Hi all:
I hope everyone
had a wonderful holiday season.
Several weeks
ago, I asked Tom Frenaye to update the membership charts he'd sent earlier in
the year which showed some really good data overall and also by each Division.
See ODV:26808, November 9, 2017. I've attached it again here. (Thanks, Tom.) After
talking with Tom Gallagher, Carla is going to start sending similar charts out
on a quarterly basis going forward. By the way, as a reminder, requests of
staff need to go through Tom.
Of note is the
first chart which shows the trend line going back to the dues increase 15 or so
years ago. Interestingly, the trend from the recent dues increase is tracking
almost identical as the one years ago. Unfortunately, however, if the trend continues,
it means we still have some downturn yet to go. That’s something to keep in
mind as we work on recruitment and retention.
Speaking of recruitment,
I've mentioned in the past that Maker Faires seem to be a wonderful place to
introduce Amateur Radio to the young people that attend them. If you have not
been to a Maker Faire, please try to attend one in your area. What those young
people are doing with their science projects is awesome.
When I was at
Pacificon this year, I stopped by a Maker Faire in Oakland on my way to the airport. There were
two radio clubs set up with exhibits. One was WW6OR, the Oakland Radio
Communication Association (ORCA), and the other was W6CUS, the East Bay Amateur
Radio Club (EBARC). I stopped by both clubs, which were set up in different
areas, and thanked them for taking the time to set up. Both reported good
interest by the young people stopping by. Please keep this in mind if you have
a Maker Faire in your area. They are growing across the U.S.
We will be
discussing the Entry Level License project at the Board meeting. I'm excited
about this effort and believe the enhancements will be a good thing for Amateur
Radio. As I've made presentations this year and talked about this project, I've
mentioned it as a positive thing for recruiting into the Amateur ranks, but I
had a Technician licensee, that was a relatively new ham, come up to me after one
of my presentations and said it will also be a huge positive for retention. He
was using himself as an example. He liked what he'd heard. Of course, you will
recall Mr. Gallagher's comments about the problem we have with retention in
those ranks before. I thought that was an interesting observation worth noting
for this project. Keep an open mind as we discuss what to do next at the Board
meeting.
I'm looking
forward to this Board meeting so we can address the issues that we are
receiving so much negative press about. I am hopeful we can resolve a lot of
the issues and move forward positively. To help with the proposal on the Articles
of Association and the Bylaws, Greg Widin has volunteered to assist David and
Dale, who are going to make the motion, in breaking out the recommended changes
into separate motions instead of one motion with all of the changes. This will
help facilitate going through them. After the Board meeting, I've asked Tom
Gallagher to prepare an aggressive communications effort to explain the changes
to our members, which we need to do a better job of, especially on policy
issues, and to also use this opportunity to address the history of the actions
we've taken on the AA/BL and the Code so our members will better understand.
Looking forward
to seeing everyone soon.
73
Rick - K5UR