Making Your Book Club an Interactive Experience
Book clubs and reading groups alike are a great way to get out in your community and meet people! Sometimes, however, these clubs can suffer from a lack of excitement, involvement and most of all, fun! When the book club members in your group are excited and enthused about being a part of your team, they are more apt to participate readily in discussions and have more to contribute overall. One way to get your group more excited is to make it interactive. There are many ways to do this and really, the sky is the limit on what you choose to do! Here are a few of the tried and tested ways: 1. Invite an Author to a Teleconference An easy way to get your members involved in the reading process is to e-mail or call the author of the book you are reading (granted they are still living!) and invite them to attend a teleconference with your members. Most authors are glad to do these teleconferences because they understand that they will be selling quite a few books to your book club. Teleconferences are also easy to setup. There are free teleconferencing sites available on the web that do not charge for the usage of the line but rather each member of your club would pay for their own long distance charges to call into the line. If you are a non-profit group, which most book clubs are, this is a great way to keep costs at a minimum. 2. Plan a Screening Night Whether the movie is brand new in theatres or has been out for a long time, make a night to screen the film that accompanies the book, if there is one. These nights take the pressure off of your members to have to “think” about the book and they can sit back, relax and enjoy watching their book on screen. If you choose to have it at a theatre, ask your theatre manager if they can work out a discount for your members. Once the movie is over, you can round up your book club members and go for coffee to discuss what they thought of the movie versus the book. It’s a great way to get out and be social while having something book club related to talk about! 3. Visit a Museum or Local Attraction that Ties into the Book’s Story If you read a book on pioneers, for example, take your book club to a local museum that features pieces from that era. If you were reading a book that was based on the creator of the first rollercoaster, head to an amusement park! The possibilities are endless in this particular category so have fun with it! A lot of local attractions will also provide your book club with a discount if you book yourself in as a group. The only word of caution here is not to choose books solely based on what you can do afterward. Choose your book and let those ideas form with some basic research as you read your book. That makes the suspense and the anticipation of something coming much more exciting for your members! There are many, many things you can do to make your book club more than just a reading group. Ask your members for ideas as well, what they like and don’t like to do, and then run with it! The more enthused you are about these events, the more your book club will respond making a great relationship for everybody! -- About the Author -- Erin Blaskie is the leader and founder of the Ottawa Valley Book Club (http://www.ottawavalleybookclub.com) which is an online and in-person book club with over 50 members worldwide. The book club has rapidly grown since it was launched and continues to serve book lovers nationwide! Erin is also the founder of Business Services, ETC (http://www.bsetc.ca) an administrative support company located within Canada. -- For More Information -- If you want to know more about managing your book club, please contact Erin at erin@ottawavalleybookclub.com. -- Copyright Information -- All rights reserved. This publication or any part thereof may not be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means electronic or mechanical including photocopying, recording, storage in an information retrieval system or otherwise, unless this notification of copyright is retained. |
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