I'm relatively young (<30) and really like my local IBM/SAM club. There's a sense of camaraderie and community, and we're all helping each other get better. That said, it's definitely been hard to grow and increase local members. We do themed nights, raffles for effects, a local auction every year to clean out our drawers, bring in lecturers, etc. which helps get people interested. One thing we've found helpful is sending out a survey to the members to see what they're looking for and how we can better adjust the club to meet their needs. May also be worth reaching out individually to non returning members to see what it is that could bring them back. Also having more casual hangouts outside of the club (going to a local restaurant after meetings, casual jams) have helped involve more members that would like to join but can't make the monthly general meeting.

I joined the IBM when I was sixteen as a junior member and was very active in my local ring until I went away to college. I then joined an independent club in my college town, and then went back to IBM rings in two other places. Since then I've visited a few others. Every one of them had a different vibe and direction. Some were about learning, others were about performing, and others were about just hanging out and showing off the latest acquisitions.

My original IBM ring was about performing. Every meeting had a formal business part open only to members, then a coffee break, and then a "prepared ahead of time" show open to guests, which was half an hour to forty-five minutes. Then members and guests chatted for a while and went home. We did a lot of exchange shows with other clubs and hosted lecturers now and then. We had a monthly newsletter, and once a year we had the formal installation banquet and show. The membership included several local pros and a couple of full-timers, so it was a great place to meet and learn. But that was all because that's how it had been for many years and each new president carried the tradition along and kept it going.

A couple of the other rings were very informal and unstructured. A lot of the time you never knew what was going to happen until you got there, which made it hard for me to keep up my interest, especially when nothing happened. Again, it was all led by the presidents, some of whom didn't seem to have any interest in leading the club.

Based on all that, I think a club needs to have some structure and a reason for existence (a focus), whether it be performing for the public, performing for each other, just hanging out, teaching and learning, or whatever. That way there's some consistency, and members are pretty much on the same page. "Membership drives," I think, tend to diffuse any attempt at structure and can drive more "serious" members away.

I also think a newsletter of some kind would be helpful, letting members know what's coming up so they can decide whether to attend or not. For me, for instance, knowing that two world-famous close-up workers would be performing and lecturing would let me know I didn't want to attend, since I have no interest in close-up. On the other hand, driving half an hour to get there and then finding out the meeting was all about close-up would not make me very happy.

I don't have a clue what the answer might be, but I hope I've given you a couple of thoughts.

The best club experience from a learning standpoint was in Sacramento, CA. (Don't know about today)

The IBM and SAM clubs had combined meetings twice a month. One had a business portion and the other a teaching or guest program.
There was always a contest on a theme with many members participating, plus the usual before and after chat.

Twice a year "family night" meeting with members performing.

Once a year they hold a Public Show with walk-around and booth performance before and during intermission. Something for every member to help with.

Several members also hosted parties at their homes throughout the year.

Miss it!

Around our place in the city, there are several acting/drama schools where one might learn to act like a magician. For the dramatic side of our magic, that is to say, the entertainment side, as opposed to the magic experimental side, these places are good I think. They are there as they say to support and continue your determination to learn, grow and succeed as an actor. They are like social clubs but they are about work. They have courses and what they call workshops. Interestingly one of them I know is owned and supported by a Talent Agency. They are not all the same but some are open to all ages, etcetera and my four-year-old granddaughter goes to one after school for a few hours once a week: At the moment she is practicing mime.

Right, tommy.

As a theatre major, I had to take acting classes, which were required regardless of your specialty. I didn't have any interest in acting, but I learned that you can get out of it whatever you want, and, in my case it was how to get inside a character's head and draw him out. Who was this person, what did he want, why, and so forth. The script itself was just words which anyone could memorize and spew out: the character was a lot deeper.

There are many things at play here. First, is the great decline in interest in magic as opposed to a generation to several generations ago. Magic is not at all what it once was. Many people don't care for or even get annoyed by magic these days. Recently I was at two different venues on two different occasions and about 50% of the people there asked not have magic performed for them or declined when approached. I know it is hard for many magicians to understand but not everyone always likes or wants to see magic like those in the magic community does.

Also, another problem is that there is too much "magician's thinking" going on in the running of magic clubs today. When we were kids there were traveling magic shows, magic shows that came to town, magic shows at schools, and of course local festivals. Kids had magic at birthday parties. Magic was invited, enjoyed, and revered. This isn't the same today. Schools have greatly turned against magic, some people consider kid's party magician's lame (rather than cool as they used to be perceived), and festivals tend to really only have magic as a fill-in novelty as opposed to the mainstay it once was.

I've noticed this decline myself since the late 90s. Not only do people not want to get into magic in the numbers as previously, they do not even think of performing magic as a job or career opportunity as they used to. For many decades I did many school career days. I would get asked to do so many I had to turn down as many as I accepted. I was always the top draw with the students and every one of my presentations were filled to capacity. Students wanted to know about a career in entertainment. It was admired, looked up to, and was met with interest, fascination, and possibilities. This is not at all like that today. I have dozens and dozens of letters and awards for being to most popular presentation and session in these career days. It is not even considered by the youth these days. You want to know what #1 has been the last 8 years? They all want to be Youtube influencers and celebrities!

So magic has lost its luster in many capacities.

Next are the magic clubs themselves. They are for amateurs, beginners, and hobbyists. One of the great benefits of magic clubs were you could see, meet, and watch top professionals in the area. Listen to them, get so excited if you were lucky enough to talk to them (and literally hang on every word they said. There were the stars of the club. But in today's "I know everything" and "I just want the secrets and methods" of the Youtube generation, this admiration, position, and acceptance has greatly diminished and even disappeared. Most magic clubs run the club like they did in the 60s 70s, 80s, and 90s even though the landscape isn't the same. They just scratch their heads and wonder why the lack of interest and diminished interest and participation from those that were once members.

Also pro magicians forget what it was like when they were trying to learn and no longer seem to want to give back. As you said they took (got what they wanted) and have moved on with no regard ot concern for the club, its members, or future. Very "me-based" like the entire magic community today.

The truth is if a club is functioning properly there is growth, progress, evolvement. It should be doing things to generate interest in the club, to draw and attract people in their community to magic, to get them into the "system, funnel, or process." Most don't. They just meet and then complain that few show up and that is always the same old guys. Then the same guys become the leaders and in the positions again, There is no progress.

These clubs need to be run more like a business. As Dave said, whats the appeal? A place to be bad or fail? To me magic clubs have been on the same level of performing for family and friends. It is not a true read of a performance or one's progress and growth. But sure, let's say that is still one of the benefits (I feel it often does more harm but good but we can still go with that.) Then what? I disagree about lecturers as sure you can get them online on video or DVD but you can not interact with them, ask them direct questions, pick their brains, and become inspired by them.

Most are getting nothing for their membership cost other than the regular stale meeting that as we have seen are greatly lacking.

Clubs need to promote, market, do memberships drives, become staples of the community - not just to a handful of magicians. If I came to your town and we went on the streets with a cameraman recording this, and I went to the grocery store, the ballpark, McDonald's, Walmart, or any other local area and asked passers by if they knew about you (the magic club), how many would actually say yes? I'm betting its a very small amount. This is the clubs fault. They need more of a business approach to generate interest and awareness.

About 8 or 10 years ago when I was considering releasing several of my entertainment industry books and resources to the magic community. I was in discussions with many clubs about doing a lecture tour. While there was some interest, due to today's membership problems and lack of those up-n-comers wanting to be magic performers for pay, profit, or as a job or career, I decided against it. However I have had the thought of doing a business lecture to teach these clubs how to operate more like a business and to create interest, appeal, and awareness. The same methods the club could learn could also apply to magicians interested in the business and operation aspects of magic.

It is this new understanding and the change of longtime perceptions that need to change. Stop thinking like magicians as it will only get you magicians and most of them you either have or have had and have moved on. Magic as a whole needs to reinvent itself and it should start with these clubs. It needs to become more modernized utilizing social media, promotional methods and techniques, and it's greatest ability - the magic itself to entertain, appeal to and create interest.

Also, our magic clubs here (in the states) are different from those in the U.K. and other parts of the world, so be careful to whom you are listening to as areas differ. So much in this particular forum tends to have the U.K. spin or influence which is not always useful to these clubs here in the states.

There are really two problems here - 1. is those in the magic community are not getting enough or anything from these clubs today, and 2. You need new blood coming into these clubs in order to survive, let alone prosper. There is no excitement, allure, or fun anymore for many of these clubs. Then the worst thing they do is ask the members what do they want or what would they like to see more of? They don't know. Magic is the blind leading the blind, so asking them won't help. These clubs need to be managed by a management team or committee that understands this greater picture and has a business plan of operation rather than just getting a venue, opening the door and hoping for the best...week after week, month after month...

Well, there are greater and lesser magicians. Some magicians are what the young folks call “Different Level!”. They are few and far between but we had one or two come into our joint and cause a sensation you might say.

From reading the above, my impression is still that clubs nowadays lack focus: what their purpose is. And I think that a lot could be learned from observing other types of current clubs.

A friend of mine is big into amateur radio. Their meetings are about what they've done, looking at new equipment, teaching newcomers, and planning activities. They have a focus. My Civil Air Patrol unit is about training, participating in actual missions, and getting the cadets involved in STEAM activities. It has a focus too, but it's different from when I first joined, when the main focus was growth. Community theater group are about committees finding plays or musicals to perform and figuring out how to pay for them. They have a focus too.

They all have a focus, but they also have dead baggage: members who just attend but don't participate. Most of the real work is done by a few while the rest either just do what they're told or sit back and criticize and complain.

As an entertainment business coach and consultant, this is what I do is assist entertainers, entertainment businesses, entertainment venues, and associations to remain relevant, create their desired positioning, and improve and progress their operations.

I'd have some great ideas for the magic community, much as I have done for the disc jockey community, the bowling industry, and other entertainment-based ventures.

As I said above, they must stop thinking like magicians. That would be the first step. Having a plan, or as George said a focus, to generate interest and growth. There are so many things magic clubs and associations could be doing that they are completely missing out on. This is understanding of this and then the aspect of proper positioning strongly comes into play.

As George mentioned purpose. I agree. Purpose can and does change and magic clubs are a great example of that. In some ways they may need to re-evaluate themselves, their purpose, and direction for current and future existence. So much has changed in just the last 20 years in magic, yet not much has changed to these clubs and associations. An updated approach could create many new opportunties and possibilities.

The work I did with what was then called the bowling industry, now known as sporting centers, was very similar. A quickly dying out sport with aging out customer-base. My approach was targeting young, new up-and-comers, getting them involved in bowling (not necessarily the sport) on the playing field that most appeal to them. They would then essentially grow up in this community and environment and it would stay with them and their kids (future generations) for years to come. The industry embraced it and it was adapted worldwide. Thos ethat didn't were left behind and are likely out of business today.

There is so much magic has to offer but it will take updating and willingness to change and adapt.

I mentioned community theatre groups, which I've seen a number of in New York, New England, and now in CA. A lot of these are community theatre groups because they do plays and musicals, and they do plays and musicals because they are community theatre groups. It's a circular reality, and that's their focus. But they have nothing beyond that: no real sense of who they are or why they do what they do (no "brand"), no conception of selecting a theme or connecting idea for a season, no interest in pushing learning or professionalism, and no interest in anything but it being a part-time hobby or a way for some to join a board and say they are on a board. Community theater has a bad reputation in many parts of this country, and it's precisely because of the groups and their leaderships.

When I was designing sets professionally, I turned down a number of gig offers from some of these groups because I could not put my name on what they thought was "good enough." They have very low budgets and want to pay a low "stipend" but expect a Broadway-quality final product as long as they don't have to do any of the work. I agree with Mindpro that some of these groups need to look at themselves as businesses and behave accordingly, but they don't because it's too much work and only a part-time hobby anyway. But they certainly leave an impression on audiences who have never been exposed to professional live theater, and too often it's not a good impression.

I wrote a piece for my column here a couple of years ago about the topic of "why:"
https://www.themagiccafe.com/forums/view......orum=173

TV killed a lot of live-action. The parks used to be full of people. The internet killed more live action. I went to a race meeting the other day and there were very few punters there. We have hardly got any shops now and so on. The lockdown killed our joint and many other clubs and bars, etcetera. Odin. Odin. Send a wind and turn the tide. Odin. Odin. Odin.

The Portland Society of Magicians used to have meetings that were attended by 30 plus people every month. Since COVID, that number has been hovering around 12 with a few more people daring to venture out when we have special events like swap meets, contests or lectures.

In 2023, we had a very strange phenomenon where several new people became members, and paid their dues one month... and then we never saw them again! Honestly, I'd rather have a large group of people who didn't pay at all, yet committed to showing up on a regular basis.

I am at a loss as to how to drum up interest, short of these expensive, labor intensive events.

Having a "special event" every month is not sustainable, and yet I see no other alternative.

Again, I'm going to mention focus. Does your group have a focus, an ongoing reason for being there? What do members show up for? If all these new people show up and don't see anything for them, they'll drop out.

An organization I belong to started a new local chapter back in '19. The first couple of years were pretty much devoted in increasing the membership. So we ended up with a lot of members and not enough for them to do. Sure enough, many dropped out.

IBM Ring 76 (San Diego County) is going strong. Through the COVID lockdown we continued to hold monthly meetings via Zoom. We even continued our annual Close-Up and Stand-Up Contests over Zoom. We didn't have any drop in membership. In fact, I believe we actually grew by a few members during COVID. The Ring currently stands at about 75 memberships (representing over 100 people because spouses/significant others are associate members). Participation continues to be strong. At this month's meeting (which happened to be our annual Close-Up Contest), we had 56 people in attendance. The performing schedule was full with the maximum 8 performers and another 5 performers on the waiting list (in case someone didn't show up).

About 6-7 meetings out of the year are called Performance Nights. Sometimes they are themed (such as Kid's Magic or Card Magic, etc.) but members are not required to follow the theme. Up to 9 or 10 members will participate on Performance Nights. Typically, we could have even more but there's just not enough time (we have to vacate our excellent meeting location by 9:00 pm.). On Performance Nights, members vote for their favorite performer. That person earns "Performer of the Month" and gets a $20 gift card. At the end of the fiscal year, at our annual Installation Banquet, the member with the most Performance Nights votes gets awarded "Entertainer of the Year".

We are constantly trying new things and strongly encouraging newer members to get involved. Next month's Performance Night theme is "Strolling Magic". Coming up in April is "You Fooled Us", when members get a chance to try to fool our two worldly judges and earn an awesome You Fooled Us plaque.

To top it all off, we have door prizes at almost every meeting, we do a Swap Meet or Auction once a year, and our Club Library is awesome!

It is all about having FUN! After the meeting is over we gather at a nearby Denny's and jam. It's common for at least 20 people to hit the Denny's, despite the fact that it's a work night.

If anyone is ever visiting San Diego area on the 2nd Monday of the month, please feel free to drop in for a visit! Details on our meeting time & place can be found on the Ring 76 website.

https://www.ring76.com/index.html

Mark