Bird clubs, speakers, program ideas

[Lynjupiter]

I am hoping maybe some of you folks that work with your own bird clubs can help me. I am trying to line up programs and speakers for next year ahead of time but I need ideas.
What kind of speakers and activites do you have at your club?

I have been Vice prez and setting up meeting activities for two years. I have had every avain vet in the area, every parrot attraction, behavorists, authors.
I am running out of things to do. We are a small club and cant pay travel expenses and 500$ speaking fees. Our club is growing again for the first time in years. I need to keep those bird lovers coming in. Any help here we would be appreciated.

Lynda

[Lisa B]

Hiya..
ya know I would jump in on this one!!!

pet store owners, toy workshops-toy distributers, avian wildlife rehabs,
members can highlight species they own, Rountable discussions, movie nights. I've been asked to lecture at a few clubs with topic I am familiar with, Aspergillosis. Parrots at play, and the Alex foundation. So far I have not accepted any offers. I will probably do so this fall with one club in my home state.

[Tiki]

The one thing I always wanted my bird club to do is have a "Funniest home bird videos" night and maybe make it a contest with a bird book or something as a prize. Some guest speakers are good and can hold an audience but it gets boring if every meeting is sitting in a chair listening to someone speak. Bad enough you have to sit through all the office bearers reports! I would like to be more interactive. We had a quiz night once that was fun!

[Lynjupiter]

Originally Posted by Lisa B

Hiya..
ya know I would jump in on this one!!!

pet store owners, toy workshops-toy distributers, avian wildlife rehabs,
members can highlight species they own, Rountable discussions, movie nights. I've been asked to lecture at a few clubs with topic I am familiar with, Aspergillosis. Parrots at play, and the Alex foundation. So far I have not accepted any offers. I will probably do so this fall with one club in my home state.

Thanks Lisa,
We do a toy workshop just before our big show for the year. The toys we make we raffle off. I have an avian vet in at leat once every three months to go over nutrition, first aid and diseases. In fact our next vet visit will be on radiology and how it is used to diagnois problems.

This year our best speaker by far was Jon-Mark and Jo-Ann Daveys ( wild quaker experts. They really gave us a break on fees and were wonderful. I reccomend them for any body's meeting. They also did a presentation at the AFA meeting in Miami . We also had a florist talk on edible organic flowers and where to find them. That was another good one that members enjoyed.

Lynda

[Lynjupiter]

Originally Posted by Tiki

The one thing I always wanted my bird club to do is have a "Funniest home bird videos" night and maybe make it a contest with a bird book or something as a prize. Some guest speakers are good and can hold an audience but it gets boring if every meeting is sitting in a chair listening to someone speak. Bad enough you have to sit through all the office bearers reports! I would like to be more interactive. We had a quiz night once that was fun!

Thats a good idea Tiki. Thanks. I tried polling members the other night and all I got was more avian vets. They want one at every meeting. Not like that will happen. The vets are expensive. Our agenda is short because we found it does not hold members attention. We publsh minutes of our board meetings in the newsletter.

Lynda

[Tiki]

Smart idea, Lynda......the minutes here drag on for an hour at least! ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz................ .........!

[bgmacaw]

Originally Posted by Tiki

Smart idea, Lynda......the minutes here drag on for an hour at least! ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz................ .........!

I used to belong to a bass fishing club with monthly meetings. They would make copies of the last meeting minutes and the financial stuff then put it on a table when you walked in. During the meeting, they would say 'the minutes are available on the table, any questions?' Then basically the same for the financials and we moved on. It saved a ton of time. Those that were interested could scrutinize the minutes or financials to their heart's content and not drag everyone else along.

[Peregrine Harlequin]

How about a "bird of the month" type thing? You could try to give good information on a different species each time. That could help people appreciate all pet birds instead of just their "darling little <insert favorite species name here>." Could also help remind people that bigger is not necessarily better when it comes to birds. You could also teach people that even "funny-looking" birds like 'toos (particularly young ones ) can be beautiful.

Better yet, I know you like to take pictures of birds. What about having a meeting at a nearby national or state park every so often? It could be a refreshing break from the usual avian vet lecturing you about what you should/shouldn't do for your parrot while you sit in a chair and pay attention. Something like this might go well tied together with any wild bird or rehab spot you might plan. And with the fall migration fast approaching....

Ooh! Ooh! Idea number three! Mention something about bird shelters, rescues, care after their owner's death, etc. If the people care enough to be part of a bird club, they probably don't need to be lectured about how birds (especially the larger parrots) are a large (and often a lifetime) commitment. But anything you can do to help raise awareness about "throw away" pets, or what'll happen to the birds once their "owners" are dead could only be a good thing.

[Franciscus]

I have been a member of the Ottawa Parrot Club for about ten years and we have had all kinds of meetings. Some of the ones that did not cost the club were ones where members showed tricks they have taught their birds, movie nights (Paulie, Parrots-Look whose Talking,....) We had members show photos of aviaries they built, along with explanations how to. It may also be a good idea to have more experienced members put together a talk about "bird care basics" for new members. It may be of interest to people who have been living with birds for a long time too because they may learn something new, or perhaps a round table discussion could take place in which they could get involved. We have had a meeting in a park, with properly restrained parrots of course. Unfortunately I could not attend that one as I had to work that day. Toy making workshops are always popular as well. What we usually do is someone puts together kits for the club to sell at that meeting for folks to assemble at the meeting. You could also invite a local avian vet to come give a talk. In my opinion they should do that for free as they can get business out of it. The topic could be on how to recognise illness in parrots, or on one or more parrot disease.

[Lynjupiter]

Good ideas thanks,
We have many birds at the meeting so we fill in a lot of time at ach meeting looking and meeting various birds brought in.

Our next meeting is about Pet Trusts. Pet trusts are new and just became legal in Florida. So I am having a lawyer in who works in animal rescue and specalizes in setting up estates to care for pets.

We used to do a once a year outdoors thing where we had photography contests and cookout. But not enough people came.. We might try it again now we have new and younger members.

This is nice exchanging ideas and those of you in clubs in other states can bring ideas you see here to those in your club that sets up programming.
Lynda

Originally Posted by Peregrine Harlequin

How about a "bird of the month" type thing? You could try to give good information on a different species each time. That could help people appreciate all pet birds instead of just their "darling little <insert favorite species name here>." Could also help remind people that bigger is not necessarily better when it comes to birds. You could also teach people that even "funny-looking" birds like 'toos (particularly young ones ) can be beautiful.

Ooh! Ooh! Idea number three! Mention something about bird shelters, rescues, care after their owner's death, etc. If the people care enough to be part of a bird club, they probably don't need to be lectured about how birds (especially the larger parrots) are a large (and often a lifetime) commitment. But anything you can do to help raise awareness about "throw away" pets, or what'll happen to the birds once their "owners" are dead could only be a good thing.