How to Start Your Own Club for Metal Detecting

By forming your very own metal detecting club, you will do much to learn more about this pastime and get to make some wonderful friends in the process. Together, you can talk about the exciting times you've had in the field along with your personal experiences and recommendations for equipment, treasure locations, as well as helpful hints and techniques.

You've made the decision to finally form your club. Where do you begin? Where do you locate potential participants?

1. Write out an effective advertising piece for a newspaper in your area that informs people of the club's purpose, and the date, time, and place of the first meeting.

2. Contact magazines that focus on metal detecting. Inquire as to whether or not they would be willing to allow you to place an ad in their publication.

3. Ask your local public access t.v. or radio station if they would be willing to broadcast your announcement.

4. Send a note to everyone you know who has an interest in metal detecting.

5. Send your ad information to civic club newsletters, church bulletins, and any other publications that are locally based.

You've found your members. What is the purpose of your club?

1. Once you've gotten together a group of members, you need to formulate a mission statement. Determine what will be the primary aims of the club? Will you deal with any political issues? Will the club be for entertainment purposes only?

2. Do members of the group prefer closely organized meetings or more informal ones? The answer to this question will be the deciding factor in how the rest of the following questions are answered.

3. Let the members of the club as a whole decide how voting will be done. Will you have straight voting where everybody states their opinion and then voting takes places or will it be on a consensus basis where the matter is hashed out until an agreement is made by everyone.

4. Where will you meet, in a private home, a civic center, or a local church?

5. Decide who will fill leadership positions. Standard practice is that the individual who organized the initial meeting be the Chairperson for the first several meetings. You'll need to choose someone who can record the meeting's minutes.

6. Have a club sponsored activity take place as promptly as you can. This will help to spur people's interest in coming up with and organizing activities as well as being a part of all the enjoyment.

Don't forget that a club is only as good as its members. The main difference with your club is that it's made up of people who enjoy treasure hunting! Enjoy yourself.