Originally Posted by
rcmiket
That's the big question and another is just how many youth memberships will turn into paying members. Remember a huge portion of our members are now seniors. The next few years are huge as far as how well the organization will do.
Mike
Is it really a big question? I don't hear many people asking about it or being concerned. It was a nice bump in membership and about 70k in financial rewards into the AMA, but if I recall correctly you felt it was "Free" and didn't really count. That program certainly did better than the thousands of shops in the country that participate in the AMA referal program...40 memberships. And even if they were all full price, that's $3,000. I wonder if that is considered a "Free" membership as well. Looks like the shops and employees need to pick up the pace and explain the benefits of belonging to the AMA when little Johnny comes in looking for a new plane, or even a quad.
But you bring up a great point about the age profiles of members They certainly are seniors. You don't need a survey to see that, just look around your average club. They is a certain profile that certainly jumps out. Average age of members is about 58.
But back again to the aging membership and profile of members. Kit building is declining, even giant scale and turbine sales and accessories are down, so what exactly does the AMA do to attract more members? Talk about the benefits of scratch building? The fun of chasing free flight planes? Perhaps control line? Probably no.
Tell you what, however is running better have some interesting plans on how they are going to tackle all of these known, and potential issues. Perhaps they are blinded by the lure of the big salary and the fancy digs at Muncie and haven't thought this through. So far I've yet to hear a specific and actionable plane from any of them...just typical platitudes and slogans about change, tradition, etc etc.