James, that's really cool. I'm a co-leader of a local photography group that's been around for quite a number of years and has a huge membership, but I'd guess our active membership in the hundreds. A few suggestions. Get help in organizing events. Photo walks, workshops, field trips, studio shoots. These all take man hours and if it's all on you it can get a bit overwhelming. Mix up the types of events and get feedback. Ask attendees to let you know if they'd like more of a certain event/subject. Encourage members to participate in suggesting and leading events. For a lot of events you don't need to be Ansel Adams, you just need to be willing. Get a web presence. A place to announce events, have a discussion forum, contact membership, etc. We find that meetup.com suits our needs, your mileage may vary. Even though a large percentage of your membership will be digital, try offering some film meetups. We often do and they are a big hit. We've had a lot of fun with Shoot and Soup events where we give everyone a roll of the same black and white film, gone out on a photo walk and then returned and taught everyone how to develop their rolls. The magic of pulling the negs out of the tank is alway great. We've done a lot of others as well. Classes to teach people to put their cameras into manual mode and learn to get proper exposure have always been a hit. If you want to talk more about this, send me a message. And good luck and have fun!
