If you are coordinating a Chapter and you're frustrated with meeting attendance, a good question to ask next is, "What expectations am I having?" If you're having expectations, you're measuring "what should be happening" against something else. And it would be helpful to identify “What are you using as a measure?” If you're wondering why the attendance isn’t higher, or why people aren’t responding to your efforts, or things are just quiet, remember, that IS feedback. And it's time to apply a combination of adaptability, learning, or trying-something-new. It only takes a couple of people to make huge impact, and though large group attendance is exciting, it also brings with it other problems if you don’t have the organization structure in place to support it. A room full of people with no direction is not a chapter meeting.
I want anyone who’s struggling with attendance (or chapter size), as some kind of measure, to ponder what drives the need to have 200 people show up to a chapter meeting? Or you’re not being successful to ask yourselves "Does group size matter if few people have a firm grasp of what TZM is advocating?" If you answered 'yes', then TZM's goal is not being realized. The issue is not about chapter size; it's about how effective you’re being in communicating the ideas to other people, that’s the fundamental premise here.
Let me clarify that this does not rule out a chapter being stagnant! As in: no activity, website out of date, chapter purpose diffused (i.e. promoting other causes). That is a different issue altogether.
As chapters our goal is to get RBE information out to the public
Initially, as a new chapter, this will be accomplished through passive activism (i.e. leaving a stack of postcards in shop or restaurant), then street activism and perhaps tabling. Then it will grow into larger events for the public (lecture, Zday, etc).
Some might think that everyone who “signed up” to their chapter’s website will somehow come to every meeting and be active. They might come out once but then not show up again. As the one-meeting phenomena continues it can create the perception that people are dropping off, or create the “no one wants to do anything” mentality. What's happening here is a filtering process that will create a core team. And the kind of core members you will attract will depend on how 'relevant to the information' and organized you are. As a chapter grows, a core team of about 7-10 people that have a good understanding of TZM's tenets and the ability to communicate these ideas to someone new, will show robust activity in their results. As the chapter becomes larger, you may develop several "core teams" working in different areas of expertise to engage the public (Bannering, speaking events, media events, screenings, etc)
But at the end of the day: It takes only ONE person to do awareness activism, you will just cover more ground with a team.
