Cohousing-L Mailing List: recruitment meetings

[TR Ruddick (truddick]

I'm looking for criticism of our recruitment meeting plans.  Anybody got
insights?

Dayton Cohousing is, at present, about 8 active members (seven or so
households).  We're planning to organize ourselves as an umbrella group for
several cohousing communities if there's enough interest; at present
there's a cadre of people who want to live near the city center, and a few
others who are interested in small-town semi-rural life near Yellow
Springs, Ohio.

So; we are pulling together two open-to-the-public recruiting sessions next
month (June 26 and 28).  Both will be held in the main branch of the public
library in downtown Dayton, in an auditorium that seats about 50, allows
some AV, and accommodates refreshments.

ADVANCE PUBLICITY: we've had some graphics designed by advertising art
students at a nearby community college, and we'll adapt those with the
intention of plastering flyers all over the area.  I'm using my newswriting
experience to put together press packets; we already have one columnist in
the daily newspaper who will write us up, and plenty of connections to get
us into the free weekly alternative press and the local business paper. 
Don't know about suburban weeklies--should we be concerned?

The press packet will contain standard contact information (both local and
for Cohousing Network [or should I write CoHo USA?], press release about
the meeting, short bios of 3 of our more visible members.

MEETING: our express goal is to get as many people as possible to give us a
$25.00 annual membership fee.  We're intending to run the recruitment
meetings according to the following agenda:  (pre-meeting) greet and get
people to provide name/address/phone/email (I) short introductions to the
idea of cohousing and to currently-involved members who are present.  (II)
break out into random groups where current members will facilitate open
discussions about what attracts each participant to cohousing, what kind of
situation each participant would want to live in, what shared facilities
would each want to incorporate.  (III) refreshment break and socializing
(IV) break-out into small groups of people with similar interests regarding
location and features of cohousing community.  (V) sign-up for membership.

I must express my pleasure, that after years of interest in cohousing from
a purely theoretical perspective, I'm finally in a position to get into the
noisy, messy world of implementation!

Thomas "TR" Ruddick
Dayton Cohousing


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