[denny]

I would think that explaining the situation to people both in person and in written form (on club's website or newsletter), would be a better way of addressing the problem than to do something as harsh as to deny entry to new members.  Both the sergeant-at-arms and use of a microphone are great ideas. 

I am definitely not in favor of limiting membership and based on preliminary discussion among our Executive Committee, that seems to be the prevailing point of view.

As you probably well know, sound intensity decreases as the inverse square of the distance.  If you have a cordless microphone and enough small speakers for the room you're in, you can keep the intensity down and still benefit everyone without disturbing the patrons upstairs.

It's a pretty small room so there isn't that much to cover.  And I don't see any way the club will spring for the $$ required for a truly well designed audio setup.  Not to mention that we'd have to install it in a space that isn't ours.

[punatic]

[thomasbarnes]

I give a tech presentation at each meeting and by about 10 min. into it I can no longer shout over the general noise level.

Our club solved this problem by moving the tech presentation to 30 minutes before the start of the business meeting. If you're interested in the tech topic, you get to meeting early.

[denny]

I give a tech presentation at each meeting and by about 10 min. into it I can no longer shout over the general noise level.

Our club solved this problem by moving the tech presentation to 30 minutes before the start of the business meeting. If you're interested in the tech topic, you get to meeting early.

I doubt that would work for our club.  But we had pretty good luck at our meeting this week by just talking about the problem at the beginning of the meeting.  The noise level went down and communication went up.

[bobby_m]

In regards to allowing the meeting attendance numbers to self regulate, here's the devil's advocate position.

Let's say your membership is 100 and your meeting space fits 50. Let's say during your growth phase, attendance was about 75% so at 60 members, 45 showed up.  As you hit 80, 60 tried to make it in but it sucked badly due to crowding. The first 10 people that start NOT showing up due to crowding are not necessarily the least dedicated to the hobby or the club, it's just the people who are the most easily annoyed by crowds. What if the type of people that continue to show up are actually the least interested in the mission of the club but just the most tolerant of other sardines?

Long story short, there's got to be a way to keep the meetings focused and attended by people most willing to support the club's mission. Unfortunately, hitting that goal makes leadership into the bad guys no matter how you look at it.

I'd love to hear ideas on how to actually make that work. We're knee deep in our first attempt and I'm not liking it all that much.

[olllllo]

We bought this PA http://www.guitarcenter.com/Fender-Passport-300-Pro-Portable-PA-System-105653646-i1500774.gc.
It's portable and spendy (see dues discussion) but it works great.