From: Geenius at Wrok
<geenius@albany.net>
Subject: Re: Tips for
starting a MJ club wanted
Date: 17 Jan 1999 00:00:00
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Message-ID: <Pine.GSO.3.96.990117130641.29982V-100000@merlin>
References: <01be417f$f4ebd1e0$10fddfd1@kelson>
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On Sat, 16 Jan 1999,
Kelson wrote:
> I will be starting
a Mah Jong club in a couple of months and wanted to
> gather any tips I
can get as to how best to start/run it. I am interested
> in attracting new
people to the game more than I am of gathering expert
> players and want
a fun, friendly, casual atmosphere rather than an overly
> competitive one.
If (and ONLY if!) you
can afford it, rent a private space for the club.
Four tables would probably
be enough to start with; you could do it in a
studio apartment or
small (around 400-square-foot) office space. If you
can't afford private
space, have your club meet regularly in a
multipurpose room at
a community center or library. This is important to
establish a definite
identity and presence and a sense of stability. It's
a recommendation I'd
make to anyone starting ANY kind of club, but more
important in the case
of a pursuit such as mah-jongg, because you can't
just walk into a coffeehouse
and start clearing off tables to play, for
example.
As nice as informality
can be in attracting members, behind the scenes you
should still operate
formally. Get a couple of interested parties
together with you to
form a board of directors; choose a president,
secretary and treasurer;
and run it as if it were a serious nonprofit
organization.
For one thing, without a formal structure you can't
realistically expect
to collect dues, and if you're renting space, either
privately or in a public
building, you're going to have to collect dues
from SOMEBODY, sooner
or later. For another, having enrolled members
makes it more likely
that people will become regulars and take a vested
interest in your club.
Use the dues to pay for rent, equipment and
refreshments.
Open your club meetings to the public for free, but give
dues-paying members
some sort of special privilege. (Maybe members get
refreshments free,
while nonmembers pay? Maybe members have access to
your space at all times,
while nonmembers are only admitted on open house
nights, say two a week?)
Choose one or two standard
rule sets for your club and stick with them
(suggestion: either
Classical or Hong Kong, plus one variant of same with
more special hands).
If you want to introduce any house rules or change
your working set of
special hands, have the board vote on them and
publicize the decisions
well. (Maybe make a large wall chart with scoring
rules clearly written?)
Make fliers and post
them around town where people will see them --
community centers,
college campuses, Asian groceries. Call local
newspapers and get
meetings listed in community calendar sections. Once
you get rolling, pitch
your club to the newspapers as a potential feature
story. (Some
papers will be more interested than others; don't feel
slighted by the ones
that aren't.)
Stick to your meeting
schedule. If you're not going to hold a meeting on
a day/night when you
otherwise would, make that clear -- don't let people
just show up and find
the room dark with no explanation. Consistency is
hugely important; what
if someone who's not inclined to try new things
finally gets his courage
up, only to find the club inexplicably closed?
He might not come back.
Have occasional tournaments
-- one per season, perhaps? -- and open them
to the public.
Charge entry fees and pool them for prize money. This
will satisfy the jones
of competitive players, and for the casual players
it will make a fine
spectator event.
> Any tips you have
are greatly appreciated! Also, if you know where to go
> to register the club
and take care of any legal necessities, I would like
> to hear about it
because this is my first club and I don't want to break
> the law or anything.
Clubs don't have to
be registered. However, if you are renting private
space, you may need
zoning approval, because your space will be used as an
"assembly hall."
In a commercial area that shouldn't be a problem, but in
a residential area
it might. BEFORE you apply to your local zoning board,
make friends with your
neighbors-to-be and make sure they're cool with
what you're doing.
--
"I wish EVERY day could
be a shearing festival!" -- The 10 Commandments
=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+
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Keith Ammann is geenius@albany.net
"I notice you have a cloud of doom.
Live with honor, endure
with grace I must admit it makes you seem
www.albany.net/~geenius
* Lun Yu 2:24 dangerous
and sexy."
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