Imagine that a Society member or Associate was ready to write a million dollar check to Harmony Foundation.  But he or she needs a cause that they are certain would be a great investment.  Would YOU know what to tell them?

I’m pretty sure I already know what Harmony Foundation would tell them. They already gave $450,000 to the Society in 2009  to fund our entire Youth in Harmony program and to help dozens and dozens of chapters improve via Director’s College scholarships. And I know they’re hard at work trying to raise money for additional Society priorities: Read the rest of this entry »

Here’s the chance to add/subtract or discuss the list on page 13 of the May/June 2010 issue of The Harmonizer. Apologies if you came to this site earlier and didn’t find this post as mentioned in the magazine. I just came back from vacation to find that the printer had managed to mail the issue nearly a week earlier than scheduled — I thought I was going to have a few more days to put this post online!

If you don’t agree with this list, take it up with me — I take full responsibility for it ….

… unless you do like the list, in which case I emphasize that while the words are mine, the concepts didn’t exactly spontaneously pop into my head. Here in Nashville, especially in the last 18 months, we’ve been talking about issues like these A LOT. I’m sure if I checked back into my meeting notes, I’d see some version of most of the below concepts. But I generated this based on little more than a personal brainstorming session and sent it around the office for feedback.

Hate it: MY FAULT. Like it: THANK THE STAFF. Clear?

So how does this list jibe with your experience? Some successful chapters prominently feature traits not listed below, but the idea is to identify traits that pretty much ALWAYS seem to be present in growing, thriving chapters.

Would you add anything? Remove something? Modify something? Your feedback is appreciated!

Read the rest of this entry »

Guest nights. Handing out flyers. Performing for the local community. All good ways to promote your chapter and barbershop in hopes of garnering interest and possibly gaining a few new members.

Well – is it working? What do you have to show for it? Hopefully these methods are successful as they require a good amount of effort, but maybe you’re hoping for a bit more; more gigs, more people at guest nights, more phone calls asking your chorus to sing at an event, and ultimately, more registered Barbershoppers.

Bob Fichter (from the Midwest Vocal Express), with the help of Montana Jack, has written an article titled, “Social Media for Barbershop Quartets and Choruses” – it explains how to reach more people and target the younger generations. For those who are intimidated by the Internet – have no fear! Bob gives step-by-step instructions – fool proof!

If you’ve used Facebook for the purpose of recruiting new members, advertising a show/meeting, or anything barbershop-related, tell us about your experience. What works best and what doesn’t – let’s hear it!

*Update: Please note in the original post that “looking at” = “considering,” and nothing more. Also note that cost reduction is one of the reasons we’re looking at a more permanent membership card.*

The above is NOT a proposed membership card — just a very early proof of concept prototype. The point is, based on member feedback, we’re looking at changing our membership cards. No designs yet, but please participate in our poll about what might appear on the card.

We’re looking to create something more colorful and laminated, closer to the thickness of a credit card. It would be durable enough that the ink won’t rub off or stick to anything in your wallet and flashy enough that you may be proud to pull it out of your wallet and show it off. The idea is that this would become your permananent membership card and would not be replaced each year.

As to what information goes on the card, there are several options: Read the rest of this entry »

Here we are six weeks away from the Midwinter Convention in Tampa, Fla. (January 28-31, 2010) and we’re headed towards what looks to be our largest attended Midwinter ever. As of this morning we are sitting at 1210 registrations! Last year at this time we were at 893 registrations and by the time everything was said and done we had 1291 folks in Pasadena. Where will Tampa finish? Come on and find out!

As you can imagine, we here at HQ are very excited about this. I am especially excited because quite simply, more barbershoppers in the same place at the same time=FUN. Even now, however, the convention is still somewhat of a “best kept secret” in the Society. Read the rest of this entry »

God bless the realists, the folks who tell it like it is—who call a spade a spade, who never stick their head in the sand, and who know they aren’t doing anyone any favors in varnishing the truth. The Barbershop Harmony Society needs all the reality it can get. If the preceeding words describe you, this post isn’t directed at you.

On second thought, this post may be ESPECIALLY for you.

What I say next will probably brand me as a blind Pollyanna skipping to the precipice, but oh well:

STOP BEING SO NEGATIVE! YOU’RE ONLY MAKING THINGS WORSE!

Realism is vital, but it is severely overrated. If that last sentence made you cringe, I’ll point out that science is on my side for this one.

It turns out, a large portion of self-described realists are also pessimists. And because they are pessimists, they will not have access to the thoughts and actions that will lead their chapters and our Society to better days. Want proof? Want examples? Keep reading. Read the rest of this entry »

In an upcoming issue of the magazine, we’re going to be running an article on how some chapters and quartets are using Facebook, Myspace, LinkedIn, etc. to get new fans, new members, new audiences and build new relationships. I know of a few examples of barbershoppers who are using Facebook to sell more tickets and locate potential members. I would sure like to know some more.

• Do you know any success stories? (Yours or another group?)
• Do you you have any expertise on how to use social networking effectively in a barbershop or other singing environment?
• Do you have any questions that you want answered in an article like this?

Please share what you know or what you want to know right here!

(Note: Feel free to provide links in your response (if you know they’re clean), but know that comments that contain multiple links will usually go into moderation before they can be posted. If you comment doesn’t show up immediately, that’s probably why.)

“Some people try to find things in this game that don’t exist, but football is only two things – blocking and tackling.“

— Vince Lombardi, ESPN’s Coach of the Century

Thanks everyone who responded to our Commanders Intent post last month. We discussed how an army commander ensures his forces cannot lose sight of the core objective and then we asked you to fill in the blank, “If a chapter does nothing else, it must _____.” So many insightful answers! If you haven’t read them, click on the above link and please do so.

As promised, we looked at everyone’s comments and discussed them at our Sept. 16 meeting. We’re not done processing and reacting to everything we learned from your participation, but I’ll say this: We didn’t see anything in your feedback that surprised us, and that was great news. I hope the following explains why.

While it might be wise to stick with the military motif for this post, please indulge me in switching to a related analogy: winning football teams and winning chapters. (To be clear, staff doesn’t define winning chapters by competitive scores but by whether a chapter is a exciting and fulfilling place that’s attracting more and more men. High-level performance and a healthy chapter culture often go together, but it’s very common to find one without the other.) However, successful chapters of all types are strong on similar key fundamentals. One goal of the commander’s intent post was to determine whether we’ve identified the same key principles as you have. 80+ insightful responses later, our strategic planning appears to be well in line with what you consider most important.

Now, a few words about arguably the best football coach of all time, and what fundamentals mean to strong barbershop chapters. Read the rest of this entry »

I’m about to launch into what amounts to a pep talk, and I hate pep talks. They don’t work for me. The emotions fade quickly, and then I’m left with the same circumstances and no more solutions than I had before. I’m left even more cynical. Don’t give me a pile of shiny, trite mantras that don’t point me where to go next.

I’m not pretending to have all the answers here, so why am I even writing this? Because I see a lot that makes me feel positive about the future. You choose whether I’m being trite or not. If I get to be dismissive about empty motivational speeches, it’s only fair that I be equally dismissive toward the gloom and doom demotivational speeches many of us have been giving lately, even if unintentionally. Read the rest of this entry »

This is a VERY important post—so important that staff will be meeting on Wednesday, Sept. 16 to discuss your replies. It’s a little long, but worth it.

If you can fill in the above blank without hesitation, you probably misunderstood the question. Read on, your answer will require some pondering. Your answers could also help focus staff, Society, district and chapter efforts for years to come. We look forward to some thoughtful discussion! Read the rest of this entry »

We’ve had several questions lately regarding American Harmony and the status of screenings. Below is a detailed description from one of the producers, Allan Webb, that is sure to answer most of the lingering questions out there.

For those that have already registered – thanks for your participation in helping spread barbershop harmony around your community!

Read the rest of this entry »

I received the following email a while back from a member, who appears to be concerned about whether a chorus will inevitably decline if they keep the same musical leadership. Here’s his question and here’s my answer. When you’re done reading this, please comment on the following two questions:

• Was my answer correct?
• Was he asking the right question?

First, the question: Read the rest of this entry »

It’s waaaaaaay to early to see what the Membership Growth Task Force is going to come up with — they are keeping their minds open and their options open while they study the sources of our membership decline and guide us toward remedies. Suffice it to say, we’ve got some really bright minds working on this issue. Read the rest of this entry »

The women who become Associates are not members of our Society per se, but they’re still official with the Society, if you know what I mean. Society Board member Skipp Kropp’s wife, Nancy, has shared in the barbershop fraternity and lifestyle for years with her husband, and she recently became an Associate. Skipp has already noticed some subtle but interesting shifts in behavior since then. Read the rest of this entry »

Picture that happening to you. Suddenly, a small group of experienced barbershoppers want to start a new chapter in a neighboring city. SINKING GUT FEELING #1. “What will we ever do?”  This is a totally factual story (as best as my memory and our records might provide). You might be surprised by the result. Read the rest of this entry »

Society President Bill Biffle has announced the appointment of a task force to create an overall strategy to achieve sustained growth of the organization.  Chaired by Immediate Past President Noah Funderburg, the task force consists of eight committed barbershoppers of varying ages, length of Society membership, and personal background. Read the rest of this entry »

As with most non-profits, our Society has always been challenged to do more with less. The challenge is especially urgent this year due to the disappointing level of international convention registrations for Anaheim. The resulting shortfall has put our annual budget over $330,000 in the red, requiring quick action. We have cut many expenses but cannot make up this deficit without taking personnel actions.  At the same time, we must continue to serve members and chapters while we work to reverse the 20-year membership decline that is at the root of our economic circumstances.

 We are realigning our staff both in response to these economic realities and to better position us for future opportunities.  This restructuring is designed to help us leverage one another’s expertise with the limited number of employees demanded by a sound economic model. This streamlining means reducing the number of departments, and therefore department heads. While I’m excited about the efficiencies and opportunities we’ve identified, I’m devastated on behalf of the dedicated employees who have just learned that their positions will be eliminated. Read the rest of this entry »

Recently I sent an email to all the men who joined the Society in the first quarter of 2008, asking for comments about their first year in barbershopping. The following is one of many replies. Read the rest of this entry »

What gets measured gets rewarded.

Our Society has a great system to find and honor the groups that put the best product on stage every year — and there are a million good reasons to continue to honor these achievers. We’re also getting better at recognizing the best recruiters among us. (When Roger Lewis was Society president, he recognized the best recruiters on the international stage, something I’d like to see return.) But those are easy: add up the scores or run a report and there are your winners.

Then there’s the hard stuff to track that matters at least as much. Read the rest of this entry »

I recently received these questions in an e-mail:  “If Membership Growth is the Society’s greatest need/problem, and now is our leaders’ first priority, (1) why does the list of Harmony U 2009 classes, and Anaheim convention interest classes include practically nothing that could be considered Marketing & PR? and (2) can HQ now pressure the Districts to stress Marketing & PR in their upcoming COTS/Leadership courses?” I want to share my (not necessarily the) answer with you here on the blog.  Read the rest of this entry »

This past weekend, 28 men attended a summit meeting in Nashville to discuss how best to begin the process of growing our Society again. It was a mostly free-form event that encouraged discussion, discourse, deliberation, disputation, and dialog. We agreed that there is a lot of “low hanging fruit” – programs and processes available now that can make a difference right away.  (For an example of what’s working now, check out Chuck Greene’s amazing program.)  And we talked about what’s worked in the past that we’ve stopped doing.  (Remember Eric Jackson’s Liveblood program and the Bryn Mawr Experience?  Why’d we stop doing THAT?)  Read the rest of this entry »

I am writing an article (probably for the Harmonizer) about choruses that have some sort of private voice instruction (PVIs) included either in their weekly meeting or available for their members outside the meeting night.  I would appreciate any feedback you can offer about this topic.  Here are a few questions that may guide you: Read the rest of this entry »

Here are the raw facts:
Last year, January 1, 2008 to April 15, 2008 we recruited 473 new members into the Society

This year, January 1, 2009 to April 15, 2009 we recruited 647 new members.

Everyone say Hazzah! Read the rest of this entry »

In the blog article “Are our 20 percent most devoted members unwittingly the barrier to growth?” one of the comments (#19 from Keith Eckhardt) says:

My chapter has recently added a youth chorus as a second chorus. They have their own director and meet on a different night from our adult chorus. Several of the youth are also members of the adult chorus. The youth chose to join us this way to get instant Non-profit protection, liability coverage, an experienced treasurer to handle their money, and a youth team to act as consultants when they need help.

In a year we will have a problem with the current C&J rule that only one chorus from a chapter can compete in the same contest. I would like to see this changed.

Isn’t it time for us to give choruses the freedom to compete in the contest that best fits them? The only real change I would want is to allow a youth chorus to compete in the regular contest along with the regular chorus in their chapter. I would expect each chorus to submit their average ages such that the youth chorus would average below 25-30 and the regular chorus be above 40.

Read the rest of this entry »

Unless you’ve been in a cave, by now you’ve seen the video of Susan Boyle on Britain’s Got Talent. Something like 80 million views and counting. Millions of dollars couldn’t buy a promotion at any price that will get the views that the dowdy, unemployed, never-been-kissed 47-year-old with the angelic voice has gotten this past week. It was the message people wanted right now, set up perfectly by the TV bosses, and the show’s ratings and Susan’s life will never be the same again.

Anybody would kill for a video to go viral like that, including the Barbershop Harmony Society. Do we have something in our back pockets that could go viral? Read the rest of this entry »