While I'm glad they're having this discussion now, it is clear that this discussion is about 20 years late. I think some members here have mentioned this from time to time.

A couple of items that caught my attention were the mention of XBOX and iphone in the early 2000's. The early 2000's is when I (and many of my AMA friends) were hitting the peak of our modeling. We were in the younger demographics of our clubs, had disposable income, had attained solid flying abilities and were embracing the new technologies that were being introduced into the hobby; i.e. 2.4 ghz, onboard video, new battery and electric motor technologies, ARF's, high-performance and reliable large-scale gas engines, etc. We were the future generation of modeling and we were being chastised by the older demographics, including the AMA executives. 3D flight, drones, foamies and IMAC were all the rage and were drawing a large audience of the general public at 3D events and from viral social media videos. A vast majority of us found that the senior members of our clubs started to feel like the spotlight had shifted from them to the, "young guns" and used their status as senior members and club officers to shift the focus back onto them by shunning this next generation by forcing them out of clubs through targeted rules and "smear campaigns". The aging leadership in Muncie followed suit, alienating MANY members who, otherwise, would have become the next generation of modelers. Until this time, many of us were very much pro-AMA members who carried the value proposition to the general public through the new channels that had developed while mall shows and other traditional public outreach models were on the decline.

When the Federal Government started getting involved with regulating our hobby due to the proliferation of drones and these new technologies, the AMA leadership made the fatal mistake of romancing the drones, instead of educating the Feds on the differences between this new (yet distinctly different) segment of our hobby and proposing separation of two similar hobbies with distinctly different demographics and how they operate and present to the general citizenship of the US.

So here we are, 20+ years late with this discussion and I saw A LOT of comments telling the EB that they do not feel like leadership is engaging with the local clubs (the REAL driving force in promoting the hobby and engaging new members). This is a huge disconnect and still reeks of a top-down type of management style that is a contagious cancer that continues to manifest itself at a club level. Until our elected leaders truly understand that it is the members, not themselves, that are important to the sustenance of our aging hobby, we will continue to show a decline in our membership. Same rings true for our Federal Government. I still heard whispers of gaslighting and the same old, same old during that meeting. Old habits die hard.

I will remain cautiously hopeful that the next generation leadership will simply listen to its constituents and remain a dynamic and elastic leadership that changes with the times rather than pound their chests and rest on their glorified accomplishments of yesteryear.

Astro