The UW Hiking Club
I created the UW Hiking Club in September 2017 to build a community of hikers at the University of Waterloo. In the twelve months that followed, I led 12 hikes—each of which attracted between 30-55 people. It was a tremendously popular club, reaching over 1200 registered members.
The Day I Became a Better Leader
It was 2:58pm and the meeting was about to start. And yet, there was only one other person standing with me. Outwardly, I seemed calm and collected. But on the inside, I was kicking myself for putting myself in this humiliating situation.
But as soon as the clock struck 3pm, people gathered from all directions. Within two minutes, we went from 2 people to 22. It was like out of a movie. And then it was my turn to speak.
The lesson I learned at the UW Hiking Club’s inaugural meeting was one I would not soon forget—being a leader meant being willing to take risks and put yourself in vulnerable situations for the greater good. It also taught me that students didn’t feel comfortable arriving too early, instead preferring to hover nearby and arrive exactly on time.
Maximizing Turnout
At every one of the 12 hikes I organized and led, between 20-60 people would show up. They’d meet me on campus, and we’d take the public bus to the edge of town. I’d then lead them on a 2.5 hour hike through the hills, forests, and swamps around Waterloo. The return buses came every 30 minutes, so I had to time our arrival perfectly.
I think a big part of why the UW Hiking Club was so popular was because of my carefully thought-out process behind every event. Here’s how I learned to maximize turnout:
— Top 5 Tips —
Make the Experience Seamless — I realized early on that a three-hour hike with strangers was intimidating, and that would prevent a lot of people from coming on our hikes. I always made it a focus to set out clear, simple logistics so people would feel at ease that everything would go smoothly. Here’s an example
Create a Snowball Effect — For my first few hikes, I noticed that if I created a Facebook event, people were hesitant to be the first ones to click “going”. As a result, the portion of “maybes” would always outpace those who clicked “going”, setting a trend others would follow. I realized that if I had 5 friends click going before I made the event public, far more people would click “going” rather than “maybe”, and the event would attract far more people.
Promote Across Many Channels — I did everything I could to promote the club and our events. On Club’s day, I walked around with mountaineering backpack and hiking boots to sign people up. And when I’d create an event, I’d share it in every Facebook group I could. This helped us reach more people and grow the club.
Build a Community — We built a community of regulars who came out to every hike. That ensured we’d have a good turnout at every event, and made for a more fun environment people looked forward to.
Understand the Why — I developed an understanding of why people were coming on our hikes, and later used that messaging to great effect in our marketing materials. The main reasons people came were: 1) To meet people and make friends, 2) To explore nature and wanted to get outside, 3) To see Canada (since 1/3 of attendees were international students).
