Shriner U: Breaking Barriers - Plan for Fun

[title card] Shriner U logo; Shriners International Education Foundation presents: Shriner U Breaking Barriers- Challenging Your Sacred Cows; Plan for Fun

[title card] Steve Sichterman, PP, Scimitar Shrine

I think probably what we need to do as we get started here is let's call out the elephant in the room, right? The whole idea behind this was breaking those barriers. Well, let's throw some of those out. Like, oh, I don't know. Protocol would be one, right? We get wrapped up in things that we think are laws, we think they are legal. We think they're everything else. And what do you feel about protocol, Tim?

[title card] Tim Murphy, PP, Murat Shrine

Well, I mean, I always thought it was interesting. It does, harken harken back to our history as Shriners, of course. And it's really based upon courtesies that one member gives to another, right? Especially in a public setting where it goes off the rails is when people would absolutely disrupt an event or a meeting because somebody broke some rule of protocol. It is too silly to worry about. So I really think that the protocol is nice and it's interesting, but if somebody screws it up, so what? who cares?

Steve Sichterman:

It's like I tell folks, it's not nuclear weapons, no one's going to die.

Tim Murphy:

That's right.

Steve Sichterman:

But I think it is difficult if you're in an organization, if your temple, let's say, let's put it this way, if your temple has a lot of tradition and history, you want that tradition in history. But it goes back to what you and I have talked about. There's a difference between what we can do legally and what we can do as a group to enjoy being together. Right?

Tim Murphy:

Agreed.

Steve Sichterman:

And I see it all the time where we get wrapped up in, we've all been to that dinner where by the time introductions are over, there's two people sitting in the corner that didn't get introduced, but everyone else did because of some protocol rule. And it took us an hour and a half and no one's having fun doing that. And I think that there's a time and a place, and while respect is vital in everything we do, so is some common sense and so is some taking a step back and not worrying about, oh, did I say that exactly right.

Tim Murphy:

Right.

Steve Sichterman:
 
The other thing, so we know that that's one of the sacred cows out there. The other one is one of my favorites. That's what we've always done. We've always had that event. We've always participated in this or participated in that. We've never done that. It didn't work 25 years ago, so we're not going to do it again. And I think that if we're going to grow as an organization, if we are going to, what I like to think of the shrine as is kind of that big tent where we're bringing all kinds of folks from different aspects of the Masonic bodies. I mean, we're all Blue Lodge masons, but we're not necessarily all in the Scottish writer, the York writer or the Grotto. And you could go on and on and on, but we bring everybody together really for two things, fun and philanthropy. And so we've got to take a step back sometimes and say, if we're doing an event just because we always have and we wonder why no one's showing up, what's your first sign?

Tim Murphy:

Right? I'd like to kind of jump in on something that you said just a second ago.

Steve Sichterman:

Sure.

Tim Murphy:

And that is, I'm always going to go back to if you're talking about an event or a thing or anything that we do, if it really isn't enjoyable, I'd say take it off the docket. For example, I am a person who's been blessed with a pretty severe case of ADHD, which means that I'm the king of the seven-minute meeting if I even go to one at all. I can't sit through elongated boring dinners with boring dinner speakers. I would much rather have an event with a bar and hors d'oeuvres stations than sitting around at rounds of 10 with a three and a half hour dinner. But that's just me

Steve Sichterman:

Right.

Tim Murphy, PP, Murat Shrine:

Or so I thought until I started talking to other people, they're like, 'Gosh, I really hate that thing, but I feel like I have to go.' I said, well, that's really not a reason, and you're certainly not going to cultivate or keep membership by having events nobody likes. And so I am going to have to go back if it's not enjoyable, folks, let's really look at this thing and see if we really want to be doing it.

Steve Sichterman:

Exactly.

Tim Murphy:

And just like I found out, you'd be surprised how many people, if you think something is really not worth your time, you'd be surprised how many other people think that too.

Steve Sichterman:

Look, our time is, it seems like we have less and less time to invest in what we do. We've got our work life, we've got our home and work-life balance, and then we have the things that we choose to be a part of, whether that's the Masons, the shrine, the church, whatever it is. And there's a point at which you have to make decisions about what you can't attend, what you can attend, or what you want to attend. And if we're not getting folks to our events, the first question you need to ask is, 'Well, why not?' I'm with you. The last thing I want to do is sit at a boring dinner with a boring speaker, having everybody introduced and walk away and say, 'Why was I there?' Versus an event where you're excited when you walk out. You're pumped up when you walk out.

I think I told you, we went from a huge building here in Little Rock. I mean, in fact, at one point we had the largest ballroom in the state of Arkansas in that building, and we'd have a hundred people in an event, and it felt like a ghost town because it was so large. There was no energy. We moved to a much smaller building on the North Little Rock side of the river. We have a hundred folks in there, and it feels like standing room only. And I can't tell you the energy because everybody's up and talking, and they're in this group. They're all in a group, and you leave there energized just because of the people around you and the fun that you're able to have over something that never dawned on us before – Our building was too big and people felt intimidated by it. It was a neat mistake that happened for us here. But I also, I wonder sometimes we get into that whole idea of we're going to have this event, we're going to have this dinner, we're going to have whatever, but we don't focus on what's important. We don't focus on the wins. You want to talk about that a little bit? You and I have had a long conversation about that.

Tim Murphy:

Oh yeah. Yeah. I would like to just mention one thing as we sort of wrap up this particular topic. My advice to our crowd of Nobles here today, Nobles and guests, is whenever you're going to put together an event, whenever you're going to put together a program, anything that's going to be for the members to benefit the members, I always like to employ something that I refer to as the ice test, ice, I-C-E. Is it inspirational? Is it convenient? And is it exciting? Inspirational? That's pretty subjective, but I think we all know what we mean when we say, is it inspirational? Is it something that's going to inspire us to want to go out and get new members or be more active in the shrine or whatever. That is the middle one, as I think is the most important one. Is it convenient? I would always say, look at your demographic and decide what timing is best, what days of the week are best given the demographic that you have? And taking that pulse is relatively easy with very quick online polls that you can email out and ask three questions, and you'll be able to get a really quick indication of what is going to be the best time day of the week for any kind of function for your members. So I just throw that out there just as a way to kind of cap off this section.

Steve Sichterman:

Yeah, no, I agree with you. I agree with you.