As Lairs in many major cities continue to grow larger and larger, many lair leaders are finding organization to be more and more chaotic.

Gone are the days of Lair meetings being composed of a few guys meeting at somebody’s apartment with pizza and beer. Increasingly, Lair meetings are becoming official seminars with a reserved venue at a convention center, a scheduled speaker lineup, and official minutes of all the lair proceedings.

Likewise, the question is posed of how to organize a growing bureaucracy? Especially ones that tend to contain large personalities and growing egos?

The Answer? Lair Constitutions.

The concept of a Constitution organizing the conduct of a Lair originates back to Frank B Kermit and the Montreal Seduction Lair. The Lair Constitution the Montreal Lair developed became the basis for constitutions and charters throughout the world. It solved the difficult questions of how to choose leadership, meeting policies, membership requirements, lair dues, and more. Additionally, the Lair Constitution was an agreed upon set of principles that all members could acknowledge they submitted to when disputes inevitably arise.

Laying down the rules and requirements of members is a critical point for lair leadership when it comes to problematic members. Rouge members flagrantly violating the respect of the lair and other members can bring down morale and cause your best pickup artists to abandon the lair and giving their valuable input and expertise. When it comes to ejecting members and banning people who violate the rules, having a Constitution they agreed to abide by upon accepting membership to the lair simplifies the matter greatly. Specifically, it empowers lair leaders to point to the rule that was violated, without having to discuss specific details that can and will inflame banned members into escalating further drama.

So what elements should be included into the Lair Constitution?

First, a powerful mission statement. Yeah, everyone knows we are here to pickup chicks and get laid. However, the mission of the Lair should include more. Provide for a common meeting ground amongst like-minded men, to collectively improve the lifestyle and social skills of our members, to develop a support network of wingmen, and provide encouragement to members to constantly achieve greater and greater success.

Secondly, lay out the membership requirements and rules. Requirements can include anything from a minimum amount of field reports in a given time period, attendance of lair meetings and events, or a reasonable annual dues that can be used to facilitate lair activities.

Laying down the rules of members is a critical point for lair leadership when it comes to problematic members. Rouge members flagrantly violating the respect of the lair and other members can bring down morale and cause your best pickup artists to abandon giving their valuable input and expertise. When it comes to eject members and banning people who violate the rules, having a Constitution they agreed to abide by upon accepting membership to the lair simplifies the matter greatly. Specifically, it empowers lair leaders to point to the rule that was violated, without having to discuss specific details that can and will inflame banned members into escalating further drama.

Third, the duties of any officers elected or appointed should be clearly defined. It’s not enough to say we have an “activity planner”. Give clearly defined duties and goal setting within the constitution. For example, the position may be responsible for coming up with monthly outings, themes for Lair events, goals for how many members show up. Without clearly defined responsibilities, the officer may fall back on the lowest level of commitment, such as a short single post in the lair forum telling everyone to meet up at the bar. Instead, the officer should be calling everyone to confirm, setting up reservations, going over seduction material, and developing fun and interesting themes that get everyone excited for the event.

Fourth, identify legal requirements that the lair should follow and abide by. For example, it may be necessary to limit your liability as a lair leader for the worst possible scenarios. What if a deviant in the lair gets arrested and it is identified he is part of a “seduction lair”?  To limit these possibilities, the lair should have clearly identified rules against sexual predators, known sex offenders, drug addicts, or other societal deviants. If a member is constantly discussing hyper sexual conduct such as engaging in minors, there should be clearly defined rules to revoke their membership. Even if the conduct may not be explicit illegal in many cases, it is a good practice to attempt to watch for warning indicators so problem members can be dealt with before it results in a violation of the law.  For example, in many jurisdictions it is legal to engage in sexual intercourse with a person under the age of 18.  While not illegal, the law’s intention was to prevent people from going to jail for having sex with their girlfriend or boyfriend, not to allow fully grown men to entice young and naive girls at their local high schools.  Thus, it is probably wise to make an official statement against unscrupulous conduct such as this and ban or eject members who make a point of violating it.  If your lair is ever questioned, it is good to have an official outline of the principles your lair is guided by, rather than being seen as “seducing” or ‘tricking’ women into sex.

Thus, lair membership should probably have its own officer to rigorously apply the standards of conduct for lair members. The person who screens new members should likewise have their duties rigorously defined so that it is constantly being applied in the appropriate manner.

Fifth, identify appropriate lair functions. To prevent the lair stagnating in interest and activity, there should be an outline of events to be scheduled on a regular basis. Things like lair meetings should be hosted once a month or every other month. Give a schedule to shoot for having official guest speakers. Even in somewhat remote locations should attempt to get speakers once every three months or so.

Sixth, Voting. Voting is a crucial element to a lair as it is the basis for preventing disputes and getting everyone in the lair to agree upon how things are being run. It is impossible for each member to get what he wants all the time. Voting is an agreed upon method to say we will respect the outcome of the results regardless of what happens.

To make sure voting is given the up most respect, the procedures should be as extensive as possible. A simple yay or nay up or down vote on any topic can still cause disputes. What if not all members were present? What if one side deliberately rallied as many people around their cause, regardless of their membership to the lair? Things like these constantly come up during lair votes. Especially when the outcome is only a one or two point spread and the result is radically different. Some members will feel jilted or that they were cheated out of their way, and refuse to drop the matter and insist the vote was not legitimate.

Thus, voting procedures should be extensive and elaborate. For important matters, the issue may not be settled right off the bat, but have a scheduled vote for a later date, so all members can be reached and be present.

Also, read up on the different types of voting systems.  Many organizations have found that the typical majority winner take all system was ineffective, and many alternatives have been developed.

Lastly, regulate commercial activities. As the lair grows, it is inevitable that some members see dollar signs out of the lair. It may even be elements of the lair leadership. It could be selling an ebook that they’ve written, pushing new members to accept their coaching services, or even just trying to advertise more. In some cases, guest speakers or gurus can be productive members of the lair in exchange for a little promotional services. In other cases, new members can be jaded when they feel pressured to accept expensive coaching services and decide to leave the lair early on. Many lairs have bounced between the different extremes on the matter. Some have found that the only way to maintain any integrity was to ban all commercial activity from the lair and ban those that violate the rules. Others have created dedicated sections on their forum for commercial announcements, so that advertising is clearly identified and nobody has to feel pressured to accepting such services. Try to brainstorm what policies should be come part of your lair, and clearly state and identify them in your constitution so that all members know what is expected.

Also, Frank B Kermit of the original Montreal Lair has a sample Constitution for lairs
Sample Lair Constitution

And also has an audio brief of the different types of issues lairs will face and the policies they can enact in Constitutions to deal with and prevent those problems.

Audio1

Audio2

Remember, having an official constitution or charter can be a critical element to how an organization is run.  It has the potential to limit liability, resolve disputes, and promote effective leadership and active members all in one.  A constitution is not something to be overlooked and any lair should give theirs some serious thought and development.