Letter to AOS

[susiep]

Rhonda, this is a great thread! I grew up and Miami and got interested in orchids when I was about 18. My dad was a science teacher and I inherited a love for all living things from him. I love the AOS Gardens and I think more young people would be attracted orchids if they just had the opportunity to walk through your greenhouse! A picture is worth a thousand words, so try You Tube and Facebook. We all know they spend a lot of time there! Also let them in the gardens for free (with a school ID). Don't forget about Scouts. Offer Boy Scout and Girl Scout Patch Programs. The leaders would love it. Plus, offer opportunities for community service. Young people need to get those service hours, too. Hope this helps!

[quiltergal]

I guess I fall into the older category. I enjoy reading magazines and can glean a lot of information from them, but frankly I've learned more here on OB than anywhere else including my local society. I think the thing here that works so wonderfully is access to anyone who wants it. There is a wonderful cadre of folks here who specialize in certain species or just orchid care in general. They are most generous with their time and knowledge. My point is that it's the one on one interaction with a live person that really helps me. I can't ask a magazine a question.

I would love to see regional workshops. I feel kind of isolated way out west when all the cool stuff is going on in Florida. Not much happening in my neck of the woods. I love hands on stuff, visual presentations, show and tell. I haven't joined AOS yet because frankly $60 seems like a lot for a magazine subscription. I wouldn't be able to use or access the other things because I live on the other side of the continent.

Congrats, and good luck to you Rhonda! You're a good woman for taking this on.

[shakkai]

One of the most successful projects I have ever seen involving children with orchids has been Writhlington School: The Writhlington Orchid Project About

Just look at this photo of the students with their orchids:Kew: Kew Magazine: Photography: Orchids: Young orchid growers at Writhlington School near Bath; the school, a centre of excellence for orchid science, receives help from Kew’s orchid experts by Craig Easton

Isn't that a picture all of us would like to see? Can you imagine what great activities and wonderful knowledge these kids will have when they begin to take their places in local and national societies?

I have worked with my local primary/elementary school and got grant money which we used to buy native hardy orchids to plant in the 'wildlife area' that the school has set aside. Pictures and talks are all fine, but nothing can beat hands on experience and watching the plants grow from day to day in real life.

[Rhonda_in_FL]

SusieP,

You are absolutely correct...getting kids through the garden is key at the local level to increasing youth interest. As a matter of fact, this summer marked the first field trips through the garden since it opened.

Jim Jordan, the executive director of AOS worked with a local scout troop that earned a badge for their OVERNIGHT trip to the gardens--they camped on the field adjacent to the gardens.

In addition, we had about 250 kids on different trips come through to see the garden. It was marvelous. You can read more about it on the website at AOS | Home in the Kids in Orchids article. There was a great response.

In addition to the education committee, I'm a member of the Public Garden committee. They are working to make the garden a premier destination to see both orchids and tropical plants. Now that Mother Nature has left the garden to grow for a couple years (sshhhh, no hurricaines) it is remarkable how well it has recovered. There are Dendrobiums blooming all over the place up in the trees. The greenhouse is really going to town with a refreshed look, and the Huntington Walk opened last month. The education committee would love to see the garden turn into a learning lab for kids from preschool to college.

Of course, all these things are important--but they are for the locals. The committee is focused on something completely portable so it is useful for quiltergal and people all over the country. The YouTube idea may have a great deal of merit! Thanks! :iagree:

R

[Rhonda_in_FL]

(pardon me, I don't know how to do the quote thing)
From Epiphyte78:

'I'd e-mail all the societies and make contact with the education chairperson of each society. My guess is that there are only a small handful. None of my three orchid societies has an education chairperson. So in your e-mail you'll probably need to make a case for the creation of an education chairperson position.'


I just zipped off an email that is going to society reps in the next few days. We also have an article in the works for the magazine. I think the Education Chairperson is a terrific idea. Our society has programming under the VP position, but that sort of cubby-holes that responsiblity. A Dir of Ed could help with the lending library, new member orientation, etc. What a great idea!

[Rhonda_in_FL]

Shakkai, I will forward those links to the committee TODAY!

[Jerry Delaney]

This post will most likely come through as the ramblings of a disassociated mind, but here goes anyway. I have no real answers, just observations and questions.
I am afraid I have to disagree with the idea that cost is a major problem in attracting young people. Spending ones income for young people is usually a matter of priorities. How do you convince a teenager that spending that $20 in their pocket on an orchid is going to be much more fulfilling than purchasing a new electronic game?
Another area maybe even more difficult is how do you convince younger people and even more important, their parents, that spending their time learning about and growing orchids will, in the long run, provide a lifelong hobby that most sports will never equal? Making this more difficult is the fact that in a number of cases it’s the parent(s) desire that their child participate in sports, not the child’s.
I was a long time member of the AOS and judge for some years. I no longer belong to the AOS for a number of reasons and have retired from judging for personal reasons. However, I think it may be much easier to bad mouth the AOS rather than each of us accepting some of the responsibility. It is much easier to point our finger at a national, and with the AOS a world wide organization that can’t have hands on presence in every berg and city in the USA, than to accept some responsibility ourselves in the promotion of our hobby.
My mother was a lady with great deal of common sense (I admit it; I’m prejudiced). She always told me that “I can’t” never did anything. I have discovered through years in management that for most of us (and I include myself in this group), it is always easier to come up with a dozen reasons why we can’t accomplish something than to come up with one reason why and how we can.
This spring, our orchid society participated in a plant fair sponsored by the local junior college. We had available a number of blooming orchids for sale. The price included a year’s membership in our society. We sold all but a handful of orchids and obtained the address of all who purchased a plant. Each of these has received our newsletter every month since the fair. To date, not one has attended a single meeting!!! It seems that most are too busy trying to make a living to become involved. I doubt most of these are either at work or asleep 100% of their day. How do we change the priorities of this group who find it easier to go to Trader Joes, Lowe’s, Home Depot or Wal-Mart and purchase a $10 to $15 orchid in bloom then throw it in the dumpster a few weeks later??
I have a nephew who is an avid stamp collector. He talks about stamps, their cost, value, storage, etc. like I should really give a _ _ _ _! Should I find it ironic that he feels the same way about my orchids?
Well, I can quit now after venting without really saying anything! Boy, do I feel better!!!

[shakkai]

Hi Jerry, You are right in so many ways, and it isn't just an issue for orchids, all gardening and many other types of 'clubs' and societies are all feeling the same way.

My is that the best approach may be to increase services and benefits for members first - make them all really, really positive about the society. So much so that they go out and tell other people how wonderful it is and how much they get out of their memberships. I think that targetting the general public rarely works. We tried something similar in the Clematis Society that I belonged to - including a year's membership with plants that were sold at the big RHS shows, however, only 1, maybe 2, of those people renewed their memberships the next year. It just doesn't work with people who have only a casual interest.

The key, I think - and why I'm so keen on getting young children involved at an early age - is that that gives them time to develop more than just a casual interest.

My team mate at work has a 10 year old daughter who enjoys growing plants, but didn't have any orchids. I asked her if would like some. Simple. I picked 4 different plants (not very expensive) printed out culture information - and included the guide to growing orchids produced by Writhlington (great book for kids!! as well as adults) and gave them to her to give to her daughter. Who knows, if she has success with at least one of them, it just might be the thing that gets her 'hooked'.

If everyone looked around for a child that might enjoy growing his/her own orchid we just might be able to cultivate more orchid lovers. And I really believe that the benefits of that far outweigh the costs.

[Undergrounder]

I have to add my two cents on why young people didn't attend the meanings. And i don't think it has anything to do with "attracting young people to orchids" Young people are attracted to orchids, they're just not attracted to orchid societies.

I'm a student myself, im 25, ive been into orchids for a few years. I am not a member of any orchid societies, despite knowing most of the local growers on a first-name basis from various shows and things.. i've been approached a million times, and taken a million application forms, but never become a member.

The reason is because frankly i see no real reason to. I can get all my orchid information on the internet, i don't need to go to a meeting. I don't really need the social interaction, and although i genuinely enjoy talking to the people in societies, there is a big age difference, so it's not a social thing. The idea of monthly meetings in a hall over tea and cake while someone gives speeches (interesting nonetheless), is IMO a dying format - at least my experience of them, other societies might be more inventive.

IMO i can imagine a future for orchid societies perhaps something like this:

1. An internet community, forum etc. where ALL main business is done, photos are shared, advice sought and given.

2. Larger, quarterly meetings encompassing a wider geogrpahical area instead of monthly, small local meetings. This would mean more plants are on display, more plants for sale, more people to talk to, better ability to attract vendors, less expensive for the society etc.

Think OS meeting meets orchid show. Have less of them, just make them bigger and more attractive. It would be cheaper, because there aren't as many of them, but the big difference, more people means vendors are more likely to want to come along. And vendors is a major attraction.

You could tie the site into the meetings, run web-based competitions that have meeting component. ie: Distribute plants at one meeting, update on their progress with eachother over the internet, and one year later, bring them all back and see who's is best and why. Or have a web-based competition with a winner announced only at the meeting. Or have a silent auction available online that is finalised at the meeting. You really want to integrate the web and the quarterly meetings so that they compliment eachother.

The future of OS is the internet, no doubt about it. It might not work for your average small-town, say, but in the big cities i think it would really work.

[Phantasm]

The web is an important tool but people are missing the boat if they think it is the only solution. I personally have learned much more from mentors, other orchid nuts and interaction with knowledgeable people. You can learn much via the web but NOTHING works as well as hands on experience.

The lack of social skills and finding time for local garden clubs, etc seems to be a major problem for younger folks.
As time goes on it will probably lead to a death knell for local societies and a diminished AOS. This will lead to a lack of creative orchid businesses and the continued homogenization of orchid business into the Trader Joe's and Home Depot mold. Many of the traditional orchid nurseries have gone the way of the dodo bird over the past 20 years and this has diminished the quality of orchids to a great extent.

If young folks don't socialize, hybridize and educate themselves via the web, books and mentors then the future of orchids is bleak indeed.