I know a lot was discussed at the board retreat regarding new member stuff, so this may have been covered...but I'd like to see us put together An ebook of sorts to send with the new member greeting email and the brewer level application form folks don't seem to be getting. In my mind this robot would be an illustrated walk through of a typical brew day at chaos. Basically a picture book, showing them "here's the kettle rack, grab a kettle and start your sparge water". That sort if thing. Chapter one would be photos of all the safety issues, all gas valves, locations of fire extinguishers, that sort of stuff. Also include peg board and Ferm room, etiquette. I think it might be good to prepare folks a bit so they walk in to their first brew knowing where the fire extinguishers and gas shutoffs are as well as the basic equipment.
Mon, May 12, 2014 - 1:01pm
#1
New member packet
Autocorrect...robot? Really...book
I say go with the robot...
This seems a bit labor-intensive; this sort of stuff is supposed to be covered in the supervised brews (and if they're Apprentice or non-24/7 Brewer, they already need a 24/7 Brewer to let them in/supervise. They can just ask this supervising 24/7 brewer questions).
I think this idea has merit, though. How 'bout in the form of a quicksheet, 1-page, at-a-glance sorta thing, though?
As a new member, I would love something like this. I'm not too sure what to do. Right now I'm doing the trial membership but I haven't been to the brew house. I don't really know any one and I'm not sure if I can just show up and be like "Hey I'm new."
This is good to hear from a new member! Thanks for your input!
I'm trying to reconcile the fact that trial, apprentice, and non-24/7 brewer need to schedule brew time and need hit someone up - whether they know someone or not - in order to even get into the brewhouse to brew. It sounds like this book/manual would replace a supervising brewer which, unfortunately, is just not how things work at the brewhouse currently.
This is maybe what you are looking for?
http://www.chaosbrewclub.net/brewhouse/reservation_howto
A simple, "you joined the club, now what" email should be provided. I am not sure what is going out right now, but I cant imagine it needs to explain that much. It could list what the regular montly events are, show a link to the event calander, give the link to the reservation how to, and that could be it.
I've just recently taken over membership. I'll make sure the welcome emails say what they need to say.
My lines of thought on this are three-fold one is the safety aspect, I think we should really be stressing locations of fire extinguishers, first aid kit, gas shutoffs etc. just as general good practice.
Second, a very detailed instruction manual makes everything uniform. For instance, I bet a lot of newer members don't sweep up around the grain mill before they leave, no fault of their own, their supervising brewers may have been too busy with their own brew and may have hit all the highlights but forgot to tell them that. Since there is no "supervising brewer training" something like this would ensure everyone is in the same page with expectations etc.
Third, I think it might help make newer members feel more welcome. Far from taking the place of a supervising brewer it would just give a new brewer a bit of confidence going in, to have a basic idea of where all the equipment should be and maybe it will even answer some questions about the process as well, a lot of people do their first all grain batch at our brewhouse. I did, and as we grow I think it might be useful to establish "best practices" I guess..or something like that.
I hear ya, Joe, re: best practices. I mentioned in another thread that we're not making sure all supervising brewers are sending a unifom/consistent message when it comes to "training" new brewers.
At the board retreat on Sat, Ken and I did discuss putting signage around the brewhouse (I started one thread about a sign on the ferm room door for example).
Im almost home, Let me write up some signage for different locations around the brew house and see if that doesn't scratch your itch.
Maybe instead of a packet, we can do all of this on the website?
Jerome, I'm brewing Thursday night and Friday afternoon, if you would like to swing by and check out the brew house. We also have an open house this Saturday between 10:00 and 4:00, which is a great time to meet a bunch of members.
I'm also teaching a brewing 101 class on Wednesday; even if you don't want to brew, drop by between 6:00-9:00 p.m. and say, "Hi!"
I think David did an online brewhouse orientation for the last place. Before we reinvent the wheel, let me get that from him and see if we can't tweak it to the new brew house.
That's exactly the sort of thing I was refering to, an online brewhouse orientation would fit the bill great, as would additional signage, I think a few well placed signs will go a long way in communicating expectations. I was just trying to think of ways to make the club more accessible to new members and to those with no experience or no all grain experience, which then got me thinking about the lack of clear expectations above and beyond "clean up after yourself". The initial concept in my head was like three .pdf attachments to the welcome email, one about safety with photos of the safety item locations, one about a basic brew day start to finish, and then a third one, which really ties in with what Nancy was telling me after the retreat about the possibility of a mentor system or "brew buddy" system. The third .pdf in the digital "packet" i'm envisioning would be a list of board members and the alchemists and maybe brewer level members who would volunteer, their respective handles on the chaos website, and their area of interest and/or expertise, this would assist new brewers in identifying the members that would be most helpful to them and provide a basis of introduction. I'm just trying to think of ways to improve the process. My line of work allows me time to contemplate many things...
I asked David if he could find the other orientation.
How would we identify people who are wiling to be "mentors" or contacts on the aforementioned list? Will this not just simply fall on the shoulders of the usual 12-15 people who already get everything done?
As I was teaching the brewing 101 class last night, I was thinking more about this packet. I think it's a good idea (as long as it's nice and concise and not voluminous).
But, what occurred to me was that, while we have some stuff in a set place with a set organization, there's A LOT that does/may move around randomly and without notice. I think if we were to write something like this we'd first have to map out the brewhouse and get the approval of the board or at least the Brewhouse Commitee to *mandate* a place for everything and everything in its place. Case in point the bottling station: I organized it and it was nice and neat and organized when I left. I came back only a few days later and it was in shambles with parts of it in a bunch of different places. If we don't first have a definite and well-thought-out place for everything, we'll be continually rewriting this thing when/if things moves.
The things I feel are static and in a long-term if not permanent place that we can safely write "chapters" for the manual are: peg board equipment; floor burners; the four new big pots; storage behind ferm room; carboy shelving; grain mill; towers of power; lager fridges.
The stuff that moves at random and/or doesn't have a set place yet: trash bags, work gloves, grain buckets, starsan and PBW (which should IMHO be in the same place but they aren't), mops and brooms, shop vac, fridges and fridge policy (everyone stores hops in there and we've never set any rules about use of fridges besides "whatever beer is in there is fair game"), the two carboy/keg cleaners. These things may have been sitting in the same place for a long time but that doesn't mean that it's their permanent/long-term/optimal location and that someone can't/won't move them.
Thoughts?
I think being concise is the linchpin to make this idea useful, and also what makes it difficult.
Do you think we can squeeze in the necessary info in, say, a 2 page PDF maybe? Page one could be the floor plan map with numbers and a key indicating what each item is, I think that might be the most efficient way to convey that much info. Page two, safety stuff and best practices, like the start up p/shut down procedure with the yellow gas valves, peg board stuff, remaining important info. I'll try and get a list started Sunday or Mondayish and see how short I can get it and still be complete. We'll need to rope in someone with design skills for the map though, I have none nor do I posess the requisite software to do that sort of thing.
I like were this is headed and still think we need the apprenticeship model for the first three brews and do not want to see an on-line packet replace it.
Jim and I are going to work on signage/conversion charts/warnings for the brew house and this is a natual extension.
I never meant to suggest that this packet replace the apprentice model we currently have, only that this packet supplement it. The more info we can give new brewers before their first brew, the more confident they'll feel, the more fun they'll have, the more welcome they'll feel, then maybe we can gain another core contributor. Plus it will enable us to better foster a culture of safety and better housekeeping habits, everyone wins.
I also like really like the idea of reaching out to new members and tapping the experience of those, like Jim, who teach the brewing 101 so we can find out what new brewers want to know and how they feel we can do better.
Yeah, teaching the brewing 101 class twice now has been immensely helpful in figuring out what people need to know. I've got a list going.
How should we proceed? What are our action items?
I think maybe at the next meeting we can hash something out. It skirts the borders of Membership Committee and the Educational Committee, so it's not entirely clear which committee should be responsible moving forward. It certainly appears as though You (Jim) and I are "the guys" if this is to move forward, and I appreciate your input. Maybe we should mock something up and present it to the board. I kinda feel like board approval is necessary because this whole idea is to basically standardize and codify new brewer orientation, and I'd like to make sure everyone has voice as to what gets included at the risk of getting too many chefs in the kitchen...or maybe it gets tabled, at least we'll have some discussion about what we want new members to know and how we can be sure we are getting that info to them.
That sounds good, Joe. I agree with board approval. I also agree that it falla under Membership and education.
Let's start with the fermentation room seeing as the signage is already done for that. We can reference/complement that in our section on the ferm room in the manual.
I think this is a very important component to the brew house and the membership as it gets everyone started on the right foot. I would be willing to meet to go over the outline and help where I can.
There are multiple safety items I am finishing up that I would like to be included.
I'm going to be at the brewhouse next Th evening if you guys can meet then to discuss this face to face. LMK.
Weekdays are always bad for me. But by all means, if you guys have the time and are able meet then go for it, and fill me in later. I think maybe Membership and Education should join forces in a new SuperCommittee, which I am calling "The Ministry of Indoctrination" hahaha....