Exile Posted June 30, 2011 Report Share Posted June 30, 2011 So, I'm not sure if this is the best place for this or not. So admin, if this is something that I should ask about in person or PM with someone, feel free to delete this thread I'm curious what it takes to start a Kite Club. I might be a little over ambisious, but if I can manage to find enough people, it would be nice to know how to organize people and ultimately arrange meets. Maybe someday, all you guys will come to Montana for a major event. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RobB Posted June 30, 2011 Report Share Posted June 30, 2011 So, I'm not sure if this is the best place for this or not. So admin, if this is something that I should ask about in person or PM with someone, feel free to delete this thread I'm curious what it takes to start a Kite Club. I might be a little over ambisious, but if I can manage to find enough people, it would be nice to know how to organize people and ultimately arrange meets. Maybe someday, all you guys will come to Montana for a major event. I wish you luck... I live on an island with over 3 million people, and haven't been able to get enough interest together to start a pairs team. Getting people out to fly more than twice per year is next to impossible around here. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jeepster Posted June 30, 2011 Report Share Posted June 30, 2011 You might try PMing the following Kitelife members ... screen name is first: Mike ... (Mike) ... started, with others, IKE ... http://www.ikeclub.org James Patten ... (James) ... started QC Kite Club ... http://www.qckiteclub.com tcope ... (Todd) ... very active in the Utah kite flying club ... http://www.utahkitefliers.org None of them are that active on Kitelife, so probably won't see your posting. But, they all are very helpful and approachable. Unless the members all live in the same city, a website if of prime importance for communication. Cheers, Tom Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
--Pete Posted June 30, 2011 Report Share Posted June 30, 2011 Montana is in AKA Region 9 (Montana, Idaho, and Oregon). In a way, this is a little unfair to Idaho and Montana, since Oregon is such a strong kite-flying state that the "center" of activity is likely to be on the other side of the mountains. Still, you might try contacting Amy Doran <rd9 at aka.kite.org> who is the current Regional Director for AKA Region 9. She may have some ideas and suggestions about who is in the area. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Barresi Posted June 30, 2011 Report Share Posted June 30, 2011 CJ, I think there is a real "cart before the horse" factor here... A club takes one thing above all: Kite fliers. Seems to me, the first thing to do is find, meet or make new fliers within the potential territory of a new club. Once you have enough fliers, then a club makes sense... An empty club won't make new fliers on it's own merit. Just my 2 cents. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Exile Posted July 1, 2011 Author Report Share Posted July 1, 2011 CJ, I think there is a real "cart before the horse" factor here... A club takes one thing above all: Kite fliers. Seems to me, the first thing to do is find, meet or make new fliers within the potential territory of a new club. Once you have enough fliers, then a club makes sense... An empty club won't make new fliers on it's own merit. Just my 2 cents. I completely Agree!! 100%! I know there is no way to form a club if I don't have anyone to be in it. And I know the best way to find people is to have some sort of event to attract active, and new and perspective kite fliers. What I was trying to figure out however, was more the logistics of it all. I'm sure there are certain things that must met in order to form a club, certain organizations that must contacted, and others that must be joined like that AKA for insurance purposes. I think there is a minimum officers requirement. Pres., VP, and Treasurer. I will be trying to contact local Park and Rec, about the likely hood of putting on a Kite Fly event, once I find out who I need to talk to. Friday is a day off for me, can you guess what I'll be doing?? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Exile Posted July 1, 2011 Author Report Share Posted July 1, 2011 wouldn't you know it. I send my day driving around trying to find people I need to talk to about getting an event together, and all of them had already left for the 4th weekend. OH well. Have to try again later. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tcope Posted July 6, 2011 Report Share Posted July 6, 2011 First and foremost you need to have a lot of one thing... perseverance! I'll be honest... if you don't have a boat load of that and a little more then you may not want to try starting a club. For those people who happen to live around already established kite flying areas, thank your lucky stars! I've been there and its very nice. Four years ago I helped start the Utah Kite Fliers. It started with an idea that there must be other kite fliers out there in the area and that we just needed a way to find each other. Here are my recommendations: Find a good place to fly. Do this first. Plan on flying there every so often. You will probably be flying alone but people will see you. This is your "core" activity. If you can fly every other Sunday or some other set time, do it. Post this info on the AKA website and also as many kite forums as possible. Invite people out in your posts or ask them to email you. What did I mention in my opening remark? You need to keep this up even if it does not seem to be going anywhere. You may want to register a domain name and put up a simple website. Add this website to you posts so that people will find you on a search. If there are events like balloon festivals in your area contact the person in charge and ask them if you can fly some kites. Be prepared to explain what this means or they will think of Charlie Brown. Network! I met Tom on GWTW (?) and then in person in FL and now he has been so very kind to mention my name to people in this area. I see John B a couple of times a year in odd places and he always has time to talk to me. Don't expect things to happen over night or in one summer. Keep in mind that its important that YOU fly! It starts with one person. If you give up then it wont happen. At the end of the day you still got to do what you like to do... fly kites. Sent from my T-Mobile G2 using Tapatalk Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Barresi Posted July 7, 2011 Report Share Posted July 7, 2011 Solid stuff Todd, thanks. There is also the AKA's "Club Organizer Manual" - http://aka.kite.org/resources/publications/doc_download/154-aka-club-organizers-manual Might be worth looking at. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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