Hi all! This is my first post on the forum and I was hoping to get some advice on an idea of mine to spread postcrossing joy.
I am thinking of gathering interest for a postcrossing/postcard club at my local library. Has anyone had any experience in hosting/attending a postcrossing club? If so, what were some of the activities or topics discussed? Here are my ideas:
Meet once a month at the local library
First meeting will be introductions and discussion of postcrossing
Each month will have a theme (maybe some talks by local artists or authors, games, etc.)
Maybe create a postcard exhibition at the library as well
What do we think? Any tips or advice are greatly appreciated. Thanks!
I think that’s a great idea - there are all kinds of postcard groups out there and regular city or regional meetups (that’s the word we use in the Forum) of Postcrossers that do just what you’re talking about doing. They come together to talk about all things to do with postcards, share them with each other & write up postcards together.
There are also a bunch of Postcrossers who have done exhibits or talks at their local libraries to try & get more people excited about sending postcards and/or joining Postcrossing.
You can set up a meet-up notice here - see the 2nd link below & you could also contact PC members in your community by using the Search function on the main site - I see that there are 19 members in Fairfax who have been active in the last 6 months. And you would put up a notice at the library as well I expect.
Here’s some links to some of those groups/meetups to give you an idea & some examples of what they’ve done - have fun!:
I noticed that according to Postcrossing’s statistics, there are 66 members in Fairfax, Virginia, though many of them haven’t visited the website in years. Perhaps you could email those in your area who are still active and talk to them about your idea. (And maybe Postcrossing’s administrators should have a little talk with those Fairfax members who haven’t visited recently, and remind those members that, much like the Mafia, and the Hell’s Angels, that NO one just quits Postcrossing, not unless they’re in some sort of witness protection program).
Welcome to the forum, Nayomi! Check out the Tampa, Florida meetup. Its actually held by a postcard group and they schedule a meetup on a regular basis. It was my very first meetup, and they were very nice! Maybe you could contact them for some ideas.
Thank you for the advice! Didn’t even think of reaching out to local postcrossers but that makes the most sense lol. The links for the exhibitions are giving me a lot of ideas!
I have had a lot of ideas like yours! One was organizing mini get-togethers for local Postcrossers in different coffee shops where folks come together one evening or weekend afternoon to write postcards in each other’s company. I have had my Postcrossing friends even write official cards of mine It’s fun!
At one of the meetups I hosted before, I had a local artist who made postcards, come down and meet Postcrossers. I think it’s a good opportunity for artists and vendors to get to know potential customers and learn about their needs. While for Postcrossers, they got to meet an artist up close and personal.
I tend to carry “What is Postcrossing” flyers at most meetups that I host because I have had folks come up to me and ask what are we doing lol…so that’s a good thing to keep with you. I also give out postcards whenever I get the opportunity. Creating awareness is important, in my opinion.
The thing with meetups is that it’s almost always just signing postcards…even @ana and @paulo have been looking for ways to kind of break that so people actually interact with each other LOL.
If you decide to do exhibitions, I’d suggest narrowing it down a bit. Like postcards from your own town…get other Postcrossers from your area to help you out with such exhibitions. It’ll be a collective experience then!
When you think about it, there isn’t much to discuss about Postcrossing but if you’re really good at extracting thoughts from people then yes, you definitely can have lots of topics of discussion about Postcrossing.
It’s fun!
