Well, I'm as ready as I'll ever be to launch a women's/trans night this year. I've had a great time teaching my little sisters to wrench (who had never touched tools). Some questions:
-- How's the turn out, really? We're in a pretty small (albeit college) town, and although I imagine all kinds of women showing up, does it end up just one "type"? Are they decidedly social events, or completely focused on learning, or somewhere in between?
-- Do you have regulars, or is it new people every time?
-- What kind of promotion seems to work? Are fliers sufficient?
-- Do people show up right on time, or trickle through the night? I'm working in the project every day anyway, so if half an hour goes by and no one's showed, I'm apt to go home (and thus severly discourage late-comers from trying again).
-- Do you use some kind of teaching structure, or just go through each person's bike?
-- Have further layers of discrimination been an issue? For instance are "normal" people put off by people who "look like lesbians"? Are trannies alienated? How do you deal with this if so?
-- Do you lock the door and let people in one-by-one? I know that having to knock might be enough to keep someone as socially anxious as me from coming. The other option is to run off the males who can't or won't read a sign on the door and come in anyway. Even uncombatively, that sounds distracting. How do you do it?
Can't think of anything else at the moment. Didn't see anything on the wiki, so feel free to give me any advice or just a general overview. Anything you think might be helpful.
Thanks!
andrea