I'd be extremely surprised if a faculty advisor would ever refer to themselves as being "in charge" of a student club, but I guess it's possible.
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Advice for Getting more Students to join a Anime/Gaming Club in College
- Thread starter Darkspellmaster
- Start date
I'd be extremely surprised if a faculty advisor would ever refer to themselves as being "in charge" of a student club, but I guess it's possible.
OP
OP
We did, and the school took it down because "it has to go through maintenance". So we went to Maintenance and got told, because we don't have windows in the room they can't allow for us to have a larger air freshener in there. The school built the room with windows that do not open for some reason and our heating and AC do not work in the room at all, and we've tried to get it fixed.
I hear you, and believe me I would LOVE to get some stuff in there, but no go save people spraying perfume in there by themselves.
Vast majority of our Gamers are Anime watchers too. They're the ones that wanted it both when the club was first formed. We've talked about rebranding but no one wants the change because they don't want to be just seen as "Just Gamers", they want to show they are more than just one type of group. (We also welcome comics, Kpop, and other pop culture fans as well.) We have magic and D&D players there too.
Day to day follows as such. Early morning a select group of gamers come in and start up with four games, typically it's Smash, a shooter of some sort, Newest thing out (AC, Witcher, Dark souls, the new one from Gearbox that I can't think of at the moment, etc), we may get a fifa or sports game, and either an anime game or fighter. This lasts pretty much all day in rotation, Outside of the room we have people doing magic and yugioh in person or on the computers. Once in a while someone will put on an anime, but that's about it. They leave the room dark because it's easier to play for them in the dark for some reason. Friday's have movies.
We have the game room, which is used by the whole school as it's a public space. No clubs in our school outside of Science has a dedicated room (even then they can't always use it because of classes). We've been asking for a room to ourselves but this has not been going well.
Typically we've tried to have meetings in other rooms but the members do not want to leave the Union because they don't want to leave their games. So we have to have it in there.
Meetings traditionally go, President calls to order, everyone listens for a while, we try to come up with ideas to do as a group, people don't offer much in the way of things to do, (tournament usually comes up), our Officers look to me for ideas, I throw several out there, people seem to like them, some people volunteer things. Meeting ends, and they go right back to their games. It's not like they're not involved it's that people outside the club feel, as you said, uninvited, because a lot of the time the members are focused down on games.
It's kind of like wrangling cats.
I would love to do that, but the Student Commons where we have it doesn't have the set up for anything beyond eating and playing cards since our New President treats our college like it's a freaking High school. The room that would be the best for that is constantly in use for some form of event from our Campus Activity board (Guest speakers that get around a dozen or so people).
Thing is, our club is considered the most interesting by the students, but they're, for some reason, scared of us.
As far as the gaming, the way you describe it - people playing games in a dark room - I'm kind of surprised anyone goes. You don't sound like you have the proper space, resources or permission to make it an enticing setup. You can't work magic. Maybe you should just accept it is what it is.
OP
OP
We have, it didn't go over well. Myself and two other members of the club do cosplay for fun (full on making them, sewing, fixing wigs and making props), so we did an event to talk about it. Had a bunch of people sign up…only three showed at the time of it.
We had a person to teach the origami, and someone to teach the Japanese lessons.
This is the issue. If we try to break it up, then the school will not let the other run. They're being very picky about clubs that aren't seen as "academic", even our science club is feeling the heat on that because the president wants like clubs that are larger groups (example would be the ALPFA group that's an organization that has chapters) instead of local based school groups. Our student trustee has been fighting for months now to get the board to give more prominence to the local clubs and organizations instead of the chapter based groups that have money coming in from outside organizations.
The maid café was a thing that oddly enough the school survey asked for. Apparently, people liked the idea of doing that because it seemed cute to some of the girls at the school and the former head of Student Activities asked us to set up a café, keep in mind we were not dressed as maids or anything like that. It was more like a High tea you may get at a tea room.
That's a major thing too. We have a chill place, but the problem is that they designed it to be less chill (no windows that can open, broken Heat and AC) and we've been asking for a new room, but no such luck. Some of our members were talking about a Esports team, but then the issue of how many people would want to sign up for it came up, and a vast majority of our student body is not esports types they are more casual players.
As the Advisor I was told we had to incorporate over the past three years, more cultural aspects about the media (Japanese culture aspects in Anime and Gaming) because the school wants more "Academics" involved in the clubs. This was the best way we could do it without being slammed by the red tape of death from administration.
Do you have any sort of welcome or on boarding process for folks who maybe saw an event and stopped by a meeting? From your description of the day to day....It sounds a bit unwelcoming or insular. If I was interested and showed up to find a dark room with folks huddled in front of TVs I'd probably turn around before anyone noticed me.
OP
OP
Thing is as the Advisor I can't walk away from it. At the college, every club must have a staff or full-time instructor as the Advisor to the club. The role is to advise and help the Officers run the club and be the go-between between the school and the students of the club, and our officers, for the most part, hit the mark of being younger Millennials and Gen Zers. I would love to move more out of the way, but all of the teaching staff is far older than me and either too busy with their own things or not interested in running it.
Nope, I'm not attending, I work there as an Adjunct Professor and as a Computer Lab Professional for the CIS Department. I'm going in for my Masters…I should really edit to make that clear on my OP.
That would be very helpful! Thank you.
The best way to explain this is to explain that the School is very much wanting culture or academic aspects in the clubs, so we had to do something more connected to the culture for the event. The school hasn't been friendly to the idea of just a "Chill and watch Anime" night because of this, so we've had to add culture to the mix. Believe me, I would love to just do "Let's celebrate My Hero Aca" Event, but it wouldn't fly due to "Not academic enough" for the school. It's dumb. I know.
I wish I could but I can't. The school doesn't allow gambling.
If I knew that the school would give us the money to get Samurai Dan to come and give live demonstrations, I would be able to have sharpening katanas on campus.
This is a good point. I assume they do have something in place, but perhaps maybe the OP can explain whatever the process is and we can try and offer some suggestions.
Is there like a dedicated sign up table or something? What is your web presence like? Some photos from the events can always help.
I was going to ask if it was ok to just show whatever anime you had on hand to a bunch of people in a school sponsored event, or if you needed permission from the licenseholders to do so? But it sounds like you do need permission.
OP
OP
We actually tried this one year for Valentine's day. Or were intending to try to give away free flowers to talk to students, but our Campus Activity board's president basically told me that they were doing it. And, since part of the rules of the clubs is that no two clubs can compete, and they have a higher standing with the school as the Campus Activity board, they had first pick. We later found out on Valentine's day that they did not go through with that event, thus making us look like idiots for basically having to back off.
Nope it was a high tea event with movie viewing and you were supposed to get a free cloth napkin with your name on it as a parting gift. That was all.
Lady here as well. The idea was our Student Activities leader who wanted something from a convention to showcase at the college, since the survey that the students filled out said that they wanted something from Anime conventions from our club. So they asked for a Maid café, and we did a High tea event.
We have these, it's the issue of getting people to come to the room to do the viewing, since a lot of the time it takes offering food, which is hard to get because the school sucks at giving us access to our funds. Long and complicated history on that.
Chicago has the Japanese Cultural society. The school again doesn't like to pay for things all that much. We did get to have a tea ceremony here via Campus Activity board, but the major comment from the Activities people have been, "It's a Hispanic school, we prefer doing things for Hispanic culture." So hard to argue against that.
Yup I'm an adjunct professor at the college along with the Computer Science Lab professional.
I want us to be able to show movies, it's just a question of how to promote it without having to say "Hey we're watching blank". Been trying to get ahold of our new Head of Student Activities about this issue for a while now. But we have been doing that. Just that, again, room for it sucks since no windows, broken heater, broken AC and students don't like the light. (Swear to god some of them are vampires or something.)
My college's anime club curate through a list of anime. They start with a list of things people might have seen or mostly haven't seen. Watch three episodes and asks the group what anime they want to continue watching for that semester. As well as taking suggestions during the first meeting and adding suggestions in the second week for vote.
Then they just watch anime every week with a group of people.
They even hosted a Convention one year and it was a great success. They wanted to build off it but the school canned it because the other campus was upset they didn't get to host the convention, and there isn't a anime club at the other campus. But all the money went to club members to attend the big anime convention for a three day trip that drove to and back to the convention each day.
But your club sounds like Japan Club with a western view on it. I feel like you'll benefit more from just watching anime, serving free food for the first few meetings. Then letting members take leadership roles in planning at least one big event and two to three smaller events.
Things you could do:
Host your own anime convention. (Can be expensive and hard)
Pocky Day (Get in contact with Pocky of America to provide photos and maybe get free sweets out of it).
Host non-gaming tournaments. Basically just anime themed competitions in a race to complete them. (Whoever builds this very basic gundam first wins. Or find out who's your senpai based on these clues).
Wacky late night Japanese TV show contests (look up stuff online and see what weird shit the school would be okay with)
Road Rally (You get in a car trying to complete all the tasks with a number value to it between 1-3. With an additional points for being first to finish. Then you grade them and determine the winner. You can have them go to a convention and do it).
Instead of classes teaching you how to make food. Actually use club funds to buy the food and offer people the chance to put together their own sushi and eat it.
Then they just watch anime every week with a group of people.
They even hosted a Convention one year and it was a great success. They wanted to build off it but the school canned it because the other campus was upset they didn't get to host the convention, and there isn't a anime club at the other campus. But all the money went to club members to attend the big anime convention for a three day trip that drove to and back to the convention each day.
But your club sounds like Japan Club with a western view on it. I feel like you'll benefit more from just watching anime, serving free food for the first few meetings. Then letting members take leadership roles in planning at least one big event and two to three smaller events.
Things you could do:
Host your own anime convention. (Can be expensive and hard)
Pocky Day (Get in contact with Pocky of America to provide photos and maybe get free sweets out of it).
Host non-gaming tournaments. Basically just anime themed competitions in a race to complete them. (Whoever builds this very basic gundam first wins. Or find out who's your senpai based on these clues).
Wacky late night Japanese TV show contests (look up stuff online and see what weird shit the school would be okay with)
Road Rally (You get in a car trying to complete all the tasks with a number value to it between 1-3. With an additional points for being first to finish. Then you grade them and determine the winner. You can have them go to a convention and do it).
Instead of classes teaching you how to make food. Actually use club funds to buy the food and offer people the chance to put together their own sushi and eat it.
Based off this description, it sounds more like people just want a space to play video games, and less that they want to watch anime together. Having the lights off, and no one making an effort in making suggestions during the meetings, plus describing running the meetings as "wrangling cats," does not sound inviting at all. If I was a student interested in the club, all that would turn me off, so maybe work on those things. Keeping the lights on, restricting single player games and only doing MP, and showing more anime (Ghibli movies would be appealing for anime fans of all walks).
Edit- whoops, saw the Ghibli trademark issue in the OP. Guess that's out. But how about Your Name, or other popular movies?
OP
OP
Not being allowed to advertise, expected to use items that were not edible or could be bought already downstairs, shoved in a corner room out of the way. Etc. It was a mess as the Student Activities who asked us to create this did not help us organizing it.
The what now? Is Iaido a form of martial arts? Think I've heard of it before…just can't recall what sort it is. We're usually set next to the Art club when it comes to Student/Club day/Fair.
Could try again to have the name changed, but the School has been very against that as they spent money on using our name in their advertising for the clubs at the college. It's on banners and shit in the student commons/cafeteria area, so they are highly displeased if we change what we are right now.
To answer:
1. Because a lot of our members are also interested in Korean dramas and other media from the Asian region of the world, so to at least give a broad term Asian was about as broad as one could give. I had members in the past say that they wouldn't have looked into the club if it had specified Japanese only shows as they were more into Korean dramas and we played those for a while.
2. Yes, there was a teacher, just that the students in the school didn't get it for some reason.
3. Was more of a High tea and requested by the Student Activities as a means to show an inexpensive convention event.
4. We typically had that, but then students change it fast to gaming or the gamers don't want to share the TVs we have in the room. We only have 4 and the 5[SUP]th[/SUP] one was broken by another teacher who was using it for their class and seems to have cut the USB cord when they were demonstrating something with it. I don't know the details of that one.
5. We did have a real teacher, she was there for three semesters, she taught math at the college, they only have Spanish as our language art at my college.
It does and it has for years. A lot of developers and arts and animators are also gamers and anime watchers. Most people that are in their 30s grew up in some way with Anime, so there's that aspect.
The issue is more on the fact that we have been told to fit in holes that we can't. Because the school is limited with it's cultural studies (only Spanish based) we're the one thing they can point to, to say, "See we do care about other cultures, look at our Anime club here."
I'd love it to simply go back to a social club, but the school is adamant about having an "academic or cultural" aspect to the club. We're trying to refine ourselves.
Sounds like way bigger issues than trying to increase club presence and activity.
I'm not sure you can ever get the students and administrators all on the same page to pull the club in the same direction, and without any real kind of focus or identity I don't know how you pitch people or activities, either.
Since stepping down isn't an option, you're going to need to face some hard truths. Your (and I'm referring to all the members of the club here) ideas for what the club should be are incompatible with a club that new people want to join. If you want to attract new members, you're going to have to change.
Frankly, some of your ideas seem ill-considered. If you want women to join your club, a maid café event might not be the best choice.
But in a larger sense, it seems like you're approaching these events wrong. Instead of just focusing on just making a fun event that enriches campus life, you're too focused on using events as marketing stunts to get people into your club and then writing them off as "busts" when they don't produce the desired result. You're being evangelical about it, and I don't mean that in a good way.
It doesn't matter how good of a teacher you got for your origami folding demonstration; most people are not going to go to a club meeting where they don't know anyone. It sounds like your club is pretty insular. You need to build bridges between your club and the campus culture. I'm not talking about doing a stunt for Pocky Day or whatever, I'm talking about building genuine connections so curious people will feel more comfortable going to your club meeting.
As a club your best resource for this is other clubs. Are you co-hosting events with other clubs? You should be reaching out and trying to arrange relevant viewing parties with the LGBTQ club. If there is a tabletop club you can partner with them and co-host an event with Japanese-themed board games, and so on. These types of events integrate your club in with the campus culture; your club members will meet other people and get to know them. People are waaaay more likely to go to a club where they've already met some of the people and feel like they know them. Plus, all the people you'll meet this way are already in clubs, meaning they're already willing to invest time into exploring that aspect of campus life.
Frankly, some of your ideas seem ill-considered. If you want women to join your club, a maid café event might not be the best choice.
But in a larger sense, it seems like you're approaching these events wrong. Instead of just focusing on just making a fun event that enriches campus life, you're too focused on using events as marketing stunts to get people into your club and then writing them off as "busts" when they don't produce the desired result. You're being evangelical about it, and I don't mean that in a good way.
It doesn't matter how good of a teacher you got for your origami folding demonstration; most people are not going to go to a club meeting where they don't know anyone. It sounds like your club is pretty insular. You need to build bridges between your club and the campus culture. I'm not talking about doing a stunt for Pocky Day or whatever, I'm talking about building genuine connections so curious people will feel more comfortable going to your club meeting.
As a club your best resource for this is other clubs. Are you co-hosting events with other clubs? You should be reaching out and trying to arrange relevant viewing parties with the LGBTQ club. If there is a tabletop club you can partner with them and co-host an event with Japanese-themed board games, and so on. These types of events integrate your club in with the campus culture; your club members will meet other people and get to know them. People are waaaay more likely to go to a club where they've already met some of the people and feel like they know them. Plus, all the people you'll meet this way are already in clubs, meaning they're already willing to invest time into exploring that aspect of campus life.
I think these are really good suggestions but probably slightly more applicable to a university setting where you've got a potential base of students who live on campus or likely very close to it. Something to keep in mind with this is that there are usually limitations with respect to being a community college as most people are commuting some distance so it might be a tough sell to convince people to be active in multiple clubs. Their best bet is likely to get new members who are not devoting time to others currently. I think it's still a great idea to increase the potential base of interested people though.
Big question is do the members actually want to grow the club? Sounds like they don't. But if they do lay down "if you want new people to join us you gotta do:"
1 lights on
2 have a schedule, write it down in a flyer get it out in the word: here's the games we're playing this week feel free to stop by, here's the anime we're working through or planning on starting with a short description if you are interested let us know we'll get you up to speed
3 you say there's card games make a day for newcomers, every Wednesday we'll provide a deck and teach you to play, great time by all
More little picture stuff can help
1 lights on
2 have a schedule, write it down in a flyer get it out in the word: here's the games we're playing this week feel free to stop by, here's the anime we're working through or planning on starting with a short description if you are interested let us know we'll get you up to speed
3 you say there's card games make a day for newcomers, every Wednesday we'll provide a deck and teach you to play, great time by all
More little picture stuff can help
I'm still really confused by the Maid Cafe idea.
Some people would be turned off by even the name of it and just not come.
The ones who did come because they were intrigued would be super confused if it was just a tea party where you watch anime and no maids in costumes at all.
Also, no fault of the OP but now I can't get that J-pop America Fun Time Now! SNL skit out of my head, I think because of the advisor there.
Some people would be turned off by even the name of it and just not come.
The ones who did come because they were intrigued would be super confused if it was just a tea party where you watch anime and no maids in costumes at all.
Also, no fault of the OP but now I can't get that J-pop America Fun Time Now! SNL skit out of my head, I think because of the advisor there.
Teach the kids how to set up and successfully run LAN Parties. You're an elder millennial so you should know how.
PCs preferably, but Xboxes will also work.
The admin should approve it because it's going to teach them useful, employable skills. Could even lead to an interest in IT/Network Security.
PCs preferably, but Xboxes will also work.
The admin should approve it because it's going to teach them useful, employable skills. Could even lead to an interest in IT/Network Security.
OP
OP
We have a President (Male), VP (Female), Secretary (Male), and Treasurer (Male), Student Senator (Female). We have talked about this several times, that's why they asked me to get outside information on suggestions as they are even stumped at this point.
It's not poor planning at all, that's not the issue in this case. Yes we are muddied when the school won't allow us to split and the students don't want to split, they like the mix.
The problem comes into play where the school itself has created a barrier for promoting and makes it hard to just a social club as they expect some form of academic aspect to come about from it. Several social clubs have been disband over the past few years because they can't meet the require "Academic" aspect or the whole accessing their money factor comes into the play. The room that we use, as I have stated, is limited in it's size, has no windows that open, Heater is busted, AC is busted, school will not put in a fan and when we brought one in they took it, won't let us have air freshener, etc.
I have discussed this with the Student Activities head several times and all I get are "Shrugs" in return. We have to put in the cultural stuff because the school will not let us operate without it, period, full stop.
Hell my school had to change where they bank our clubs funds because businesses would not take the gift cards that the online bank used. This is what I'm working with here to help my students have a place where they can feel wanted, and we want other students to come and join us.
Yup, this is a large part of the issue that no one here can solve, and that's why I'm looking for help to try for ideas outside of watching anime.
We can view the shows if it's just someone putting it on, but we can't promote it without licensing. Our school refuses to allow us to have a cabinet in the room because it's a "Public" room and can't be locked up. Because other students have to be able to have access to anything in the room. That includes any dvds or series that we bring in to play. So students don't feel comfortable bringing in their series and leaving it there when it's not going to be locked up safely.
Promoting a show means that we would have to pay for it, which our school is not willing to do as they spend their money for movies for Campus Activities Board. So any money that would be paid would have to come from us, and we can't access our funds at the moment because the school fucked up with their bank.
Usually government organizations do have a lot easier time in having the funding, according to my friend who works in the children's area of my local library. He's a former member and said that it's easier for Non for profits to get this stuff because they are NFP's and it looks good for the licensors in some cases.
We have tried that. Honestly we have, we just can't promote it because we haven't licensed it, and the school won't give us the funds to do so.
We do have people bring in shows to watch, the issue is that because we can't promote we're showing things, people won't come in to see it.
That's something I have to talk to the members about. I know that some members really can be very fickle about what shows they want to see and what not. Doesn't always help when the loudest of the group wants something that the vast majority of viewers would not like to watch. (We get a lot of jokes for Bible Black to be played and I have to keep reminding people Hentai isn't allowed because of the school rules.)
We have, a lot of the time. We've talked about splitting them, but as I've said the school sunk money into advertising the clubs in a more permanent way, huge banners in our cafeteria, where they have our club's name on there with other clubs.
This is where the issue comes to, the majority of the members don't want to split the club because most watch anime and enjoy gaming. So it's a rock and a hard place.
I don't get the connecion between Anime and Games, I play games since when I was 8 and never had any interest in Animes. Maybe separate both clubs, as others suggested?
Also stepping aside since you've been in charge for so long would be a good idea.
Based on the events you made I am assuming the gaming club actually means Japanese games club so try expanding the horizon with Madden / Fifa / NBA, shooters. Sports and racig games are way more entertaining for random people than a Tekken for example. Try to organize a championship that takes place in a busy area so that people can actually see you olaying and get inrerested.
I really can't help with Anime, only thig I can think of is having a sheduled time (right after class) where you gather and watch the latest episode of whatever...
But hey you are talking about gamers and people that watch anime, easiest way to get in touch with them is online and not in person.
Also stepping aside since you've been in charge for so long would be a good idea.
Based on the events you made I am assuming the gaming club actually means Japanese games club so try expanding the horizon with Madden / Fifa / NBA, shooters. Sports and racig games are way more entertaining for random people than a Tekken for example. Try to organize a championship that takes place in a busy area so that people can actually see you olaying and get inrerested.
I really can't help with Anime, only thig I can think of is having a sheduled time (right after class) where you gather and watch the latest episode of whatever...
But hey you are talking about gamers and people that watch anime, easiest way to get in touch with them is online and not in person.
Agreed with others saying you need to be more strict with the schedule and set activities.
I don't see making it "educational" to be that difficult. There are dozens of quality game design books out there, plenty of interesting non-fiction books on the subject as well. Read some of them and find ways to structure meetings around the content.
You could have them play literally any video game and then deconstruct it with them. Why is the art like this? Notice the sound design makes you feel X. Talk about the tuning of the combat. The history of the genre or franchise. And so on.
There are probably similar resources for anime.
And you need to go in hard with getting a new location and setup. Is there any reason you can't move it without their express approval? What would happen if you did? Better to ask forgiveness than permission.
You are never in a million years going to get other people to join if the club is in a dark room with no lights on and smells like butt.
Honestly sounds like admin at the school wants the club to fail, probably due to the perception of gamers/nerds which to be frank you aren't helping dispel that notion.
As far as resources, I think you are going to have to pony up some of your own money to get it going. Once attendance is up, then you can take that to the admin and argue for a larger budget.
I don't see making it "educational" to be that difficult. There are dozens of quality game design books out there, plenty of interesting non-fiction books on the subject as well. Read some of them and find ways to structure meetings around the content.
You could have them play literally any video game and then deconstruct it with them. Why is the art like this? Notice the sound design makes you feel X. Talk about the tuning of the combat. The history of the genre or franchise. And so on.
There are probably similar resources for anime.
And you need to go in hard with getting a new location and setup. Is there any reason you can't move it without their express approval? What would happen if you did? Better to ask forgiveness than permission.
You are never in a million years going to get other people to join if the club is in a dark room with no lights on and smells like butt.
Honestly sounds like admin at the school wants the club to fail, probably due to the perception of gamers/nerds which to be frank you aren't helping dispel that notion.
As far as resources, I think you are going to have to pony up some of your own money to get it going. Once attendance is up, then you can take that to the admin and argue for a larger budget.
OP
OP
Yes we did. It was more a high tea like event. The head of our Student Activities had a survey for the clubs, students requested an event from conventions, they asked for a Maid café since they thought that would be easier than doing panels or other events that they saw, so we got roped into it.
I will talk with the club after club day about this, but the vast majority of the students like having both since a lot of them fall into doing both. If we did split up it would also lead to some issues with the school since they already have our club as part of the permanent advertising for their clubs/Activities (Giant banners in our commons/cafeteria with the clubs names on there) and they would not be pleased if we got rid of the main club because that would cost them money to fix the banner we're on.
That's pretty much what the survey said as well. The girls in the school wanted cuter events, and wanted more convention oriented things, so our Student Activities leader told us to create one. So we did, it was more like a High tea with movies playing.
That's not a bad idea. Maybe I can swing it with some of the gamers that have anime games.
Again, a vast majority of the gamers in the school seem to like watching anime. It's the anime fans that don't seem to want to come in the room, and that's something I've been combating for years. Trying to make it a more friendly space, but everything I put in there the school takes out because "It's a public space and you can't decorate it because others use it."
Yup, our school is small. Roughly each year we have around 4400 students enrolled. Compared to say the Colleges of Chicago, which have around 8000 or more, we're not that big at all. Our club started out as a duel club because a vast majority of our student body seems to like both and the school said to keep them together, now it's in a weird place.
With tournaments and gamers we seem to do fine, it's the anime side that seems to be the issue. I get a lot of asks from girls if they can join because there's more guys in our club than ladies. Not sure how to get them to stay.
OP is female, although not Japanese.
When I was in college, some 15-20 years ago, I was part of a club called Quark that was anime, video games, fantasy, and sci-fi (literature & multimedia) all rolled into one.
Our big recurring event was that we'd have a public screening night every week or two which would generally be a movie (live-action or animated) or the first few episodes of an anime in one of the lecture halls on a big projector. To make it academic, the VP in charge of the movie nights would host a 30-minute or so discussion after the showing, asking questions of the audience and sharing trivia & facts about the production. I believe a lot of companies will give college clubs permission to do a public screening if you ask, but it's also quite possibly that our officers didn't worry too much about such things.
Everybody sharing anime DVDs and having anime marathons at people's apartments was a big deal back then since that stuff was expensive, but I imagine with stuff like Crunchyroll, that's not a big draw these days.
I know on the videogame side of things, stuff that people might not have easy access to was a big draw. Like hosting a fighting game tournament for an import game or a retro night.
I also think in general, nobody cared that much about recruiting new members, beyond just posting posters advertising the club and any major events.
Our big recurring event was that we'd have a public screening night every week or two which would generally be a movie (live-action or animated) or the first few episodes of an anime in one of the lecture halls on a big projector. To make it academic, the VP in charge of the movie nights would host a 30-minute or so discussion after the showing, asking questions of the audience and sharing trivia & facts about the production. I believe a lot of companies will give college clubs permission to do a public screening if you ask, but it's also quite possibly that our officers didn't worry too much about such things.
Everybody sharing anime DVDs and having anime marathons at people's apartments was a big deal back then since that stuff was expensive, but I imagine with stuff like Crunchyroll, that's not a big draw these days.
I know on the videogame side of things, stuff that people might not have easy access to was a big draw. Like hosting a fighting game tournament for an import game or a retro night.
I also think in general, nobody cared that much about recruiting new members, beyond just posting posters advertising the club and any major events.
Damn, that does sound tough, particularly promotion. Can you do more general promotions of showing times if it doesn't specify what you're watching?
Does the academic part have to be cultural? There are a lot of historical settings in anime and games. Could be cool to team up with history professors for a panel on that. Maybe join it with a trivia night.
Does the academic part have to be cultural? There are a lot of historical settings in anime and games. Could be cool to team up with history professors for a panel on that. Maybe join it with a trivia night.
At the end of the day, folks don't want to join an anime club. It's like joining the MCU club: there are fans of the MCU, but they're not going to dedicate actual personal time to being part of it in a somewhat official club-like manner when all they want to do is watch it once in a theatre and wait for the next.
Yes, it wouldn't do for these voluntary activities to be fun.
Everything you've said makes it sound like your college is doing all it can to stamp out clubs in general.
What would be the ramifications of forming it into a gaming only group? Since most of the members for anime are aging out maybe use this as a way to transform the club into something that is more resonating with the student body.
If there is interest in other media then you can still have those events but not limit to anime only then.
No ramifications to add more than just anime. You gotta do it like what werezompire said: make it into a bigger group that has more than just anime.
Anime itself isn't THAT appealing even though online there's so many folks watching it.
OP
OP
Wish I didn't have to, but my officers asked me to ask outside of the club for ideas, so here we are.
Okay so to answer this (and I'll probably put this in the OP if it helps), we have two times a year that we do a Club Day or student involvement fair. Usually this last for 3 hours either outside by the Quad (Open area where there's a small stage and links four of our main buildings (the school only has 7, and two are interconnected to one another making them one building) or in the Student Commons/Cafeteria.
Normally It would be one of our officers that welcomes the new person in, or one of our members that's there. But that's one of the major issues that we have. The room is constantly dark, because it's easier to see the game or watch the show that they are watching. We can't keep the door open as the Student Activities leader says that game noise is too loud. They used to have TVs in the Union, those were taken away as well because they were too loud for students to study at.
So, best to explain the room. Walk into the Union and you'll see a glass room in the back, you can see what the people are watching playing. The windows in the back are just glass panes no way to open them. Back of the room is wood. Three tvs on the wall, one on the table, we have squishy seats for us to use.
https://www.spaceist.co.uk/wp-conte...ldford-vinyl-modular-cubes-orange-700x365.jpg
We have been trying to get our own room so that we can be more inviting and more open for newer students, but this is what we have to work with because the college won't pay for that to happen.
If a student comes in, typically the members will say hello, you'll have a few ask them questions, and ask if they want to play. That's the typical welcome when we don't have meetings. For meetings, we typically get them to say hi, who they are, favorite game, favorite anime or show, what they like to do and stuff, and give them the floor for a bit before we go on and let them offer suggestions first for events or things to do.
See above. We have sign up tables for club day, twice a year. We have a Facebook page, Instagram, and twitter, oh and email. We have those up too. We had one for Halloween and the tournament we held. We did have a website at one point but the person that made it left the college and never gave us any of the log in info, so it's floating out there.
Several times it's been suggested.
We need permission. So for us to promote any anime we need the okay from say Rightstuff or Funi. It's the issue of getting our money from the school to get it to them, and typically it can cost hundreds of dollars. I know funi used to have a anime deal, but our school refused to sign up for it when I brought it up to the administration due to the cost or something.
Rather than make Anime/Gaming the theme of your club, why not create a Japanese (or Eastern Asian) Pop Culture Club with the anime and games being an addition to it? It seems you've been doing it the other way around with little success.
Basically you market your club to the people in history, international studies, marketing and economics, and center the regular meetings around pop cultural aspects such as Japanese/Chinese/Korean traditional arts, Ties between Shintoism and Japanese pop culture, the unique pressures and challenges pop idols face in Japan, Korea, and China, and the cross influences between Japanese, Korean, and Chinese media.
Basically your aiming for a demographic who will see more merit to your club than just a blown weekend,and will come to actually learn something new, and be more likely to return to meetings. History majors who specialize in East Asian studies will be interested in the historical influence within East Asian pop culture, IS majors will want to know how the growing pop cultures between Japan, Korea, and China have effected their relations, Marketing and Economics majors will want to know what these markets prefer, and how they are different from American and European tastes.
Maybe you put on a monthly or bimonthly Anime or Game Night (I wouldn't combine the two) to draw in more casual students and maybe to act as a fundraiser, but it shouldn't be the main draw of your club. Most healthy clubs stay alive because their attendees feel like they're getting something fulfilling from attending the meetings. Many Anime and Gaming clubs fail because they tend to attract a more casual demographic that's in for a weekend before they realize they'd rather watch their anime alone or with their own group of friends.
Basically you market your club to the people in history, international studies, marketing and economics, and center the regular meetings around pop cultural aspects such as Japanese/Chinese/Korean traditional arts, Ties between Shintoism and Japanese pop culture, the unique pressures and challenges pop idols face in Japan, Korea, and China, and the cross influences between Japanese, Korean, and Chinese media.
Basically your aiming for a demographic who will see more merit to your club than just a blown weekend,and will come to actually learn something new, and be more likely to return to meetings. History majors who specialize in East Asian studies will be interested in the historical influence within East Asian pop culture, IS majors will want to know how the growing pop cultures between Japan, Korea, and China have effected their relations, Marketing and Economics majors will want to know what these markets prefer, and how they are different from American and European tastes.
Maybe you put on a monthly or bimonthly Anime or Game Night (I wouldn't combine the two) to draw in more casual students and maybe to act as a fundraiser, but it shouldn't be the main draw of your club. Most healthy clubs stay alive because their attendees feel like they're getting something fulfilling from attending the meetings. Many Anime and Gaming clubs fail because they tend to attract a more casual demographic that's in for a weekend before they realize they'd rather watch their anime alone or with their own group of friends.
OP
OP
On my phone now so I have to aanswer questions one at a time. The issue is two things, first is that in order to create flyers we need to have the okay to lisence the show. Two is the fact that we can't promote were watching a show in the school without that license and If we didnt pay for it the school cant put up the flyers so we can't promote what were watching.
And if we put slice of life or whatever on the flyer the marketing nteam we have to get it okayed through gets annoyed for some reason.
OP
OP
These are some really good ideas. I will run them by our officers tomorrow.
When I was (sorta) with the UT Anime club, all of the officers/close friends just had to haul the stuff back and forth from their residences each week, including a sizable lending library and even audio equipment. Just part of what you had to do to do whatever you want to do.
Have you actually tried approaching the studios? Most of the time they won't care when it's an educational institution and no money is changing hands.
OP
OP
We have watched Your name, but we cant promote to non members that were watching it via flyers and other things due to lisence and the school wont let us promote what we dont have a lisence to.
On top of that our marketing team is strict as hell when it comes to calling it slice of life or anything like that. And we cant slap the poster on it either. Had to deal with our secretary getting yelled at for that with the My neighbor totoro.
OP
OP
A lot of the students who play there like switching out games after a bit and watching shows like k drama and such.
I used to be part of an anime club in highschool, and its biggest appeal wasn't sitting around watching anime or gaming, but just having a space to hang out and socialize with other anime fans. Of course we'd put anime on frequently, but it was usually background noise or for special occasions/viewings when we'd all sit down for it together. So I'd suggest maybe approaching it like that, having your club be an open space to hang out and focus on anime/game-adjacent hobbies all in one space and not just watching anime or playing games. Where people can chat, read manga, work on cosplays, draw, etc, too.
And I would go in hard for recruiting cosplayers. As in, actively searching out the people who cosplay on your campus and personally inviting them and their friends to use your club as a hangout space to work on their costumes. Cosplayers, from my experience, tend to be the more social anime fans and if you get a hook into a cosplay group you can then get all their friends in, too. You just need to make sure they feel safe and accepted, and not rudely ogled by any male club members.
I'd also suggest trying to pick the art classes/clubs or whatnot there, too. Lots of cross over between artists and anime fans (my highschool weeb friend group had like at least 6 of us who liked to draw and would just hang out in the art room during free time drawing and chatting together).
I think focusing on getting women to join and finding ways to appeal to them is a good idea, too. From my experience--from my hs anime club and also from attending cons regularly--men tend to lean more towards being loners and often a touch awkward. As a woman, if I saw an anime club with almost only men there I'd probably pass it up. So I'd highly recommend trying to find potential female club members and focus on personally inviting them and trying to reassure them you want to have a safe space for women fans, as well, and that you're trying to expand the group to be more inclusive. Ask them if they can bring their friends, etc.
And I wouldn't necessarily rely on events/project days (like origami) to draw people in for something like a gaming/anime club. I'd honestly just focus on getting club members and creating a space for people to hang out and establish friendships first, and then after you have a solid group of regulars to brainstorm stuff you all want to do together. This is kinda how my club came to be, and it was always a lot of fun coming up with ideas to keep the club fresh. Eventually we even held a one day, mini anime con that managed to attract like 100 or so locals (in a relatively small city, so it was a big success for us), and it definitely only worked out cuz we were all invested together.
And I would go in hard for recruiting cosplayers. As in, actively searching out the people who cosplay on your campus and personally inviting them and their friends to use your club as a hangout space to work on their costumes. Cosplayers, from my experience, tend to be the more social anime fans and if you get a hook into a cosplay group you can then get all their friends in, too. You just need to make sure they feel safe and accepted, and not rudely ogled by any male club members.
I'd also suggest trying to pick the art classes/clubs or whatnot there, too. Lots of cross over between artists and anime fans (my highschool weeb friend group had like at least 6 of us who liked to draw and would just hang out in the art room during free time drawing and chatting together).
I think focusing on getting women to join and finding ways to appeal to them is a good idea, too. From my experience--from my hs anime club and also from attending cons regularly--men tend to lean more towards being loners and often a touch awkward. As a woman, if I saw an anime club with almost only men there I'd probably pass it up. So I'd highly recommend trying to find potential female club members and focus on personally inviting them and trying to reassure them you want to have a safe space for women fans, as well, and that you're trying to expand the group to be more inclusive. Ask them if they can bring their friends, etc.
And I wouldn't necessarily rely on events/project days (like origami) to draw people in for something like a gaming/anime club. I'd honestly just focus on getting club members and creating a space for people to hang out and establish friendships first, and then after you have a solid group of regulars to brainstorm stuff you all want to do together. This is kinda how my club came to be, and it was always a lot of fun coming up with ideas to keep the club fresh. Eventually we even held a one day, mini anime con that managed to attract like 100 or so locals (in a relatively small city, so it was a big success for us), and it definitely only worked out cuz we were all invested together.
From the OP it sounds like they tried pretty, and I'm sorry to say it this way, generic "yay anime, yay japan, its kawaii" stuff. Its kinda how most anime clubs are honestly lol.
From what it kinda sounds like, the school wants a more solid focus for the group? It seems pretty scatter brained at the moment to be honest. Is the main focus getting more members, or getting more approval? Or does the later come as a result of more students?
Just in my own experience years ago most people join clubs like this for the socialization through a common interest but that does not mean everyone has the same ideas or interest level about it.
From what it kinda sounds like, the school wants a more solid focus for the group? It seems pretty scatter brained at the moment to be honest. Is the main focus getting more members, or getting more approval? Or does the later come as a result of more students?
Just in my own experience years ago most people join clubs like this for the socialization through a common interest but that does not mean everyone has the same ideas or interest level about it.