Not only a "Report to America" type document, but -- and sorry to shift gears abruptly -- with regard to attracting attention of government officials on legislative matters, we should also have our positions on various issues documented and available as Dr. Woolweaver has advocated before. My point is that such documentation, but it position statements or "Reports to America" are great tools and certainly can't hurt us. 73, Brian N5ZGT On Thu, 18 Jun 2009, Marty Woll wrote:
Good questions, Jim. I'd like to add one more: Might a "Report to America" along the lines of the one produced by the ARC and as suggested by former Director W6XD be an appropriate vehicle to communicate our capabilities and performance history to governmental and NGO leaders and influencers?
73,
Marty N6VI ----- Original Message ----- From: K8JE To: arrl-odv Sent: Thursday, June 18, 2009 1:03 PM Subject: RE: [arrl-odv:17824] RE: [arrl-odv:17815] EmComm Advisory Committee?
Kay, et al,
Tnx for refreshing our fleeting memories by submitting the two pages from the NERPC study. Am I correct that no particular action has been taken regarding the possible development of the "committee of expert volunteers" mentioned in the report? I ask this not to point fingers, but as a simple question.
Off hand, a committee of volunteer experts sounds fairly good to me. Without suggesting we study the subject to death, I wonder if it might be useful to explore how such a committee or group (a rose by any other name . . .) might be structured? For example, one solution to the problem of being limited to only one delegate or member from each Division could be to appoint one or more sub-members from each Section to report to the committee delegate. Other organizational possibilities exist.
I'm with Jay and Mickey (and possibly others) in thinking the idea is worthy of being revisited. Without suggesting I know more about the topic than "the least of my brethren," there clearly seems to be a large hole between what we amateurs know we can do and what many citizens and served agencies recognize we can do. My concern is that the things only we can bring to the EmComm party will be overlooked at least at the lower end of the ladder (e.g. local EMA, local RC Chapter, local Sheriff's Department, etc.) if we do not develop modified strategies to sell our benefits at this level.
At the risk of having a few shoes heaved at me, I will also suggest there is some evidence (i.e. the apparent absence of an acceptable SOU with the National RC) that upper management of certain agencies also fails to appreciate what we offer.
Could a committee of volunteer experts help improve our relations with served agencies in many instances? Could such a committee also help with our ability to support serve agencies?
ARRL Director, Rocky Mountain Division On the web at www.RockyMountainDivision.org