ckiohio.org

Membership Development and Education is a position that deals with some very important tasks, such as increasing club growth, retaining members, and helping to educate them about CKI.

Icebreakers

One way to increase membership, is to make meetings more fun so that people want to attend, and one way to do that is with icebreakers.

As many of you know, icebreakers can be fun, so the key is to pick out a variety and make sure that they are right for your group.  Icebreakers can come in all shapes and sizes, many of which don’t even seem like icebreakers.  I always used to think Icebreakers meant sharing all sorts of personal information that I really didn’t want to share with strangers, but there are also games you can play which get members doing things together without all the details.  For example, supply groups of members with balloons and masking tape and have a contest to see who can build the highest tower.  This not only teaches people how to get along and work together, but they will also get to know the people they are working with.

When I started searching online for icebreakers and other fun “get to know you” type games I found tons of websites with lots of valuable information.  Rather than typing all these games out for you, I am going to provide you with some great links to get you started in your search for fun icebreakers.  If you want more ideas, just type Icebreakers or Team Building Activities into Google.   There is lots of great information out there on different things that you can do.

http://wilderdom.com/games/

-         This website is fabulous.  It has everything from Team Building activities to Rope Courses and it has many of the different activities ranked by popularity.

http://adulted.about.com/od/icebreakers/Ice_Breakers.htm

-         About.com is one of my favorite sites.  It always has a lot of useful information.  It has a variety of icebreakers, although not as many as the first link.

Icebreakers can be very easy to incorporate into your meetings.  Use an icebreaker or a fun game at the beginning of the meeting to get everyone moving and excited.  The more fun your meetings are, the more people will want to come to them!  One of the most important things about gaining and retaining members is the social aspect of the club.  Get to know people, and let them get to know you.  The more friends people make being in the club, the more likely they are to hang around.  And the more members you have, the more fun you will have!