Mal wrote - You will always have someone left to help you to put the glider back in the hangar.
Mal - your right - it will be the same small group that got them out in the morning, often known as the "Duty Crew". SDF -----Original Message----- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Mal Bruce Sent: Tuesday, 10 July 2007 7:54 PM To: [email protected] Subject: [Aus-soaring] Declining membership suggestions Declining membership suggestions By Marcelo Rico Posted: May 12 2007 I just read John Roake´s article in GMI about our declining members, and maybe I have something to report. I´m a gliding instructor in Argentina, and in the last ten years I've revived three dead Gliding clubs: Aero Club Pigue, Club de Planeadores Coronel Suarez, and Aero club Necochea. In the last I now have 20 students, and last weekend I made 34 aerotows in a Blanik with them. How? Just by working hard, going to the club every weekend ( I must drive 340km!), arriving early, talking with new people, letting them touch and look inside the glider, flying with them, being a friend to them, and telling them about the philosophy of gliding. If you go to your club and behave as if you were the king (I saw this in many clubs), the people who encounter you may never come again. Another problem today is that people are very busy and can´t spend all day at the club, so let them just fly and leave. You will always have someone left to help you to put the glider back in the hangar. But if you insist all the students stay all day, maybe you will soon have none at all! And most important, I try to be a friendly. Visitors who arrive at the club need to talk to someone. We need to be approachable and realize this sport is looked at with some apprehension by many ordinary people. These simple things helped me a lot to revitalize my three clubs. Maybe there are a lot of things we can do about the declining membership. Try some for yourself. ! _______________________________________________ Aus-soaring mailing list [email protected] To check or change subscription details, visit: http://lists.internode.on.net/mailman/listinfo/aus-soaring
