Well said, Jerry....and I agree.
Dan
On Jan 2, 2008, at 10:08 AM, Jerry Eichenberger wrote:
Dan -
I certainly don't claim to have the answers about how to increase
membership and participation.
But after being in this business for 42+ years, please allow me to
voice some observations:
1. With the increased costs now, particularly for fuel, we're
seeing less of the purely social and recreational flying throughout
general aviation. Just little things - at our FBO, the guys who
fly purely for non-business reasons are down at least 20%, some far
more. Hence, fly-ins are the next thing to suffer a drop in
participation. And, people aren't going as far to fly-ins as they
did a couple of years ago. I've gone to a few Short Wing Piper
Club meetings with friends in the past 2 years, and participation
is woefully down from when I was a member less than 5 years ago.
2. As cruel as it may sound, we have to realize that airplanes
like the Coupe, T-Craft, Champ, etc. usually (not always) appeal to
people who, bluntly, can't afford newer airplanes with higher
performance. Hence, those folks are even more dramatically
impacted by the increase in the costs of flying. Many of those
folks exercising sport pilot privileges who can afford more costly
airplanes are buying the new LSAs.
3. Clubs that are very successful, like ABS and International
Comanche Society, cater to owners of airplanes that are far more
complex, and require a higher level of pilot proficiency, as most
of the pilots fly IFR. Hence, they really concentrate on maint.
and piloting issues in their publications, because those issues are
high on the members' "need list". That really doesn't apply as
much to Coupes.
So, participation and membership won't increase much, regardless of
what you do. I'd be willing to bet a nice dinner that the % of
owners who have been participating members of the national type
clubs across the board of aircraft types probably hasn't changed
much in the last decade, except for the decline discussed above.
The % number will always stay about the same - the law of inertia
won't change.
I see two realistic avenues:
1. Be satisfied with the number of members in EOC that you now
have, and the level of service and participation that you presently
have, or
2. Consider a club with a far larger universe of potential
members. Maybe VAA, or a "Classic Aircraft Club" to get beyond the
small numbers of Coupe owners.
Jerry E.
-----Original Message-----
From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:ercoupe-
[EMAIL PROTECTED] Behalf Of Dan Hall
Sent: Wednesday, January 02, 2008 2:59 AM
To: [email protected]; AJ DeMarzo; ercoupe-
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
Subject: [ercoupe-tech] RE: EOC
Al and all,
I obtained a FAA list of all registered Ercoupe owners in the USA
two years ago and snail mailed ALL the registered Ercoupe owners in
CA at my personal expense to try and solicit;
1) increased participation in our region 7 events (members or not!) &
2) more active members for the Region 7 group (& our email
newsletter list).
After many hours of work & not insignificant expense, the net
response was less than 5 new members for the CA region, and
probably fewer joined the national organization. I have not
attempted that again and am unlikely to do so. (BTW - I also
shared the FAA listing for Ercoupe owners with the National EOC at
their request.)
I don't know what the answer is but I've done snail mails to all
registered owners in CA, put out a (more or less weekly) email
newsletter for over 3 years, put together an annual event schedule
for the region (with all the member input I could get!) including
an event each month for the Northern & Southern halves of the
state, and helped put up a web site for the region.
I have quite a number of people on our email newsletter list for
Region 7 who are NOT EOC members, but who are interested in hearing
about our activities (and hopefully participating in them from time
to time).
While a number of the members (& non-members) enjoy and appreciate
the email newsletters, the net result has been very little change
in active participation or membership. About the only thing I seem
to have accomplished with my MANY hours of (volunteer) time is to
help keep member participation from declining. I would also note
that the LSA & Sport Pilot rules have helped boost interest
considerably for the C & CD models, and that seems to have helped
increase interest in Ercoupes among older pilots.
I don't know how to change the situation; however my feeling is
that the social / family aspect is probably key / critical for
event participation and organizational health (others may
disagree). The technical information is important for keeping our
Coupes flying (long term), and is of interest to a significant
minority of the group (myself included). However technical
articles & information require regular contributions from the real
technical gurus, many of whom obviously enjoy the hands on aspects
of working on the airplanes and / or with owners; but do not seem
eager to provide written materials (perhaps personal preferences,
the amount of time and work involved, and / or worries about
possible liability...?)
I also thing that the relatively small size of our group, and the
inevitable slow shrinkage probably limits what can be done to
volunteer efforts. Without members volunteering their efforts, I
don't see how things can be made to change significantly.
In short, I don't have the answers, nor do I see any obvious
answers.....perhaps someone else does...?
Best regards,
Dan Hall
N3968H
Based at CNO in SoCal
Region 7 (Acting Director)
----- Original Message -----
From: AJ DeMarzo
To: [email protected]
Sent: Monday, December 31, 2007 4:03 PM
Subject: Re: [ercoupe-flyin] Re: EOC
When I was a director, the newsletter contained a list of all new
Ercoupe owners with a little note saying they should be contacted.
I've registered three Ercoupes in the last four years and have
never had a solicitation to join. There's one problem, what's the
solution?
Should things remain the same? Marketing would be the first thing
brought up to snuff if I were steering the craft!
Al DeMarzo
Visit the Ercoupe Swap Page - Free and Easy
http://www.ercoupeowners.com/swap/swapbook.htm
----- Original Message -----
From: Mark H.
To: [email protected]
Sent: Monday, December 31, 2007 9:23 AM
Subject: [ercoupe-flyin] Re: EOC
I agree that this is a great place to start. But how do we get the
word out to people that don't know about this forum? I stumbled on it
by accident. If we still had the wing news letter or the meetings, I
might have known sooner. See it's very true, we had a very good wing
leader here and when he stepped down that was the end. That was a big
part but at one time there was 8 coupes on our field, now there is
only mine. There must be a way to let members and non-members know
about this? Is there some way for the wings to get in touch with them
and let them know and get them involed. And yes I did do something on
Friday, I e-maild Syd and volunteered to help out at the 08 fly-in.
MArk
--- In [email protected], "AJ DeMarzo" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
wrote:
>
> This is a great place to start. But remember that the goals need
to be addresses to find the mission statement. The mission statement
shouldn't be changed to accommodate the accomplishments.
>
> Al DeMarzo
> Visit the Ercoupe Swap Page - Free and Easy
> http://www.ercoupeowners.com/swap/swapbook.htm
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: Tommy Terry
> To: [email protected]
> Sent: Monday, December 31, 2007 8:40 AM
> Subject: [ercoupe-flyin] EOC
>
>
>
> After having "slept" on the thoughts I presented last night, I
have a question:
>
>
>
> What is the Mission Statement of the EOC?
>
>
>
> To get anywhere, we have to know where we're coming from. It is
absolutely possible that the club is completely fulfilling it's
mission and meeting all of its goals! If that is so, and the club is
not meeting the needs of the membership, then; maybe we need to
change our mission. It is not unheard of. Successful organizations
modify their Mission Statements as times and needs change. Imagine,
if you will, a modern fire department with items mentioned in it's
mission statement concerning fresh hay for the horses and no mention
of hazardous materials or emergency medical services.
>
>
>
> Could it be that we, the EOC, are still looking to provide fresh
hay? If so, we need to re-write.
>
>
>
> Could it be that there never was a Mission Statement? If this is
the case we need to develop one.
>
>
>
> I sure hope that an officer or two of the club will step up and
answer those questions, not to defend him or her self but to educate
those of us who do not know.
>
>
>
> Tommy
>
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