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:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Behalf Of Dan Hall Sent: Wednesday, January 02, 2008 2:59 AM To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]; AJ DeMarzo; [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 > ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- No virus found in this incoming message. Checked by AVG Free Edition. Version: 7.5.516 / Virus Database: 269.17.13/1206 - Release Date: 1/1/2008 12:09 PM
