From time to time Lodges in my Jurisdiction bring in well known Freemasons from other areas as guest speakers. When I learn that these special events are happening, I do my best to attend.
Little Falls Masonic Lodge
But without fail, I always find myself disappointed by the turnout. It just never seems to me that there are as many Masons in the room as there should be. Not enough men come to hear what is always an important message.
In saying that, I don’t want to sound critical. I get it. We all have busy lives. Lots of Lodges meet on the same night as lots of other Lodges. Traffic in the Puget Sound area is a disaster. There are lots of reasons, good reasons, that Masons don’t attend in greater numbers.
Without a doubt, going to Lodge to hear a guest speaker is the best way to hear the message that speaker brings. It is a social occasion, it is easy to interact, it is enjoyable to spend time with one’s friends and Brothers.
But, it is inconvenient enough, or difficult enough, that these special events aren’t as well attended as they should be.
Given that, I have to wonder if we shouldn’t embrace Zoom or similar online services a lot more?
Here in Washington, only a very tiny percentage of Lodges have continued to use Zoom after the pandemic restrictions were lifted.
Freemasonry, to a large extent embraced this technology when it was forced to do so. We all know how to use it. It is vastly less costly for Lodges and presenters to provide a superb program over Zoom. It is easier for Brothers far and wide to join a Zoom meeting to hear an important speaker than it is to attend in person.
I think we should discuss it.
Should our Lodges look to using Zoom for at least some of their educational programs and speakers?
If they do so, will they get more Masons involved, end up with more ears to hear the message?
Will Masons attend a Lodge event with a guest speaker if it is broadcast over Zoom, or are Masons simply no longer interested in embracing that form of communication?
Good morning, Broth.'. Cameron! Though not often, we often bring in "guest speakers" to our Lodges here in Brazil. Usually, these are Brothers from other Lodges, and the attendance level is pretty much the same as a regular Lodge, maybe with one or two extra men. Occasionally, a Lodge will call a Profane to deliver her or his speech, when we see about double or even triple attendance, since the topic will be something interesting to the community at large (though I've been to one recently that actually had fewer members present than usual!).
As for Zoom, my Lodge do still use it to have some administrative meetings and to receive guest speakers who would not be able to attend physically. For an example, we had a Brother from a different Rite (Rectified Scottish Rite) and a different state (Rio Grande do Sul, the southernmost state of Brazil) speak about Saint John's at the end of last month! There is an issue that keeps happening and we have been hardpressed to deal with it: when you're on a Zoom call at home, it's all too easy to become distracted by something. So, we kind of know that half of the audience isn't really there. Shameful, I know...
In Florida's Hillsborough county, we are working to create a monthly or quarterly speaker event open to the Masters & Wardon meetings (recently converted to the County Association of MM's).
The meetings are not tyled... so Lodge members can feel free to invite family, friends, coworkers, etc.
Eventually we hope a tradition of quarterly speakers will support candidate development for ALL the blue lodges of the county: Partly, because the Craft will be able to plan events around a predictable schedule; and partly because the gathering will eventually pull the most dependable audience numbers!
The challenge? We all need to understand a difference between "Masonic Education" VERSUS "Advanced Masonic Education"!!! The first category is replete with presentations on Perpetual Memberships, Duties of a District Deputy GM, or other topics that would really be relevant only to Masons.
Ironically, "ADVANCED Masonic Education" would be interesting to even NON-Masons:
- Checklist for a happy life;
- 'Last Words': What could be on your own tombstone?;
- Earth's Top Ten Domed Buildings
- Top Ten Inventions by Freemasons.
In my jurisdiction I will be submitting legislation for a Grand Lodge Task Force to develop up to 50 "talks" (or talk outlines) on the most interesting subjects that can be presented in a non-tyled room, while at the same time appealing to non-masons on issues of philosophy, psychology, history, etc.
There are at least two reasons to have a Grand Lodge committee develop a vetted list:
1] a core text or outline would make it easier for non-experts to give the talk if needed; and
2] to avoid subject matters that are so controversial and polarizing that the talk causes more harm than good.
My year as Master I convinced the lodge to bring in Andrew Hammer all the way from back east to give a presentation. I advertised the heck out of it, inviting both masons and non masons to hear him speak. It was relatively well attended, I think there was about 80 people in the lodge room.
Now, Bro Andrew was a good sport, willing to travel all that way to talk in our little podunk lodge. He did get to rack up some airline and hotel points and he did plan on trying to sell a few copies of his books. But I don't think a single brother bought his book. And during the Q&A afterwards, the only takeaway from his speech by one of the wives was his admonishment not to join all these concordant bodies while he himself belonged to a number of lodges. Nothing else he said was of any import, just that.
I had donated a spare (signed) copy of Observing the Craft to the lodge library. One person checked it out, never read it, and I had to continue to bug him for a year to give it back. Since then it's sat on the shelf gathering dust, just like the 40 copies of Morals and Dogma sitting besides it.
Now, I do admit that having tried to read a number of masonic texts, there are quite a few that I didn't care for. I can't stand books that gush flowery prose and trite observations, or that obviously pull "facts" out of their collective asses and that leaves a lot of those books off any reading list for me. But there are good books out there that can help guide our fraternity out of it's death spiral, if only more people would read them.
As we had touched a bit during our last rummers and grapes, I see less and less people actually reading books. As children they never got into the habit, probably because their parents never read to them. As I had mentioned, I had gotten the reading bug from my dad. Parents that don't read to their kids don't plant that bug in their ear.
Dying Lodges didn't use Zoom (or similar things) during the pandemic. Mediocre ones may have but stopped. Wise Lodges used it, learned from it, and still do.
The ones that used it well showed GREATER ATTENDANCE than in person, with Brothers they hadn't seen in years being brough back into the experience of fellowship. How can we NOT do this whenever possible? We're not talking about tyled ritual being exposed, but Labor-to-Refreshment and untyled gatherings.
But then that implies a Lodge actually have programs and discussions outside of green beans and utility bills.
NOTE: At the Western New York Lodge of Research, I am trying to require telepresence capability in our by-laws (excepting prudence in relation to Masonic secrets or the speaker's request).
The question being asked isn't should we be using this technology to enhance the Masonic experience, rather I would suggest, why haven't we embraced this gift? Especially for those who are unable to attend their lodge this provides the unique opportunity to be with their Brothers.
As WM of a research Lodge that has a speakers Bureau I have promoted speakers (Education} at all my meetings. In the WM installation, the Charge requires us "as WMs to have education at every meeting either by self or by guests". I am sorry to say that in my experience most freemasons are NOT interested in having presentations at their meetings. Our Grand Lodge has a list of speakers put together by VWB Andre De Walt. My experience with my research lodge list is it is hardly every used. I think the Grand Lodge list also suffers in this way. The only time I am a guest speaker is when I force myself on a targeted lodge. Very occasionally when I mention I am a masonic speaker and available I am invited to a lodge.
Regarding using ZOOM or other internet communication media, even when the event is well advertised attendance is quite small. However I am a supporter of this method as it can reach many participants. There are a number of excellent ZOOM Masonic programs. Unfortunately, those in different time zones may be at times unavailable to others. To offset this some record their presentations and make them available on there website.
I am impressed that Bro. Giess was able to get 80 attendees and congratulate him. I also commiserate with him with the lack of questions/discussion after the presentation It is very disappointing and demoralizing to a speaker to prepare and present and then have none or few reactions. This leaves the speaker wondering what is wrong with his presentation. Was it the topic, lack of understanding, or just a desire to move things along so the meeting can be closed and they all go home.
On a happier note there are some national/international research lodges that are well supported and thriving. Most publish quarterly or annual transactions and may also make them available to corresponding members via the internet.
Well I always liked the Zoom meetings we had in our Jurisdiction when all the Lodges were closed and some had many members to fill several pages and some not much more than 10 but I never missed one as our MW Cameron will remember
Not sure why it was even hard to get brothers to show up there but the only time I have seen more attending since then is at the Communication and that is really not the same as a Stated Meeting.
We can have a long list of members when we check Grandview but not at the Lodge
Tomorrow will be our first summer not going "dark" Stated and I will be in the East........and shocked if we even fill the chairs.
I guess we can call it practice having who ever is there to move around to open and close.
And see if I can spend a few minutes with some geometry history and some certain numbers we are all supposed to know about.
The topic introduced was what can we do to grow our attendance for speakers. Using ZOOM was suggested as a solution.
1] Until we learn how to mesh together the audience potential of multiple neighboring lodges, we will never-ever-EVER create a stable practice that will sustain a significant audience headcount (presumably, 60 or 75 or any count above 100).
2] The only way to do this is to seamlessly offer an important service that any Lodge would want, or can use: "offering a multi-lodge venue - - to which even the smallest Lodge can reliably invite the father-in-law of the WM and be confident that there will be a significant validation-affirming audience present.
3] What's more ... that the topic would NOT be of the ilk of conventional "Masonic Education" (like duties of the WM, or Life Membership: pros and cons). We need to move to "Advanced Masonic Education", dealing with topics that excite or intrigue the people who have read Born in Blood, or one of the DaVinci Code books.
Note: Most of Hammer's talks are not geared for non-masons; they discuss options that MM's might consider.
I love the opportunities to have good Masonic education (and even communication) via Zoom and similar technologies when available. It's hard for me to convince my wife to "let me out of the house" every night of the week but it's easy to slip into the bedroom with my laptop for an hour or two to sit in a virtual lodge or watch a presentation and you can't beat the convenience factor.
Good morning, Broth.'. Cameron! Though not often, we often bring in "guest speakers" to our Lodges here in Brazil. Usually, these are Brothers from other Lodges, and the attendance level is pretty much the same as a regular Lodge, maybe with one or two extra men. Occasionally, a Lodge will call a Profane to deliver her or his speech, when we see about double or even triple attendance, since the topic will be something interesting to the community at large (though I've been to one recently that actually had fewer members present than usual!).
As for Zoom, my Lodge do still use it to have some administrative meetings and to receive guest speakers who would not be able to attend physically. For an example, we had a Brother from a different Rite (Rectified Scottish Rite) and a different state (Rio Grande do Sul, the southernmost state of Brazil) speak about Saint John's at the end of last month! There is an issue that keeps happening and we have been hardpressed to deal with it: when you're on a Zoom call at home, it's all too easy to become distracted by something. So, we kind of know that half of the audience isn't really there. Shameful, I know...
In Florida's Hillsborough county, we are working to create a monthly or quarterly speaker event open to the Masters & Wardon meetings (recently converted to the County Association of MM's).
The meetings are not tyled... so Lodge members can feel free to invite family, friends, coworkers, etc.
Eventually we hope a tradition of quarterly speakers will support candidate development for ALL the blue lodges of the county: Partly, because the Craft will be able to plan events around a predictable schedule; and partly because the gathering will eventually pull the most dependable audience numbers!
The challenge? We all need to understand a difference between "Masonic Education" VERSUS "Advanced Masonic Education"!!! The first category is replete with presentations on Perpetual Memberships, Duties of a District Deputy GM, or other topics that would really be relevant only to Masons.
Ironically, "ADVANCED Masonic Education" would be interesting to even NON-Masons:
- Checklist for a happy life;
- 'Last Words': What could be on your own tombstone?;
- Earth's Top Ten Domed Buildings
- Top Ten Inventions by Freemasons.
In my jurisdiction I will be submitting legislation for a Grand Lodge Task Force to develop up to 50 "talks" (or talk outlines) on the most interesting subjects that can be presented in a non-tyled room, while at the same time appealing to non-masons on issues of philosophy, psychology, history, etc.
There are at least two reasons to have a Grand Lodge committee develop a vetted list:
1] a core text or outline would make it easier for non-experts to give the talk if needed; and
2] to avoid subject matters that are so controversial and polarizing that the talk causes more harm than good.
My year as Master I convinced the lodge to bring in Andrew Hammer all the way from back east to give a presentation. I advertised the heck out of it, inviting both masons and non masons to hear him speak. It was relatively well attended, I think there was about 80 people in the lodge room.
Now, Bro Andrew was a good sport, willing to travel all that way to talk in our little podunk lodge. He did get to rack up some airline and hotel points and he did plan on trying to sell a few copies of his books. But I don't think a single brother bought his book. And during the Q&A afterwards, the only takeaway from his speech by one of the wives was his admonishment not to join all these concordant bodies while he himself belonged to a number of lodges. Nothing else he said was of any import, just that.
I had donated a spare (signed) copy of Observing the Craft to the lodge library. One person checked it out, never read it, and I had to continue to bug him for a year to give it back. Since then it's sat on the shelf gathering dust, just like the 40 copies of Morals and Dogma sitting besides it.
Now, I do admit that having tried to read a number of masonic texts, there are quite a few that I didn't care for. I can't stand books that gush flowery prose and trite observations, or that obviously pull "facts" out of their collective asses and that leaves a lot of those books off any reading list for me. But there are good books out there that can help guide our fraternity out of it's death spiral, if only more people would read them.
As we had touched a bit during our last rummers and grapes, I see less and less people actually reading books. As children they never got into the habit, probably because their parents never read to them. As I had mentioned, I had gotten the reading bug from my dad. Parents that don't read to their kids don't plant that bug in their ear.
Dying Lodges didn't use Zoom (or similar things) during the pandemic. Mediocre ones may have but stopped. Wise Lodges used it, learned from it, and still do.
The ones that used it well showed GREATER ATTENDANCE than in person, with Brothers they hadn't seen in years being brough back into the experience of fellowship. How can we NOT do this whenever possible? We're not talking about tyled ritual being exposed, but Labor-to-Refreshment and untyled gatherings.
But then that implies a Lodge actually have programs and discussions outside of green beans and utility bills.
NOTE: At the Western New York Lodge of Research, I am trying to require telepresence capability in our by-laws (excepting prudence in relation to Masonic secrets or the speaker's request).
The question being asked isn't should we be using this technology to enhance the Masonic experience, rather I would suggest, why haven't we embraced this gift? Especially for those who are unable to attend their lodge this provides the unique opportunity to be with their Brothers.
As WM of a research Lodge that has a speakers Bureau I have promoted speakers (Education} at all my meetings. In the WM installation, the Charge requires us "as WMs to have education at every meeting either by self or by guests". I am sorry to say that in my experience most freemasons are NOT interested in having presentations at their meetings. Our Grand Lodge has a list of speakers put together by VWB Andre De Walt. My experience with my research lodge list is it is hardly every used. I think the Grand Lodge list also suffers in this way. The only time I am a guest speaker is when I force myself on a targeted lodge. Very occasionally when I mention I am a masonic speaker and available I am invited to a lodge.
Regarding using ZOOM or other internet communication media, even when the event is well advertised attendance is quite small. However I am a supporter of this method as it can reach many participants. There are a number of excellent ZOOM Masonic programs. Unfortunately, those in different time zones may be at times unavailable to others. To offset this some record their presentations and make them available on there website.
I am impressed that Bro. Giess was able to get 80 attendees and congratulate him. I also commiserate with him with the lack of questions/discussion after the presentation It is very disappointing and demoralizing to a speaker to prepare and present and then have none or few reactions. This leaves the speaker wondering what is wrong with his presentation. Was it the topic, lack of understanding, or just a desire to move things along so the meeting can be closed and they all go home.
On a happier note there are some national/international research lodges that are well supported and thriving. Most publish quarterly or annual transactions and may also make them available to corresponding members via the internet.
Well I always liked the Zoom meetings we had in our Jurisdiction when all the Lodges were closed and some had many members to fill several pages and some not much more than 10 but I never missed one as our MW Cameron will remember
Not sure why it was even hard to get brothers to show up there but the only time I have seen more attending since then is at the Communication and that is really not the same as a Stated Meeting.
We can have a long list of members when we check Grandview but not at the Lodge
Tomorrow will be our first summer not going "dark" Stated and I will be in the East........and shocked if we even fill the chairs.
I guess we can call it practice having who ever is there to move around to open and close.
And see if I can spend a few minutes with some geometry history and some certain numbers we are all supposed to know about.
a² + b² = c²
>;-)
The topic introduced was what can we do to grow our attendance for speakers. Using ZOOM was suggested as a solution.
1] Until we learn how to mesh together the audience potential of multiple neighboring lodges, we will never-ever-EVER create a stable practice that will sustain a significant audience headcount (presumably, 60 or 75 or any count above 100).
2] The only way to do this is to seamlessly offer an important service that any Lodge would want, or can use: "offering a multi-lodge venue - - to which even the smallest Lodge can reliably invite the father-in-law of the WM and be confident that there will be a significant validation-affirming audience present.
3] What's more ... that the topic would NOT be of the ilk of conventional "Masonic Education" (like duties of the WM, or Life Membership: pros and cons). We need to move to "Advanced Masonic Education", dealing with topics that excite or intrigue the people who have read Born in Blood, or one of the DaVinci Code books.
Note: Most of Hammer's talks are not geared for non-masons; they discuss options that MM's might consider.
I love the opportunities to have good Masonic education (and even communication) via Zoom and similar technologies when available. It's hard for me to convince my wife to "let me out of the house" every night of the week but it's easy to slip into the bedroom with my laptop for an hour or two to sit in a virtual lodge or watch a presentation and you can't beat the convenience factor.