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John B posted a link to a quick comment I wrote about the chip hobby shrinking and the club loosing members. That comment didn't do
my position justice, but to tell you... I don't know the real numbers? Are we sinking? How fast? I'd be curious if Steve B could give a count of (regular members) over the last 5 years. How fast are we loosing members and gaining members? I tried to figure that out on the club site but couldn't go back that far in the club minutes section. Most people here on this board know our problems, Starting with... we are here, on this board. lol... In the last two weeks there were only 11 original posts on the club message board. Do you think that is a problem for the club? Let me answer that, Yes!
Now... one of those 11 posts is from our President trying to get people involved on our club board. Thank you Doug for your energy in promoting the club this way, and I appreciate the time you take to write comments for most that post in the (chip of the week) posts, along with everything else you do ;).
OK...
So then.... why are we here instead of there? Ask yourself that... Then maybe write it down. What did you write down?
Can you say the same thing about the club in general? For me... the Club Board is a little hollow in the sense that I didn't see the action I like in a message board. The Chip Board has a lot more people and posts and energy, so I mainly go here for my
chip chat & if there is something there really matters, it usually makes it over here at some point.
So this is an example of minor issue the club really doesn't have the time to manage or micro manage, so it kind of (is what it is).
I would say the club message board is a good example of how we need to do better. There are so many areas of the club that basically
(are what they are) and we don't question them or critique them.
Without a real effort in bringing people to the Club Board, it will not happen on its own.
What is a real effort? Maybe try and make The ChipBoard a deal they couldn't refuse. Lol...
OK yes, I know I've overstepped my bounds... and there is a history of why the two boards are two boards and so on... but! The
CLUB message board is not what it should be and probably wont be any time soon. Does anyone care?
I use this analogy because it strikes to the heart of the problem of our Club, as I see it.
We need someone who works for the club 5 days a week and who is responsible for club work. An (Executive Director).
I have brought this idea up a few times but I don't know if the concept has really been discussed by the BOD. I know a (paid) Director was quickly poopooed by many members because it would change the volunteer nature of the club, but if the Executive Director was a volunteer position, would the change in structure be considered?
Maybe a board member can chime in here. I also thought that the BOD should hire an independent 501C3 specialist to review the Club from end to end and give us realistic evaluation, expectation and strategic plan for next 3 to 5 years. Don't know if that was discussed either.
If all this is too much money, there are free services we can access. However...
If we need to grow membership... we need (someone) in charge of it.
If we need to do grant writing, we need someone in charge of it.
If we need to get daily club business done... guess what... ;)
This is not the work that a BOD does! It is the work of the ED through committees.
Here is a clear example on the difference between BOD and ED... (see below) Does the BOD need to grow our organization and add an Executive Director position to the club at this time?
I think it is clearly needed and without it, we will likely continue to see less club centric events, smaller collector and dealer turnouts
for the conventions and our member numbers way below what we can imagine.
I'd like to get some conversation going on how we can all make a better club, If you disagree with adding an ED, what do you think is a better solution to the mounting issues we face? This is not an easy post to make given all of the countless
hours that members donate to our Club and hobby, I respect them deeply and my post comes from a place of the best intention for the club. I post this because I believe if we don't take steps to deal with our problems, they will only
get worse and a lot of the hard work by members will be forgotten.
"We are losing 100-120 members per year"
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