Revisiting declining membership

In this the era of the telecommuter...when information
can be readily transmitted without being present...we
would want the office somewhere expensive so that the
employees can commute on crowded highways?

A friend recently queried me of where a good place
to move near a major population center for soaring
might be...although these exist, many or only a couple
of pranged towplanes away from not being present.

I think this topic can wither on the vine...Hobbs may
not be perfect, but it makes sense in a lot of ways.



At 09:30 08 January 2005, F.L. Whiteley wrote:
'snoop' wrote in message
oups.com...
One bit of EAA history that I do know is that when
Poberenzy wanted to
expand out of the Hales Corner building, he only wanted
to build a
bigger version of the Hales Corner corrugated hangar.
The board pushed
to look further into the future and thus the beautiful
museum that is
in Oshkosh exists.

Our library at the SSA headquarters consists of a
couple walls of book
shelves, with boxes full of books sitting on the floor.
Imagine our
offices, let's say in a suburb of Denver, or Dallas,
or in Mr.
Greenwells location. Can you see all those soaring
people visiting day
in and day out, volunteering their talent and time.
Imagine guys like
Dick Johnson, in Dallas being able to visit and help
out with history
projects whenever he wanted to. See where this is
going.

Imagine Charlie, and Charlie lite getting on a non-stop
flight straight
into DFW, or DEN, or ABQ, or wherever, and in twenty
minutes being at
headquarters.

More thoughts?

Soaring history is really archived at NSM and starting
at the SWSM. The SSA
staff probably doesn't need hangar talk from a bunch
of well meaning, but
likely annoying drop-ins. If you have volunteered
and coordinated to work
on a specific project, by all means, do it, but if
you want to put energy
into growing soaring, try your own backyard first.
Growing soaring happens
at the grass roots level. I joined my first club (I
already had an interest
and had taken a soaring flight) when I noticed their
black on hot pink 8.5 x
11 poster on the bulletin board of the local USAF post
office. It simply
stated 'We reckon if you can drive a car, you can fly
a glider' and had a
graphic on an SHK (serial nr 1, of which I later owned
a share) and the club
name and contact details. I was there mid-week after
I got a car only to
find they flew normally at the weekends. But I was
back 9am on the
Saturday.

I see no pressing need to move the SSA to a higher
cost of living area when
the budget is so tight. Turning it around financially
will take some time.
Please login to the member area and review the ex-Com
and board minutes and
review the eNewsLetter or copies of the Dennis' Missile.

Frank Whiteley

Stewart Kissel wrote:
In this the era of the telecommuter...when information
can be readily transmitted without being present...we
would want the office somewhere expensive so that the
employees can commute on crowded highways?

The reason that AOPA is in Frederick, Maryland, is because it's close to
Washington DC. While transmitting data can do much, there's a lot to be
said for "pressing the flesh" when the occasion requires it. Access to
legislators is a lot easier from Frederick than from Hobbs.

Tony V.
http://home.comcast.net/~verhulst/SOARING

"Tony Verhulst" wrote in message
...
Stewart Kissel wrote:
In this the era of the telecommuter...when information
can be readily transmitted without being present...we
would want the office somewhere expensive so that the
employees can commute on crowded highways?

The reason that AOPA is in Frederick, Maryland, is because it's close to
Washington DC. While transmitting data can do much, there's a lot to be
said for "pressing the flesh" when the occasion requires it. Access to
legislators is a lot easier from Frederick than from Hobbs.

Tony V.
http://home.comcast.net/~verhulst/SOARING

Although that is a compeling reason, SSA can't afford the lunch tabs, nor
the rent or staff. Might be much cheaper to hire a lobbyist (part-time).

Frank Whiteley

snoop wrote:
Looking through all the posts from earlier this year, regarding the
sliding membership in our US soaring activities, along with all the
other trailing bad news, i.e. SSA building in need of big repairs,
there is no soaring operation in Hobbs, I'm curious about thoughts of
"what if the SSA became a division of the EAA, similar to the
Vintage,
Classic, Warbird divisions of the EAA.

Two big airshow/conventions a year, EAA publishes all magazines, and
a
lot of members at those fly-ins and airshows to ask the question
"where
can I start". Plus lobbying power, and unlimited networking.
Just curious for thoughts.

About declining membership:
SSA Board and Hobbs staff have been working hard on reversing the
declining membership in SSA. This has been approached to a great extent
by working toward retention of members, including personal letters to
many lapsed members asking why they have left.
Dinner conversation with my director brought up that SSA has had some
success this year in this effort.
Membership as of 12/31/04 was 12,617 compared to 12,305.
It is a good sign when you can reverse a bad trend.
There are no simple answers, but hard work does pay off as shown above.
Let's go get some more folks involved and try to keep the ones we have.
UH

Keith,

I read your mesages about your club and I feel your pain. I went to a
particular club all one summer and got 20 minutes flying time due to
some "Catch 22" rules. Did it make me quit... no. Did it make me
appreciate a good club even more... YES!!! If you're not getting any
more than that out of it, maybe you need to change clubs.

I will say the soaring today in the U.S. would be nothing without
volunteer labor. I hate to continue to elevate Texas Soaring
Association to some plateau that others won't be able to achieve, but
as wealthy as the club is, there greatest asset is the membership. That
group, that I'm proud to say I was once a member of, has the talent to
do about anything they need to get done. Their Pawnees are stunning.
Their gliders are well maintained. Their facilities are wonderful.

I am very encouraged about the Soaring Club of Houston. I did quite a
bit of work since joining in July. I haven't flown much but that's
about to change, since I just got my own ship. I will continue to work
to build this club to one day match what I know is possible. Not
tooting my own horn, but just trying to encourage others, including
Keith, not to give up. If you're not getting what you think you need
out of it, examine your situation and fix it. If it means going to
another club, GO!

Tell others about soaring. Take them up if possible. You never know
where the next really great club member is going to come from. Our
average age is getting older, and our numbers are dwindling. It takes
someone special to be a glider pilot, in my opinion. Those folks are
out there, though, and we're not reaching them. Again, I think SSA and
local clubs should do an R/C day and invite the local R/C Soaring
groups out for a demo ride and a cookout. They already love soaring...
Lots of work for some... yep... it's worth it to continue this greatest
of aviation advantures... (hahaha, waxing poetic here... not bad for an
old West Texas Bumpkin.)
Chin up! GO FLY!!! TELL SOMEONE HOW TERRIFIC IT IS!!!!!!

Jack Womack

Practice what you preach...... OK, I will. I have proposed such a day
for my group and have polled the R/C club to see who's interested. I
want to have some numbers before I porpose this to the club. I'll see
how it goes and report back as this progresses.

Jack Womack