>
I am looking forward to the day when the NSS Photo Salon is shown
live on my 65 inch LCD TV in my living room, along with the
exploration
programs, and video salon, etc.
David Locklear
The opinions offered below are my own.
I hope the NSS never shows the photo salon or any other convention
activities live. NSS membership retention (not recruitment as many would
have you believe) is way down. From the mid-1960s to the mid-1970s, the
NSS Convention had attendance that was equivalent to 20% of the
membership. Since 1976, the largest convention has been equivalent to
14% of the membership and many have been under 10%, although at least one
flaw in my model is the fact that membership retention did not plummet
until 1995 (Does anybody know what it was the NSS did in 1995 or possibly
1994 to so disaffect its members?) It is my opinion that membership
retention is affected strongly by personal interaction among the members.
Convention attendance is one of main things that separates a committed
member from a magazine subscriber. The NSS can not thrive by having any
number of subscribers to the NSS; there are way too many activities that
the NSS depends on volunteers to run. Voting generally tracks the
attendance at the previous convention.
I believe that conventions are the glue that holds the NSS together and
we need more glue, not less. The more one can get the benefits of
convention without attending and having the personal interactions of
actually attending, the poorer the NSS will be. People who routinely
attend NSS conventions are more likely to volunteer their time, donate
their money, and vote for Directors.
Philip L. Moss
Former NSS Director and recovering speleopolitician
[email protected]
On the other hand perhaps the decline in NSS retention post
1995 is because the NSS directorate is holding on to a rosy nostalgia
of driving across the country to meet their friends at a convention
as the glue that holds the NSS together; while the general society is
moving to digital interaction. Cavers along with everyone else
increasingly see little need for everyone to gather in one place; and
perhaps, given the time and expense as even counterproductive.
Retention in any group is affected strongly by personal interaction
between the members, but having to drive across the country to do
this would appear to be a strategic weakness.
In the digital age one should not have to attend a convention
to be a "committed member." It might be to increase retention we
need to find directors that are more comfortable with digital
interaction. They will spend the time and energy to make the digital
NSS more than a magazine subscription.
Bill Russell
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