Since I’m an engineering student, when I say “bridge” most people think of a bridge and civil engineering. Really, it’s much more likely that I’m referring to the card game. After all, it’s an amazing card game (and almost as complicated as designing a bridge).
For those of you who don’t know what bridge is, it’s a partner card game played with four players that involves bidding and many, many conventions. It is complicated enough that you can always learn more and improve. Yet the play itself is sufficiently simple to get someone started in a single night.
Bridge club has a problem. There are only 4 of us. One is a graduate student leaving this semester. One is a graduate student leaving next semester. One is a fourth-year also leaving next semester. Then there’s me – a first-year who is about to inherit the presidency for a club I might be the only member in. Obviously, I feel compelled to help the current president help me out and recruit some members while we still have enough people to fill a table.
To start this problem like any other problem from an engineering perspective, I should identify the real problem. Really, I don’t believe it is any deeper than we don’t have enough members. There are so many reasons that could be part of that: students are too busy, people don’t know the club exists, the meeting time isn’t a good one, etc. Following these leads to possible solutions as well as the other side of the coin: what to do to make it okay if we can’t get more members.
Solutions:
- Get More Members
- Recruit
- Get a booth at the activity fair.
- Post advertisements on the tables in the dining halls.
- Emphasize the benefits of playing bridge.
- Hold meetings in a public place so people might see us and realize a bridge club exists.
- Change the meeting time
- Make it Okay if We Don't get More Members
- Get whatever members we have to play online with people from around the world.
- Teach lessons the weeks we don't have 4 players.
- Find tournaments near-by that individuals can travel to.
Are you up for a challenge? Why not post something on the bulletin boards in the engineering, science, and math buildings? And others, too. Perhaps wait until the beginning of next semester - people may be ready to take on a new activity.
ReplyDeleteI like the idea of offering lessons - how about saying you can come learn -and you can wait to decide whether to be a member until you've had several lessons.
Do you know the history of the bridge club? Was it ever much bigger? Can you figure out why? A more proactive plan to recruit members? Someone willing to put some time into talking it up?