Nervous and excited is a good way to be. The nervous helps keep the excited in check. :-)

Thanks,
Grey Catling

My (or our?) Protogrove is not doing splendid either, since all the folks who were with us left, because they had severe personal issues. So we are basically right on the start again after half a year. On the other hand that is not quite true, because I have progressed remarkably with my DP training since and gained some invaluable experience (e.g. on the importance of preventing burnout). I now have a more realistic long-term plan.

And hey, I was donated an unlimited hosting from a Pagan colleague. That´s not bad :-)

All the same, I sometimes wonder if it would’ve been better to do this right on the Protogrove’s site.

But the primary point I mean to make is in giving the feel that you are talking directly to the reader. So from one extreme to another, someone might view it sounding a bit like too much starch in the collar, but:

“You’re invited to celebrate with us to honor (Deity/ies) on (High Day) with our praise offering gifts of: (example offering); who we will call upon to share in blessings at this rite, (date & time), at (location and contact info, including a link for directions & map).

*Additional information is available at: (Inside scoop to link to specifics, ie, any items and instructions, such as bring a folding chair and something to share for feast; a canned food donation is gladly accepted for a food bank our Grove/Protogrove, (grove name), as a service to the community.)

*For the above paragraph, to create a ‘need to know’ further, heightened curiosity, if nothing else may be in using a catchy word, that’s not to far afield, but perhaps a trigger word to cause a click to the link to happen.

Ensemble of detailed protocol, plus a convenient easy list for those lazy or busy readers who want to push on, with an additional convenient ‘click here for a printable copy of a memo slip.

Blocked who, where, when, why, how, etc. For a really creative touch and if you have the know how, a printable invitation with a brief list.

Naturally, we all try a variety of things. It would be interesting to know what types of responses, turn-outs, etc., for the array of versions used for these announcements.
I personally think it would be great if there was a menu of templates available in an printable invitation format at the ADF site for GO’s and SD’s. This way both hard copies and online notices could be handled and of course the templates are what they are, fill-in-able :> I’m all about templates lately, I think. *with option to add a picture of decoration of a sort – while we’re at it.

But honestly, I’ve found myself super pressed for time, as generally the only one doing all the necessary, and have shocked a load of folks with a super brief announcement with the needed stats only. As you can see, I am not concise, so they wonder if I’m having a mood when I do that. :>

So, to add, while I’m here; I was extremely delighted to find this blog you’ve created.

While just a simple notice, brief and basic is all that’s needed, just a little pazzaz that’s not too overflowing, and my own personal taste is to appeal to the reader in the first person, not too technical sounding by design.

Wouldn’t it be great to set up a software for all that Grove Organizer’s need and donate that to the members side of Regalia! Sad my strengths are only ideas and not in computer design and programming in this case.

Good luck and Be well,
Polarity
GO, EDPG-ADF

Noira: one of the things that you might find useful would be looking at how small college groups get started. They often face some similar problems (people are very busy, aren’t sure what they want to do, etc.)

Some things that can help:

1) A combination of meetings with specific announced topics (which may draw people who might not normally come), and general discussion evenings (which might attract people who think they don’t need to cover the basics again.) One of each a month might be a good place to start.

If it were me, I’d go for one new-to-Paganism friendly meeting a month (like free classes, but maybe not, to start, in a series, maybe just a topic at a time, like “What is Paganism?” or “Why ritual?” or divination, or whatever makes sense . Series are hard, because if someone misses the first one, they probably will think they shouldn’t come to the others.

And I’d plan one general discussion or social event (networking, a Pagan-friendly movie night, an outing together to a local exhibit or performance of something relevant, etc.) too. Pick stuff you’d be interested in going to or doing anyway, and again, if no one shows up, you won’t be out anything.

2) I think anyone trying to get something like this off the ground has to plan for sitting around waiting for everyone else to show up for a bit. As Arthur suggests, a lot of groups seem to take 6-12 months to really accumulate enough people that there’s a reliable core group.

Advertising in different ways/trying different topics of focus can be a good thing – as Arthur says, you get a lot of people who aren’t interested themselves, but then run into someone who is.

3) Using an email list/online forum/etc can help – both getting people connected, and helping you figure out if you’re just picking a bad time for all the people who might otherwise come.

Do your fliers have a little tab at the bottom with your website? (people tear off the slip and bring it home: don’t know if this is common there, but it’s common in the US. They don’t have to find pen/paper then.) Or some places may let you put up a little pocket of quarter-sheet slips with basic info on them. Basically, anything that makes it easier for people to bring contact info home with them works. Printed bookmarks can work too.

As there is very high secularism here, there´s not much sense in joining liberal groups to oppose the fundies, ya know :-) I want more fundies here!

There is a rather new (04/2008) Pan-Pagan forum growing here, which might eventually become an open platform useful for advertising, I hope so… as the article says, there´s much exclusivism and each group badmouths the others or better yet, has no knowledge about other forms of Paganism apart from their own.

I have an ambitious plan of creating the best and most comprehensive website about Paganism, the only truly cross-traditional one, and this might be the best place for promotion eventually ;-) The current website gets some 2000 visits monthly, which is not bad. It grew from 1000 after upgrading to PHP. An upgrade to a CMS might rocket it even higher.

My SEO comments were more a general suggestion, since I don’t know any Czech to see if your Protogrove seems easy to find.

As for networking, I was more trying to indicate that it helps to advertise via various overarching lists. I don’t think I’ve ever had anyone directly come from advertising on state-wide lists, but I get referrals from those who have seen the regular posts and meet someone who says they don’t know any Pagans around my area — who, being aware of the Protogrove, put me in touch with them.

Another thing that has helped in my case is giving presentations to the local college Pagan society and to the local Unitarian-Universalist (UU) Fellowship. I’m not certain if a truly analogous group exists in the Czech Republic — over here, at least, the UUs are a non-creedal religious group, such that there are UU Secular Humanists, and UU Christians, and UU Pagans. UUs generally fit the profile of the sophisticated seeker.

I have seen a number of people seeking pastoral counseling as well, so that is at least one constant.

There is a networking org already (Pagan Federation) and various forums with real life meetups. So nobody needs us to get to know other Pagans.

Except perhaps those who are really totally new and older, and prefer to stick to one group/person they trust… also a lot of the inquiries I get is from people who are seriously in trouble (domestic violence etc.) and they seek pastoral counselling more than anything else.