The leader
September 2020: Masonic Lecture Series

As lodges pass into the sixth month without in-person meetings, the challenge of keeping members engaged is growing ever-more acute—especially as the novelty of hosting Zoom meet-ups begins to wear off. Lodges are finding that many of the same rules about hosting dynamic meetings apply equally to cyberspace as they do to in-person events. Luckily, going virtual has opened lots of possibilities for exciting and appealing programming—like talks, lectures, and discussions—that can be hard to plan for in the real world.

Going Beyond the Zoom Hangout

Adam Hanin, master of Acalanes Fellowship Lodge No. 480, realized his members were getting burned out on their weekly Zoom calls. So he decided to liven things up. “My job as master is to keep lodge relevant to members—to keep Freemasonry on their minds,” he says. Thinking back on the topics of discussion that had invigorated their early Zoom meetings—and taking his cue from the Grand Lodge’s own online speaker’s series—Hanin made a list of potential speakers he could invite to his lodges’ next meet-up. The following week, the group was joined by Masonic scholar Mark Kolto-Rivera, a past grand historian for the Grand Lodge of New York and author of Freemasonry: An Introduction, who spoke about the history and future of Freemasonry in a post-COVID world.

That first lecture attracted about 30 people, including several prospects and members’ spouses. Since then, Hanin has invited three other speakers to present lectures on a wide range of topics, from a discussion on race in America to the esoteric art of memory. Each subsequent speaker has attracted more people than the one before. “What this experience has shown me is that bringing in an external perspective is valuable to our members and prospects—it’s an invigorating reprieve from us talking amongst ourselves,” Hanin says.

In addition to the lodge’s invited speakers, members have also tuned into the Grand Lodge Online Speaker Series, which this summer partnered with the noted research lodge Quatuor Coronati, to present weekly speakers on American Freemasonry. That partnership will last into the fall, with a new slate of speakers for the winter being announced at a later date.

In the end, Acalanes Fellowship hasn’t done away with its regular Zoom meetings, either. In fact, Hanin has found that by offering these lively lectures, his membership has brought a newfound energy into its other interactions—and to planning new ones. Looking ahead, Hanin has plans for a virtual open house to engage the several new candidates they’ve recently attracted as a result of the speaker’s series. “This is certainly a year unlike any other,” Hanin says. “As masters, we need to step up and meet the challenge head on. If we don’t, we might return to lodge with fewer members than when we left.”