Except for technical questions the ARRL forums are an underutilized resource. See http://www.arrl.org/forum/topics/view/618 where Martin, AA6E stimulated some discussion about that. Publicity would be the key to getting any meaningful input.

Simple polls such as Martin has done are fairly easy to construct, although – as everyone knows who has ever tried to compose one – constructing unbiased questions is an art. Past Boards of Directors (I’m talking a long time ago) were very skittish about polls because they felt the results would be construed as binding on them.

Cliff’s approach to soliciting input from members in the Midwest Division has been the traditional method. The December QST editorial discusses the permanent exam credit aspect of WT Docket No. 12-283 and encourages members to share their comments on this and the other aspects of the NPRM with their Director. However, soliciting member input isn’t an either/or proposition; different methods can be used, even on the same topic.

Dave K1ZZ

From: arrl-odv-bounces@reflector.arrl.org [mailto:arrl-odv-bounces@reflector.arrl.org] On Behalf Of Brian Mileshosky
Sent: Friday, October 26, 2012 1:08 AM
To: arrl-odv
Subject: [arrl-odv:21135] Idea to solicit more Member input

Hi Everyone --

An idea...

As we know, members always like being invited to share their thoughts on matters related to their organization.  ARRL has the frequent QuickStats poll (http://www.arrl.org/news/new-quickstats-poll-now-available-on-arrl-website-21) that I don't think is meant purely for entertainment purposes, and major topics such as the past Regulation by Bandwidth have had unique calls for member input, along with a mechanism to provide that input (special email address).

ARRL's website has contained a web forum for a while now.  How about a devoted "flash poll" section where, for perhaps 72 hours or a week each month, a "What are your thoughts about (insert specific ARRL operations topic, position, or upcoming agenda item here)?" question is opened briefly for member input, and then closed?  Seems like an easy way to collect a bunch of opinions, ideas, and constructive criticism quickly, gather an idea of how the membership sides on certain topics, and -- most importantly -- give the membership an additional sense that their input is valued and wanted.

Of course there will be some posts that lean far on both sides of any topic.  That's unavoidable, but not a compelling reason to avoid using our web forum for this purpose.  The risk of public constructive criticism isn't either.  Like eHam.net product reviews, one can quickly identify an average position/opinion of that particular product based on the range of posts.  That's valuable, and the same would be true in an ARRL poll.

One idea, to really get this out there, would be to open this poll during the same time-frame of each month, and advertise the poll and topic in a small table within QST.  That way it's promoted with consistency, and available for input consistently.  And the beauty is that only ARRL members can post within ARRL forums.  Posters are known by callsign, and non-member haters wouldn't be able to dust things up.

Seems like a win-win to me: ARRL leadership and staff gains a great deal of ideas and opinions to important topics, and members get the satisfaction of being called to action to openly opine on subjects related to their organization.  And the mechanism to make this happen already exists.

Your thoughts?

73,

Brian N5ZGT

ARRL Director, Rocky Mountain Division