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The Latest Greatest News About Starting and Maintaining Chapters

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As a valued Queen of the Red Hat Society, staying informed is essential. We're committed to keeping you up-to-date with the latest information about starting and maintaining a Red Hat Society chapter. Whether you know someone considering launching a chapter or simply want to stay informed about the processes, we'll ensure you have access to all the relevant updates and guidelines. We want to empower you with the knowledge you need to make the most of your Red Hat Society experience and to share that wisdom with others.

New Queens: Starting an RHS chapter involves a few simple steps to ensure everything runs smoothly. Here's a breakdown of how it now works:

  1. Registration as a Queen: The first step is to register or upgrade as a Queen on the website. This typically involves providing some personal information and agreeing to certain terms and conditions.
  2. Gathering your Court: Take time to assemble and meet with your primary group, which usually consists of 3 to 5 members. Recruit fun -loving individuals from your social circle. To expand the group, you may choose to ask each member to invite someone to the group who they think has fun the same way you all do. Each person joins the society and maintains her personal annual membership.
  3. Choosing Chapter Names: Get creative and brainstorm a few clever names for your chapter. These names should reflect the essence or focus of your chapter.
  4. Writing a Chapter Description: Craft a short but informative description that outlines what your chapter is all about. This description helps potential members understand the way your chapter likes to have fun, when you typically meet, etc.
  5. Deciding Public or Private: Determine whether your chapter will be public or private. Public chapters are open to anyone who requests to be added to the roster through the website, while private chapters require approval or invitation from the Queen for membership.
  6. Creating the Chapter: Once you have all the necessary information ready, go to the "CHAPTERS" section on the website and select "CREATE CHAPTER" from the dropdown menu. Fill out the form with your gathered information.
  7. Assistance from Hatquarters Staff: After submitting the form, a staff member from Hatquarters will assist you in getting your chapter set up and running smoothly. They will likely provide guidance, answer any questions you may have, and help resolve any issues that arise during the process. Note: Each new Queen is spoken to directly.
  8. Royal Responsibilities: As the Queen of your chapter, your main responsibility is to ensure everyone has as much fun as possible! Additionally, you'll need to stay responsive to communications from the society website and ensure that all your chapter members are officially registered. It's your time to shine as the Queen, so embrace the role and enjoy the journey!

Queen changes: A Queen owns the chapter. It’s a financial arrangement. She doesn’t technically leave a chapter, it goes with her, name and all.  Occasionally, at the Queen’s suggestion, she will step down and pass the chapter over to a member who upgrades to Queen. That change is handled by Hatquarters and initiated by the originating Queen by contacting Hatquarters.

To recap: To start a new chapter, a Queen needs 3 to 5 new registered members and a commitment to answer her messages sent to her through the RHS website.

Current Queens: The society needs Queens who will also commit to answer messages through the RHS website. New members try to contact Queens and many times receive no answer. Sometimes, other Queens don’t receive responses either. The RHS website is the safest, most private place for us to communicate. Social media is borrowed space. Help bring back our communications to a secure platform.

We do not currently have a rule that says a Queen has to maintain a certain number of members to keep a chapter active. We really don’t want to add rules but may have to do so to keep the society vibrant.

Our advice is to keep your Queenship/Chapter in good standing and answer your messages received through the RHS website.  If your membership expires, a new Chapter will need to be created under the guidelines discussed above.  If you have any suggestions to help the members connect better, please share them with me at jo_elliot@bmu.aan.mybluehost.me. Thank you.