LEADER TO LEADER
Membership Drive Reaction
by Jim Rice, Chairman Leader Member Committee
As I write this, it is a week before Christmas and the final membership numbers for 2009 are fresh in my mind ... Depressing but still in my mind. We had a membership drive. A well-thought-out, but poorly executed drive. The leg work was done at the HQ level and the advertising was done in Model Aviation and by word of mouth via most of the District VPs. Yet at the grass roots level, where the newbie meets the member, it didn’t happen very well; seemingly no interest in the growth of the membership by the average modeler or club.
That should give all of us with a little concern about the future of our organization cause to reflect on why we aren’t growing or worse yet, why we are shrinking. Everyone who has been a member more than five years (and that is who this article is targeted toward) remembers when getting a new member started flying rejuvenated your own enthusiasm, which was then expressed and passed on to the newbie, resulting in his or her rapid infusion into this addictive sport. The newbie then brings friends and relatives to the field to try to get them addicted as well. It could snowball, it should snowball from there, but lately it hasn’t done that very well! We keep harping on bringing in more new members but don’t concentrate so hard on keeping the ones we already have. If your club brings in six new members this year but loses ten old ones we have a net loss. If every club in the AMA lost just three members, we would be down about 7,000 members before we ever started to recruit the new members! So why are we losing them as fast, if not faster, than we can recruit them? You may know better than I do but I have some ideas from personal experience and daily contact with clubs and members that are having problems with each other. Following is a list of issues I have seen:
1. Club dues are too high when coupled with initiation fees and AMA dues and perhaps holiday spending if the club has renewal at the first of the year.
2. Club meetings are stagnant, discussing the same old business with no flair of creativity to try to encourage the membership to be there for the fellowship, the modeling exchange, and the educational experience.
3. Cliquish groups that make it hard for a newcomer to become a part of the organization—If you can’t afford an XYZ don’t sit with us; If you can’t do a double whifferdill with a twist you don’t need to fly with us; If you didn’t use escapements and reeds you won’t be able to communicate with us, etc.
4. Old-time members with a chip on their shoulders about new folks, new styles, and new ideas. Some old guys (I qualify for that) don’t want to have their club changed and are not willing to tolerate anyone who may have a good new idea. The board of directors ought to change fairly regularly and bring in new ideas and new blood. I have had reports of members being threatened by old timers who don’t want change, even to the point that the police have had to be involved.
5. Conduct at the field that is unacceptable for mixed company or families. I have seen and had reported to me too many incidents of vulgar and foul language being used so loudly that it made many at the field uncomfortable. Guys don’t want to bring their spouses or children out to the field and subject them to that. For that matter, many longtime modelers would rather not be subjected to that either.
6. Safety officers or instructor pilots treating the membership or new pilot like a stupid third grader (this assumes the recipient of the barrage is not a stupid third grader). I had a couple of guys who were longtime modelers tell me they joined a club based on my recommendation and began flying on the first day at the field with no orientation or advice. The Safety Officer observed they were not following one of the club’s local rules and berated them loudly and publicly instead of quietly explaining the rules to the newbies. They both quit the club after one day of flying. Fortunately for AMA they found another club instead of dropping the hobby.