RE: Historical membership figures?
Folks:
The ebb and flow of membership is nothing new but we may be missing something very important; that is, the reasons why members don't renew. My understanding is that many fail to renew after 2 yrs. Ideally we would be able to determine why those members did not renew.
IMO, there are likely several reasons for this including not successfully soloing, lack of instructors or a good training program, bad experiences with clubs (these occur more frequently than we might think), coming to the realization that aeromodeling is not what they wanted to do after all, too expensive, etc. Certainly economic conditions will have an impact as well. I recently saw a 30% Extra RTF in a local shop with a sign indicating that the hobby was just too expensive for the seller. Folks also come to the realization that they can't afford to crash!!
Its clear that several of the above reasons can be laid directly at the doorsteps of clubs as they are key to successful introduction to the hobby/sport and retention of members.
Its been said that "we live in a time in which instant gratification is too slow". How many newbes want to start out flying a 40% aerobat, giant warbird or turbine jet? Let's face it, we live in an "I want in now" era. This has led to some extent the proliferation of the really outstanding ARFs that many of us enjoy. People also spend a lot of money on entertainment (i.e. disposable income) and think nothing of "investing" in a flying model only to use it for a year or two.
Regards
Mike
Leader Member
AMA 20640