs, workshops, lectures, collection visits, and
member exhibitions. The NW Chapter would be the larger entity and these
more local groups could be members of the “federation”. There are at least
100 members in each of these two local orgs (NW Chapter has 60)…so close to
260 book people just in the Salish Sea region
(Seattle-Bellingham-Tacoma…not counting Portland OR). Right now there are
three boards each with full complements of members…seems like we could use
that volunteer power more effectively in a federated model. BIG challenge
is the cost of GBW membership which is going up.

Thanks,

Jodee Fenton, NW Chapter Chair

From: Marianna Brotherton Crabbs communications@guildofbookworkers.org

Sent: Monday, March 25, 2024 10:51 AM
To: Communication tool for the GBW Board of Directors <
gbwexec@list.guildofbookworkers.org>
Subject: [GBW_EXEC] Re: How can we make our Chapters more functional? A
board discussion

I'm forwarding an email I received from our Southwest Chapter.  Esther
makes some great points below, so perhaps rather than change the blogs or
other online presences that chapters currently have, we need to help pass
on how to use them to incoming chapter boards. Todd, this should either be
mentioned in the chapter handbook, or as part of the onboarding process, or
perhaps both. And to learn from past problems, the chapter chairs and at
least one other person on the board should have access to the log in
information.

I'm starting to think the onboard manual/welcome package should consist of
information all chapters get from the national board, as well as
an individually crafted one from the chapters themselves. I'll need to
think about how to put these two things together, but I think this will be
a very useful tool once we iron out all the wrinkles.

I'm hoping to keep this chain going here, so please respond to this email
directly if you have any thoughts on our chapters. This would also be a
good place to add any issues or ask any questions. I understand this will
be an ongoing conversation, but it's nice to have a topic kept in one place
that we can reference it or add to it over time.

Thanks for your responses everyone! There are no bad ideas here :)

Interesting conversation.

I am chiming in from the Southwest chapter.

Personally I find the Lone Star Chapter Wordpress blog allows for a great
personal space for our chapter. However, I recognize that I did take over
the Communications position and revamp our site just a year & half ago
after it had been dormant for a while. I get that not everyone has
background in the digital world and that can be a real barrier to updating
the chapter events on Wordpress. But Wordpress is a very powerful Content
Management System even though it does take time to get up to speed on its
functionality to use it to an organization’s advantage. There are some very
distinct advantages to using Wordpress blog in that it acts as an archive
for the events & activities that the LSC hosts as well as showcasing the
talent of our members. Our blog also highlights our members by providing
links to their websites & Craig (Secretary & Treasurer) does wonderful
member interviews that I think help connect all of us.

I find that Wordpress assists in our communications by broadcasting our
posts out to Facebook & Instagram platforms which I confess are not my
favorite platforms. I find their interfaces to be confusing and limiting in
the amount of information displayed but by linking Wordpress to Instagram &
Facebook posts can be quickly shared. I give an example: In our blog I have
set up a page where our monthly Zoom meeting chat transcripts can be
archived in one central location using linked PDFs which allows anyone to
pull up those chat transcripts which have amazing links and connections to
resources I & others find very valuable. This page archives our 3 year
doing this service. I have NO IDEA how you could possibly do that with
either Facebook or Instagram.

I can use with some of your advice as to what posts are best shared with
Instagram & Facebook. At the moment, Exhibitions, Workshop events, &
Interviews get prioritized for sharing to those platforms.

I haven’t been involved with email blasts or communication via the
listserv. In the past Kim (co-President) & Syd (co-Program Coordinator)
have handled those communication venues mainly to conduct chapter business
& surveys. For some weird reason, I have a lot of the listserv notices
ending up in my “JUNK” folder, even when I continuously categorize them to
be sent to my “Inbox”. It is driving me nuts that I don’t always get the
latest GBW news because of that issue.

That said, Covid had such an impact on our engagement & connections that
still seems to have ramifications today. I think the monthly Zoom meetings
have been such a lifeline for our chapter as well as the mini online
workshops we have had in the past. I know that Craig has made a connection
to the Dallas Craft Guild that certainly would make an excellent workshop
partner as well as the Austin Book Art Center. I think schools, college’s &
universities also have great pairing potential.

There are a lot of avenues for connecting to other chapters - Wordpress
blogs, Facebook, Instagram, email blasts, & listserv are all such
connection points. Certainly you can give them up but each has a function
for the respective chapters, and it would be a shame to throw out one of
these points of contact as each audience has preferences as to how to view
the content they are interested in. If you plan to eliminate any of these
connection points then plan to lose a demographic segment. If you are
reaching out to younger audiences then you have to be digital.

Esther Kibby

P.S. Please pardon typos, this was written late in the evening.

On Sun, Mar 24, 2024 at 6:30 PM Todd Pattison <
vicepresident@guildofbookworkers.org> wrote:

Hi Susie,

I don't think you are in the minority on this point but I also know we
don't have to make an either/or choice about this. I think a lot of people
probably feel like you do about wanting to reconnect with people in analog
spaces but there are others that might need to do something virtually for a
variety of reasons. It's important for us to meet people where they are in
order to engage the greatest numbers in the widest way possible.

I think we might have to consider a hybrid model of running in person
activities in various cities/areas of a regional chapter while also making
virtual activities that can bring people together in an alternate space.
Hopefully, this would allow as many people to engage with the chapters as
possible.

For instance, last year I was asked to do something virtually that I had
only done in person before. I was a little hesitant as I felt comfortable
doing the programming in person and could see that there would be
limitations with the virtual offering. Ultimately, I decided to go forward
with it and was glad that I did, as there was a very positive response from
a number of individuals who would never have had the opportunity to do the
program in person. Their reasons varied but they all had things in their
life that would have prevented them from doing it without the remote
option. I still prefer the in person but would probably run it again as
something is better than nothing. Plus, I learned things from doing it
virtually that should help to make it an even better experience if it is
offered again remotely.

Todd

On Fri, Mar 22, 2024 at 9:25 AM Guild of Book Workers Journal <
journal@guildofbookworkers.org> wrote:

Colleagues—

This is an important discussion; I have always been in the Midwest
Chapter, and we have always had problems keeping our engagement/energy
levels up.

I am going to offer some thoughts that I know put me in a minority, but I
am guessing that I am not the only person who feels this way—In my personal
and professional life I am trying to devirtualize and devolve. I am trying
to remove electronic distractions and reconnect with people in analog
spaces. I want to do this for my own mental health, social health, and
environmental health. Let me emphasize that I admire and appreciate all the
work that goes into managing our web sites, meetings, etc, but I fear as we
multiply the potential electronic avenues of communication, communication
(paradoxically) becomes more difficult. Having one or two consistent forums
might be more affective—the GBW listserve plus the Newsletter? Maybe? I
confess I have no desire to support the Musks and Zuckerbergs of the world
and their social media platforms. I'm not comfortable with Google either,
to be honest.

This idea has been mentioned, and I think it is true—urban areas are the
centers of activity. People can come together easily and regularly, and
there are many city-based book groups all of the country with no GBW
affiliation, though many members of these groups are also GBW members. A
radical rethinking of chapters might simply center them on cities and
accept a significant increase in chapter numbers. Or as has already been
suggested, encourage chapters to devolve and foster local activities; those
who can come will come. I have been thinking along these lines for a
while—organizing St Louis-based events or workshops under the Midwest
aegis. Minneapolis, Kansas City, Chicago, Cleveland, etc can all do the
same.

In collegiality,

Susie Cobbledick

Guild of Book Workers Journal

journal@guildofbookworkers.org

https://guildofbookworkers.org/journal

On Thu, Mar 21, 2024 at 8:41 PM Marianna Brotherton Crabbs <
communications@guildofbookworkers.org> wrote:

Hi all,

Todd, I'm not sure you caught my comment at the end, so I'm starting us
off.

Please reply to this email with any questions or ideas you might have
regarding how to help our Chapters become their best selves!

Here are some of my thoughts to start us off.

I was taking a quick look at our chapter blogs and it seems like a lot of
them have not been updated in a while. Are chapters sending out email
newsletters/ printed newsletters instead? Perhaps a blog is too
cumbersome and unnecessary. I would love to help streamline our online
communications anyway I can, and make whatever online communications we do
have work to their best abilities. I think posting upcoming chapter
workshops front and center on our home page could be one way to help
encourage participation.

It's probably too much to ask the chapters to chime in with updates about
their happenings at these meetings, but you should all feel free and
welcome to use this email address to forward any newsletters, or just send
a quick update with any good stuff you may have going on. Word of mouth and
grassroots movements are likely our best bets at growing the GBW, so the
more we all know about whats happening in other chapters, the more likely
we are to share that info. I'm in a lucky spot, as I get to make all the
registrations for chapter workshops and am generally in communications with
most of you, but I do think it would be beneficial if more people knew what
the chapters were up to, especially if the workshops are going to be made
accessible via zoom or recorded sessions. Use the listserv as a way to
publicize your events! A communal calendar is still something I would love
to see come to fruition. Henry and I have brainstormed ways to make one
easy to use, and inexpensive to build, but haven't taken any real steps
yet. The newsletter, instagram and facebook are also excellent places to
advertise workshops etc.

San Diego Book Arts has over 200 members, spanning four countries. Perhaps
we should start picking the brains of other organizations to see how they
foster engagement?

Long-distance engagement seems really important for anyone outside of a
city center- the valentine exchanges seem like a great idea. This could be
something the chapters all adopt so that the national board can help spread
the word. Other chapter specific, but nationally recognized events could be
created. Then we as an organization could say that all the chapters take
part in certain yearly events, not just Standards. These can be small
things such as a valentine exchange, paper swap (think yarn swap) or
hosting an online demonstration (The SDBA is currently hosting a demo by
Shawn Sheehy, for example). Co-sponsoring an online workshop with another
chapter, or even another organization could be beneficial in a lot of ways
as well.

And just because numbers are fun, we have 3,116 instagram followers.
People are interested in what we have to offer, we just need to think up a
few more ways to capture their interest in the form of memberships. I'm
using SDBA as my example because I happen to receive their email newsletter
in the communications inbox and finally made it to their website two days
ago. The Sheehy demonstration really caught my eye and I started looking
into becoming a member, despite living in NH because of it. There are lots
of members who teach and host workshops that are not sponsored by our
chapters. Could there be a way for us to partner with members already
teaching classes they have already set up? Karen Hanmer is a prolific
workshop host, previous board member, and has recently let me know she was
interested in volunteering with GBW again. She could potentially have some
great ideas on this topic...

Communications Chair for the Guild of Book Workers

GBWEXEC mailing list -- gbwexec@list.guildofbookworkers.org
To unsubscribe send an email to gbwexec-leave@list.guildofbookworkers.org

GBWEXEC mailing list -- gbwexec@list.guildofbookworkers.org
To unsubscribe send an email to gbwexec-leave@list.guildofbookworkers.org

--

///////////////////////////////////////////////////////

*Todd Pattison *(he/him)

Vice President, Guild of Book Workers

781.921.9186 | vicepresident@guildofbookworkers.org

GBWEXEC mailing list -- gbwexec@list.guildofbookworkers.org
To unsubscribe send an email to gbwexec-leave@list.guildofbookworkers.org

--

Communications Chair for the Guild of Book Workers

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