We started up the chess club at my college and I was wondering what is the best way to promote and run the chess club. I’m satisfied with how it has been so far but I think it definitely can be even better. Most people here have never really played chess before so I try to emphasize the fact that the club is not exclusively for great players
Get faculty members involved. Some play actively and some may be the “dropouts” often discussed here. Open the club up to the community. Have flexible hours. Make the club inclusive not exclusive
Find some special activities for your club to do. Examples: send a team to the Pan Am Intercollegiate Ch.; organize an on campus unrated tournament just for your school’s players - you can open it up and hold rated tournaments later; participate in or create an opportunity to raise funds for a charity - that should get you some good press; bring some strong player in to do a simultaneous exhibition or have one of your club’s players do it; put a team into a local chess league; check out with an academic dept. about teaching chess in local schools - that looks good on resumes and can fulfill volunteer requirements that some colleges have. In short, find some special things that your club is noted for and does every year. This establishes a tradition and a reason to join.
Every college/university has contingency funds, funds for special activities that they do not necessarily tell the students about. If you have a good idea or want to send a team to the Pan Ams, these funds might help you to accomplish your goal. That means that you have to establish a relationship with the school’s administration and/or the student government. Many clubs receive some funding from the general activity fees you pay. Student governments sometimes have moneys that they are alloted to disburse for worthy projects or in general to give to on campus organiztions. Go look for the money. Use your faculty sponsor to establish greater ties with the college administration.
You probably have more expertise in this than I do on technical matters, but do some social networking on Facebook. Set up a club website and update it frequently. Put puzzles on it. Set up flyers people can download.
If you want the club to be long lasting then avoid one thing. Don’t use the (probably free) site to primarily host tournaments for the general public with entry fees and prize funds high enough to pay the organizer and TDs a noticeable amount of money. That has been done in the past at some colleges and it has often ended up being viewed dimly enough to result in losing the site.
Another thing you could do is see if there is a chess league that allows college teams to participate.
Work with your activities office and the faculty and local community to encourage local community involvement. College chess clubs tend to live and die based on there being someone attending the college who is willing to take care of the organizational work. If there is a way to incorporate the faculty and community, they can serve to provide ongoing organizational capability thus providing the club the tools for ongoing continuity. To the extent your activities office buys into this, the easier it will be.
Many colleges are a little suspicious of “community involvement”. You have to gauge what your school will allow. The administration may fear that the school is being taken advantage of by an outside group for its own interest. That will put them off for other activities you want to do. It is better to build up your on campus base first before opening yourself to the local community. You can do a lot of other things before thinking about USCF rated tournament chess which can bring some disreputable characters on to your campus. Back in the day, we had campus security come to us and request that certain individuals not be allowed at our tournaments because of previous on campus violations.
Libraries as well, I might add. The problem is quite often, not the amount $$$ that changes hands,
but that it does at all. Free sites sometime demand no entry fees, cash awards, etc. And this does
present some problems if there is no benefactor available to pick up the tab for various USCF and
tournament expenses.
For the college campus, what has proven effective for some of us in North Texas, is a clear understanding of our goals in discussion with the various college administrative groups.
We have avoided these issues by either letting college students play with no entry fees, or at
a reduced fee in tournaments open to all.
Rob Jones
Beer. For 21 and over. That is all.
Jeff, I have helped with some college clubs by running such events.
BUT, what we generally offer sharply reduced entry fees to the college
students, or no entry fee for them at all.
Rob
As long as you know the college is fine with that arrangement you are okay (probably also if you are renting the site rather than receiving it for free). If you are just guessing that the college is fine with that arrangement then you are in the same position that multiple local college-based clubs were in just before they lost their site.
Well, Jeff, I think ultimately, this may come down to WHOM in the college one works
with. Because, as in most institutions of higher learning, such agreements tend to
work as long as the next higher up in the chain likes the arrangement. If not, it can
be amazing how the entire thing was simply a miss-communication from the start.
Rob Jones
You need a faculty member. I worked with Cornell and Ithaca College Chess when I lived there, and the faculty link is what is permanent. Students come and go, and a community member can’t work without a link “inside.”