Growing Your Astronomy Club |
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4. Apply the Greeting Formula: Greet, Show, Introduce
Now that you have your Welcome System in place, your club is ready to greet visitors to your club meetings.
1. Greet
Staff your Welcome Table with at least two greeters. Greet everyone including regular members and any children accompanying the adults (sometimes it’s the child that has brought the parent to the meeting!).
Be sure to welcome visitors who are outside of the “normal” amateur astronomer demographic. Some visitors might be operating a mobile device while talking to you, or have non-traditional haircuts, clothes, or body decoration.
What do Greeters say when they see someone they don’t recognize?
“Welcome! I don’t think I’ve met you yet? I’m Dave Garrett.” OR
“We’re glad to have you here. I don’t recall meeting you before. I’m Dave Garrett.”
(DON’T say “Are you new?” or “Is this your first time here?” You might embarrass yourself or offend a regular member.)
If it turns out this is the first time they have visited, start a short conversation with one of these:
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How did you hear about our club?
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Why did you decide to come tonight?
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Do you live in the area?
2. Show
Show the visitor what they need to know:
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Show the person the materials on the Welcome Table.
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Give the visitor a club flyer or welcome packet.
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Show them the refreshment table and where the restrooms are.
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Make a name tag with their first name.
3. Introduce
Help visitors connect with other members so you can be free to return to the Welcome Table:
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Introduce the visitor to another member, telling the member a little about the visitor. You might say: “Brooke, this is Joan. Brooke just moved here from Washington. She belonged to an astronomy club there and wanted to find out about ours. Brooke, feel free to ask Joan any other questions you might have. Thanks again for coming.”
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Ask a member to sit with the visitor during the meeting.
4. Acknowledge Visitors during the Meeting (but don’t ask them to speak!)
As part of the club meeting, the person running the meeting may ask visitors to stand or raise their hand. Ask your members to notice which people raised their hands and say “Be sure to introduce yourself to our visitors at the break.”
It is not advisable to ask visitors to stand up and say something. If you do, you’re putting them on the spot – asking them to do “public speaking.” Be careful, even asking a person say their name and city to the whole group is too intimidating for some people.
Avoid frightening the visitors.
“Once a newcomer was sitting next to me and when he saw the President was making all the visitors stand up and introduce themselves, he split out the back and hid in the restroom. He didn’t come out until the main speaker started.”
5. Final Check
After the meeting, say goodbye to visitors, and invite them to return next time. Ask them if they have any questions.
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Do visitors walk away with a flyer or welcome packet?
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Do they know how to contact someone in your club or complete an application form?
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Do they walk away with a good feeling about their experience?
If so, you may soon have a new member!
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Sharing the Universe videos are produced by the Astronomical Society of the Pacific (ASP) from research conducted by the Institute for Learning Innovation, the ASP, and from astronomy clubs like yours. www.astrosociety.org/SharingTheUniverse
The Sharing the Universe project is funded by the National
Science Foundation and is supported by the Division of Research on Learning in Formal and Informal Settings (DRL) of the National Science Foundation under Grant Number DRL 0638873. Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in the material are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation.
Video production by Flying Moose Pictures