dbcisco

They don't have only 140,000 force fed subscriptions.

RogerParrett

Hi Dan (Split-S)... The AMA - it seems - understands the need to bring the younger crowd into the fold. On the surface, I think that's a noble idea, but I think the AMA overlooks something. In my case, and of lot of people I've talked with, I was always interested in model airplanes. Free flight, u-control, etc. That is, until I went to college (no money), got married (no time), and then had kids (no money / no time). So my activities (but not interest) was put on hold for over 20 years. Again, I hear the same story from others. I feel that getting the young guns involved is a band-aid as we would quickly lose them to college, married life, starting careers and families, etc.

Now for you young folks who think I'm against you. Wrong. I'm just being realistic about how you'll spend the first 15 - 20 years of your life "post-teenager".

I wrote the AMA a year or so ago and told them it might be a good idea to partner with organizations such as the AARP. By the time a guy is 50+, hopefully he's got more time on his hands, maybe a bit more spending money, and maybe even a grandkid or two to haul to the flying field. The reception I got from the AMA was not - in my opinion - encouraging. Purely from a revenue perspective, the AMA should see the value of hooking a 50+ year old guy and keeping him for 10 or 15 years (or longer), as opposed to getting a 18 - 20 year old that will leave after 2 years, and maybe return 20 years later.

That said, I really enjoy watching the handful of young guns at our field. I wish we had 50 more just like them. I understand AMA's position, but I believe they are overlooking a more stable revenue and membership source.

Best Regards... Roger Parrett / Dayton / OH

SPLIT S

See your point - but - I got involved around 12 I think. Older brother and my dad. Around 18 I started playing guitar, joined a band, discovered the opposite sex. Model airplanes took a backseat and I left the hobby for a little while. I'm back. The interest was always there, other things came up. Life. One trip ticket here, enjoy it while you can. My point is I love to fly, love to build, love to help others out when I can. Will I be in the hobby until I'm 80, don't know. Hope so. But 80's hair bands could come back and off I go again.

So, I'll edit what I said earlier. Find the kid, or his dad, his mom (there's a thought) or his grandfather - and get them to the field. Flying doesn't have an age requirement.

Dan

804

My Feedback: (1)

How about Saturday morning or late night infomercials?
Anyone thought of that?

"For only three easy payments of $19.333333, here's what you'll get:
An official AMA card, suitable for laminating;
An official AMA sticker, Stick it anywhere!!;
An official AMA roolze handbook, complete with
a badge and autographed certificate from our own AMA President!!!


But wait, THERE'S MORE...
Call right now, and we'll include this handy dandy...


Well, hey, it'll probably work as well as anything else mentioned here.

dbcisco

Ever notice the membership in the guild of blacksmiths is decreasing?
I hear they are trying to get welders and machinists to join by sending letters to all the members of the guild.[]

Hossfly

Roger I see that you are relatively a newcomer to this activity. You pick up quickly as your proposal is what some of us have been trying to get established for years. There are some far more smart than I could even hope to be and that is what they have been telling the AMA "Round Table".

It is so easy to be a "for the children" type, but the real money is with those that have both the funds and the time. Unfortunately it seems NFP organizations dwell on hiring the Empire Builders to manage things and they seem to manage building nests more so than much else.

So Roger, IMO you have nailed things down very well.

KidEpoxy

Mountain
I believe you missed post#2 of the thread-
A solution that is not part of your "quit bashing and start recruiting" strategery.

So that makes 3 then, right?

Airplanes400

My Feedback: (349)

Hi Roger, Hi Split S,

At 50+, I've been in this hobby for 31 years or more, college, married, divorced (no kids), married, divorced (still no kids), (never enough money/lots of time), constantly hear of the AMA panhandling and crying the blues. Just wish they could get their act together if they could only get ORGANIZED, but they never seem to have direction, the ability to follow-through, or develop a good plan.

But I really like the idea from SPLIT S ... get the mom of the neighborhood kid involved. Or as I prefer to see it ... Get involved with the mom of the neighborhood kid !! So ... maybe it would be a good idea for the AMA to blend in the idea of a singles group ... A way for all the men to meet all the single moms out there !! We can turn the AMA into a dating-pool. I'll do my part.

Genius, huh? Sometimes I just amaze myself.

Luchnia

My Feedback: (21)

Yes, genius and absolutely no hidden agenda at all. If anyone can come up with a better plan lets see it! [:-]

phlpsfrnk

Just asking the question. Do you know anyone that sent their twenty dollars? Did you send them your twenty dollars?

Regards

fliers1

http://www.modelaircraft.org/files/stf-pp.pdf


Back to the original question, does anyone have a readily available and workable solution to AMA's membership decline?

They (AMA) have been tryig since May, but can't seem to get anywhere.

Fliers1

Luchnia

My Feedback: (21)

Will DBCisco be headin' this one up? Ok, just kidding here...need a little humor sometimes

I think the reason they are not getting anywhere with this is because no one really pays that much attention to the AMA and the AMA does not seem to have people on the ground promoting this stuff to the local clubs. This is never brought up at our team meetings. As a matter of fact the only thing pushed at our club is to make sure we have the AMA tags inside our planes.

If not for your post I would have known nothing about this STF program. Joining the AMA is something that we are forced to do in order to fly our RC planes (at least I am forced to be an AMA member by my club).

To me it is like buying license tags for my car. I really wished I could save the wasted dollars each year going to the DMV and not have to buy the tags. In our state it is clear how our state waste dollars and mis-appropriate funds. If it were not required of me, I would keep my money and use it for other things much more important.

I wonder if the sentiments from other folks are similar to mine concerning the AMA and many just won't come forward to admit it?

I want to emphasize that I do not hate the AMA. I am not interested in getting bashed because I state my thoughts on the matter. I am not really for or against them. I think I might lean slightly toward the AMA because of the youth, but still very unsure even on that point.

Maybe I am just not convinced of "purpose" of why I need them outside of being required to be member to fly my RC planes? Too many orgs now. You got to do this or do that before you can do anything anymore. Every one wants a piece of the pie, don't they?

I want to take some time and read over your documents you posted. Seems very interesting, but words are rather useless if there is no application at the ground level. Orgs put out this stuff and never put a man on the ground and nothing gets done. I think this is really the core issue with AMA.

I have been involved with my club getting close to two years now and have not seen ONE THING come to the club for the AMA! Not even a simple poster to hang up. Give that some thought.

kmeyers

Vote out of US Congress all the Big Grovernment and Big spending. It's the economy!!!!!

Just my .02

Luchnia

My Feedback: (21)

Do you know who put all this together and was this what was used to address declining membership?

fliers1

—Dave Mathewson, AMA President
Andy Argenio, AMA District I Vice President


Andy Argenio
District I Vice President,
Strategic Task Force Leader
[email protected]

Fliers1

fliers1

I realize no one wants to hear about this, but once again, here is the cause of the problem.
http://www.rc-float-flying.rchomepag...instructor.htm

In a nutshell, here is how I've solved the problem, but only locally.

1. Hand the tx to whoever I can get to the flying field.

2. Show them how easy flying RC aircraft really is.

3. Have them land within 15 minutes of the first flying experience.

4. Show other instructors how to do this within 30 minutes.

5. Show school teachers how to fly and then teach RC flying.

All of the above is very easy for me to do.

Fliers1

RogerParrett

Ok... How's this... Have the AMA Exec commitee attend a few AARP conventions, etc. Set up a booth, simulators, etc. Talk it up. Re-kindle the guy's decades's old desire to "learn to fly RC"... Have hand-outs at the ready showing clubs in the guy's hometown. Get Tower Hobbies to give them a free Super Saver membership good for a year.

Next, have the AVPs contact local retirement communities - most (at least in the midwest) are situated on lots of open land. These places are ALWAYS trying to find ways to entice people into their communities. Activities are a big part of it. I mean, you can only have so many shuffle-ball and Elvis impersonator contests (and no, I'm not kidding - my wife is the marketing manager at one of these places). The communities could use those transportation vans to haul people once a week to local fields. Again, work with Tower Hobbies / Horizon, etc for local discounts.

The sky's the limit in these cases. Many newly retired people quickly get bored and look for something to do.

Or, let's continue to focus on a middle-aged parent's kids - and compete with work, school, dating, driving lessons, soccer games, paying bills, doctor visits, taking the dog to the vet, college, car payments, house payments, family vacations, etc....

r/s... Roger

KidEpoxy

ok, I got another

Lets allocate $1xxK to have
Jim & Jane AMA drive around the country in a van full of presentation equip,
to give some "40min Aerodynamics In Action" field assemblys at middleschools,
with jumbo flatron(tbd) CGI animations showing Thrust Gravity Airfoil Drag
and how they are used in the plane flying and hovering right there

Its science AND its cool
and wait till someone asks How Much $ before saying Less than $100 to fly RCs

Get kids into the hobby with the small stuff,
and as CP said, when they later get big stuf and ask Where can I fly this big thing
Ding! Hellooooo AMA

Lifer

My Feedback: (1)

Kidepoxy,

Since the AMA has shut down the Airshow Teams, we no longer have that option that you discussed. Mark Smith is the AMA rep. that got it shut down. He briefly ran the team in Kansas City, and failed miserably. The first thing he did when he got to Muncie was to campaign to shut the program down. Claimed it cost the AMA too much in printing costs......

Has anybody priced a giant scale acrobatic aircraft lately?

The team was in front of over 100,000 people in its last year of service. We bore all of the costs. The AMA contributed nothing but tri-fold flyers that we handed out from a booth.

KidEpoxy

Lets allocate $1xxK to have
Jim & Jane AMA drive around the country in a van full of presentation equip

A new educational allocation resolves that.
.... we are about Education, right? A simple P&L of it should run like this-
$1xx k Direct Expense Aerodynamics In Action program
$0 revenue AiA program
Net: Successfully spent money to educate middle schoolers on aerodynamics

Hossfly

Roger, you are a genius given your short time here, and IMO definitely on the right track. One item that you need to consider is that AMA has a "Marketing Committee" comprised of the Powers that be in the major distributors: Horrizon, Hobby Lobby, and Great "Pains". The AMA EVP M. S. sides with these guys:
Chair: Mark Smith
Mission Statement: “Will advise the president and Executive Council on programs to attract and retain AMA Members.�
Committee Members: Don Anderson, Eric Meyers, Mark Cleveland

Do you think this "Marketing Committee" has any thing in mind but selling merchandise? Older folks are more frugal, don't get excited at buying the latest fad cell phone, etc., and spend wisely. Having 9 grandkids, and 5 step grandkids, I don't see the same frugal thinking in their minds except for the two oldest which are fairly conservative, one being a School Teacher, and one being a CPA and Informational Systems Auditor. I have very good counsel in my family.
One grandson learned to do excellent RC flying by age 14. Unfortunately school Band (a senior this year) and that G&G disease, (Gas and Girls) took over his interests and a good RC and Fishing buddy is a busy person now. So that happens far too much in the youth world.
So is AMA's marketing committee going to advise the EC that they should look for the more conservative side of aeromodeling or keep on producing new fads to sell quick and go out of style quicker? Some years ago when big servos and digital servos were the "In Thing" and all the magazines were spouting how one must have them and the advertising was all about them, a noted Scale Pilot that wrote monthly articles for one magazine, stated that such was not really needed in 90% of the models, and you can guess what happened: He was canned shortly after and replaced by a more in-style author. It's all about the money. [sm=greedy.gif][sm=greedy.gif]

Refer back to above marketing committee!!

Roger, I do concur with your thoughts, however the waters today are very rapid, and rapid waters are usually shallow or on a steep grade going downhill.

http://www.modelaircraft.org/files/stf-pp.pdf is a great computer item, however they don't want anyone with thoughts outside the box. I relate that to appointing a relative newcomer to the Chairman of the Leader Member Program Development Committee. In addition the members that I know on that committee will Poll-Parrot anything AMA proposes. "Yes Sir, Yes Sir, 3 bags full" is the only answer they know.

So, Roger, see if you can get on that Strategic Task Force, and or a working committee. AMA needs you.

ovationdave

My Feedback: (16)

To join the AMA, for someone under the age of 19, is $1, without the magazine, $15 with it. Thats very reasonable to me. I wonder how many people have taken the time to try to introduce local kids to the hobby? If you think about it, there are many kids walking around with $250 Ipods, playing a $400 PS3, and paying $50 each for video games. That money comes from somewhere, usually birthday cash or santa. The thing is, we need to foster the idea that that kid would rather ask for a plane than the latest version of "Resident Evil" for his X-box. This has to be done at the local level, by club members, and local hobby shops. At my field, it seems that the one age group that has the most time to spread the word is (unfortunately) the same age group that is least likely to do so.

I have 3 kids, one in college (my funds are limited), one who plays hockey (my funds are limited), and one who plays in the local orchestra (my funds are limited). But I am truly fearful for the longevity of my club looking at the age of the average member. I have given planes away that I am "tired" of to younger members of our club, just to let them have something new in the air.......my only stipulation is that they don't sell it, they have to give it to someone else if they get rid of it (assuming its not re-kitted in their control). I have also given away my 72Mhz radios too, as well as old engines. I would rather do that than get $30 in my pocket for my old "Super Sportster" fuselage carcass or an old trainer. I am planning on approaching my sons science teacher this fall to see if I can get into the class and show off some planes and talk about the hobby. Why? Because I am worried that the future of MY CLUB, not the AMA, is in jepardy.

The AMA, as I see it, is kind of like Luchina said, buying tabs for my car. But at least I get a magazine, and it is required by my field, so I join evey year. But at the end of the day, the issue (in my opinion) for younger kids is not the $1 a year it costs to join the AMA, its exposure to the hobby. Thats what needs to improve, and that has to be done at the local level, not necessarily by the AMA.

Just my $0.02

Dave

KidEpoxy

Marketing Committee?

Prez DM's blue answers to Bobs black questions
Committee of 3,
where 2 are under Conflict restriction

ovationdave

My Feedback: (16)

I just wanted to say, I didn't mean to imply I don't care about the AMA, actually I do. However I am more concerned about my local clubs health, and if I do what I can to make our club grow, the AMA will benefit as a direct result of that. But that is not really what drives me to get new members in our club.

Dave

RogerParrett

Ahhh... OK, I get it.

There's a difference between declining AMA membership and declining AMA revenue. If the AMA wants to stem the decline of revenue, fine. But they need to be careful not to wrap it in the flag of membership while seemingly ignoring demographic trends.

r/s... Roger