rcmiket

http://www.modelaircraft.org/aboutam...ecminutes.aspx

Just posted on the site for your viewing pleasure. All kinda fun stuff here. I'll need to fully wake up before making any comments.

Mike

porcia83

My Feedback: (8)

Yup, great stuff for sure. The EC notes are always available, just more transparency. It will be interesting to see how the notes are interpreted.

Meanwhile, some factual stuff:

Best Buy – Revenue continues to trickle in; to date we have received $70,376 as a result of the program. The cost to implement the program was $23,000 so we have realized significant revenue. AMA realizes about $72.33 per member that joins AMA as a result of the Best Buy program. AMA also realized about 1,000 new members as a result of the program.

Club Charter renewals – As of this week 2,283 clubs have renewed or newly chartered; this is on track with last year.

Membership numbers – Renewal rate is running about 99% of last year which is significant since there was a dues increase. New memberships are trending up about 20%; overall paid memberships are up about 2% for the year.

Fitch reported on membership numbers as of July 11, 2016. Overall open/adult membership are up to 76,450, of which 15,974 are new members. Seniors are up 471 members to 49,890; Park Pilot members are up 495 to 2,326; Youth members up 6,876 to 54,668 (35-40% of youth memberships are attributed to our relationship with EAA). Overall memberships are up 9,089 to 188,862 or 5% over this time last year. Best Buy program accounts for 987 new members since December. New members from trackable print and digital media advertising are 5,900; Google advertising continues to lead the way with a total of 10,463 members at an acquisition cost of $6.37/each.

The hobby shop program added 40 new shops this year; as this program begins under the new dealer incentive it is hoped that we will see an increase in new AMA memberships. AMA’s relationship with EAA continues to flourish; EAA realized 150 new members from the push email sent to AMA members; EAA’s offer to their members to buy a specially priced sportsman RC aircraft and get a free AMA membership resulted in 52 new members for AMA. EAA’s AirVenture is an example of the EAA/AMA relationship; AMA will be represented at six different stations including RC flying for the second year.

Government Relations – Tyler Dobbs was brought on board; he is getting up to speed relatively quickly. In the last month he has interfaced with 27 communities relative to local level legislation. Three of those contacts were to address problems with legislation that had already passed; seven were to address pending legislation and 17 were to address legislation that has not been written. What we have now with the extra resource is the ability to reach out in advance to these legislators who are considering writing bills and ordinances and have an impact on that before it gets too far down the road with legislation already written. AMA had a lengthy conversation with Senator Jackson (District X) and was asked for input and to look at the legislation before it was submitted (his bill was shot down twice). This is significant and is the direction we are going with our government relations.

a. Nominations (Appendix)
The Nominations Committee accepted the documentation for L. Tougas, R. Hanson and E. Williams for the office of President. There was only one nomination in each of the three districts up for election this year. The committee accepted those nominations as well. Terms for the above offices begin January 1, 2017.
MOTION I: Moved by T. Jesky (VII) and seconded by M. Radcliff (III) to accept the report of the 2016 Nominations Committee. Names on ballot: President – Rich Hanson, Lawrence Tougas, Eric Williams District I – Andy Argenio (incumbent) District V – Robert (Bob) Brogdon District IX – Jim Tiller (incumbent)
MOTION passed unanimously.

My emphasis added on the unanimous passing of the motion. Not a single dissenting voice.

rcmiket

[h=4]5. Chief Financial Officer's Report[/h] Sessions thanked V. Barkdull and B. Reynolds for their work on this report. The audit was moved to the second quarter, which is a cost savings for the Academy. As we go through the report Council should keep in mind there was a dues incentive for people to renew for 2 years, so the income seen on this year will not be seen next year. Sessions noted economic indicators report the chances of a recession in 2017/2018 are increased dramatically. AMA is a discretionary hobby and our dues will be impacted by a recession.


[h=4]JPO Presentation[/h] Bob Klenke, JPO President and Jim McEwen, JPO Executive VP were introduced. They reported to the Executive Council what they have been doing, what the JPO is about and their future plans. It was noted that for the past couple of years JPO had been relatively inactive but they are getting revamped and working to increase membership and participation.
Discussion included the changes to the turbine thrust rules; updating the web site; their ability of electronic membership; and working with I. Maine to send out a survey via Survey Monkey (of the 1,400 people that received the email they received just over 200 responses). They reviewed the JPO mission, topics for their publication Contrails and the activity of the community. Future plans are to build their membership; maintain the turbine rules, update LTMA (Large Turbine Model Aircraft) rules and rules compliance by turbine and LTMA holders working with AMA. As an AMA SIG (Special Interest Group) they will work closer with SIG chairman R. Cameron.
In a brief discussion of a recent incident involving a jet, it was revealed that individuals were not willing to step up to address the concerns. As an AMA SIG, JPO is the watchdog for this community. AMA is dependent upon members to police each other and the community should be willing to step up and demand pilots at these events fly safely. Contest Directors need to ensure that pilots hold the proper credentials to fly. This goes for all disciplines across the board. Mathewson noted that in 2008/2009 AMA was engaged with the FAA when large model aircraft and turbines were on the cutting block. Due to R. Hanson’s efforts and our Turbine Waiver Program we were able to convince the FAA that those models could be flown safely and responsibly in the airspace. He feels we are literally one major incident away from losing that privilege. Klenke reported he knows there is a problem and they want to be part of the solution but they need to address it without driving away members. McEwen stated they need to communicate and educate members more effectively. AMA is willing to help JPO but there must be communication between the two organizations. Klenke stated they will work on the rules compliance issue. The President thanked Klenke and McEwen for their update.

Club Charter renewals – As of this week 2,283 clubs have renewed or newly chartered; this is on track with last year.

Membership numbers – Renewal rate is running about 99% of last year which is significant since there was a dues increase. New memberships are trending up about 20%; overall paid memberships are up about 2% for the year.

National Model Aviation Day (NMAD) – Club participation is way down this year; this was expected after we changed direction with the charity. As of July 15, only 105 clubs have signed up (200 last year). Still expect a few more before the end of the registration period. Part of that factor is that we opened the door to let clubs select a local charity to support as opposed to the national charity that AMA recommended.

Rantoul, IL – This item is for discussion only. This is where the Indoor Nats will be held. An AMA member came to AMA with a proposal to purchase the Rantoul facility. It is an old hangar with a 98-foot ceiling; would be appropriate for Indoor FF and Indoor RC. The city currently owns it; the sale price is around 250k. Renovations to the facility could be as high as 2mil. It is on an airport and there are no zoning requirements. The ED would like to let staff do more research on the project; it is a historical building and there may be an opportunity for a historical grant; could also negotiate with the city. Maintenance of the site would need to be considered. Once more research is completed, the ED will come back to Council with more information.

Fitch reported on membership numbers as of July 11, 2016. Overall open/adult membership are up to 76,450, of which 15,974 are new members. Seniors are up 471 members to 49,890; Park Pilot members are up 495 to 2,326; Youth members up 6,876 to 54,668 (35-40% of youth memberships are attributed to our relationship with EAA). Overall memberships are up 9,089 to 188,862 or 5% over this time last year. Best Buy program accounts for 987 new members since December. New members from trackable print and digital media advertising are 5,900; Google advertising continues to lead the way with a total of 10,463 members at an acquisition cost of $6.37/each.


[h=4]Marketing[/h] G. Fitch presented a proposal for an event called Spaceport America Drone Summit 2016 which was submitted by Spaceport America (which is owned by the state of New Mexico). The FAA told the organizers the event must be sanctioned by the AMA. Tony Stillman and Jim Tiller recently visited the site and spoke with some of the organizers; they are of the opinion Council should consider some level of involvement. An MOU is expected to be developed by August 11, after which time Tiller feels he could present a budget for approval in a conference call.
Discussion included:
• Site is about an hour drive from Truth or Consequences, NM
• Site has a full functioning 12,000’ runway and airport with fire station
• AMA membership would be required to participate in all flying events
• They would like AMA to give 1 or 2 seminars
• Spaceport America stated their marketing potential is huge in the state
• Hotels are 35-40 miles from the site; primitive camping would be allowed on the secured site
• The event has the potential to become very large but may not be the first year
• Spaceport America has committed to some funding to get Stillman and Tiller there but AMA will need to commit to some level of financial support
• AMA will need to commit to marketing the event in our magazine and media outlets
• The MOU must outline who is responsible for what and the financial commitments of all parties involved
• Since they need the AMA to hold this event, AMA should negotiate terms so it does not realize any financial loss
• The simulator trailer and some HQ staff would need to attend


A few things I found intresting

Mike

porcia83

My Feedback: (8)

Ya, the part about the Jet incident is interesting. Wonder what that was all about.

porcia83

My Feedback: (8)

Club Charter renewals – As of this week 2,283 clubs have renewed or newly chartered; this is on track with last year.

More new clubs.....great news!

porcia83

My Feedback: (8)

Government Relations – Tyler Dobbs was brought on board; he is getting up to speed relatively quickly. In the last month he has interfaced with 27 communities relative to local level legislation. Three of those contacts were to address problems with legislation that had already passed; seven were to address pending legislation and 17 were to address legislation that has not been written. What we have now with the extra resource is the ability to reach out in advance to these legislators who are considering writing bills and ordinances and have an impact on that before it gets too far down the road with legislation already written. AMA had a lengthy conversation with Senator Jackson (District X) and was asked for input and to look at the legislation before it was submitted (his bill was shot down twice). This is significant and is the direction we are going with our government relations.

That's a great development. I still think this is something that is incumbent upon local leadership (AVP, VP) to be alert for, and deal with, but to have a central point of contact and advocacy at the AMA level will help.

TimJ

Good post. Thank you.

BarracudaHockey

My Feedback: (11)

Looks like District V now has someone from Mayberry

porcia83

My Feedback: (8)

LoL

Sport_Pilot

So the Spaceport event will hold the droner's to tow the line? After all it's Truth or Consequences!

tailskid

My Feedback: (34)

I wonder when they say renewals are XXX%

If someone LAST year renewed for two years, does that figure also include those who renewed THIS year??? If so, that might account for the 99% rate .....

porcia83

My Feedback: (8)

Membership numbers – Renewal rate is running about 99% of last year which is significant since there was a dues increase. New memberships are trending up about 20%; overall paid memberships are up about 2% for the year.

I read that very literally, granted that may be wrong. I read that 99% of members renewed and that was more significant because there was a dues increase (perhaps they expected a drop). Brand new memberships are up 20% (I would assume over what new membership figures were last year), and that overall paid memberships are up at 2%. I think they specified paid versus non paid memberships (youth) for further clarity.

rcmiket

Who knows..................

As we go through the report Council should keep in mind there was a dues incentive for people to renew for 2 years, so the income seen on this year will not be seen next year. Sessions noted economic indicators report the chances of a recession in 2017/2018 are increased dramatically. AMA is a discretionary hobby and our dues will be impacted by a recession."

Guess when the 2015 Financials are out we'll know.Paid ( a very important number) membership up 2% isn't really great considering how hard they courted the MR crowd. "Free" members ( up 6,876 to 54,668 ) the paid umber away.
Mike

porcia83

My Feedback: (8)

Anyone who can read basic numbers will know...it's good information.

It's amazing...there's an increase in PAID PAID PAID PAID membership and there's still a concerted effort to cast a negative light on it. Let's keep banging on the free BB program too. Yet another action taken that brought funds into the AMA that weren't there last year, at a net profit, and guess what, that's still a bad thing, the logic being we don't know if those members will be with us next year.

So to recap, this accounting of numbers shows;

Increase in paid membership=Bad
~50k net proceeds to AMA = Bad

It's hard to fathom what would possibly be categorized as "positive" results, heck, even mildly "acceptable" .

But hey, given the reality that 2017-2018 are going to be tough years, "traditional" hobby efforts and practices (ie fixed wing building) are in a decline, hurtling towards the shell of what it used to be, we should disassociate ourselves from new technology and go back to the way it "used" to be. Perhaps they are on to something we've all missed, once we go back to control line and free flight models, the FAA will be off our back and we can enjoy the hobby again. Should be interesting to read the balance sheets then.

Interesting times.

astrohog

My Feedback: (1)

DUDE, give it a rest. YOU are the only one labeling things, "bad" or "good"!

Astro

porcia83

My Feedback: (8)

You're free to review the comments and characterize them as you see fit, I won't tell you what to do.

Regards

Sport_Pilot

If they renewed last year for two years then there would be no revenue from them this year so the 99% rate would likely be over 100% if they had not done a two year renewal last year.

tailskid

My Feedback: (34)

So renewals may be up, but the fact of life will be revenues will be down!

rcmiket

Kinda like

"Pay no attention to the man behind the curtain".........................................

Mike

porcia83

My Feedback: (8)

Kinda like the accounting that said the BB memberships were free, but not quite able to explain and acknowledge the 70k made by the AMA.

porcia83

My Feedback: (8)

Renewals at 99 percent, paid membership up by 2 percent, and another 70k in the coffers that wasn't there last year? How does that equal less revenue?

tailskid

My Feedback: (34)

Slightly off subject but................................I wonder how many of the 'free' memberships from the BB group will renew for next year.....after all the 'toy' they got for Christmas has now been put aside and/or replaced by the latest and greatest.

That would be an interesting figure to see.

Jerry

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

porcia83

My Feedback: (8)

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.

porcia83

My Feedback: (8)

Actually totally on topic, the issue was noted in the meeting notes. Not sure where folks are getting this misinformation about the memberships being free. The AMA didn't hit the Lotto and come into 70k, it came to them via the companies that PAID for the membership. So if you mean "Free" to the AMA, perhaps you're right.

But hey, let's say 0 retain the membership? Can you show me what the downside to that would be? It won't be zero, but for arguments sake, lets say it is. So what?

Didn't cost the AMA anything, they got about 700 new members for a year, and the dues. So if none renew, what's the loss?

The more interesting figure to see, imo, is one that would give better context to the issue. How about we see what the average number of memberships who join for one year, and then don't renew. Then we can take that number, and put it next to the BB program number, and probably be able to form a better conclusion. Apples to Apples, not one figure in a vacuum.