At 09:43 PM 12/1/2005, K9JF wrote:

As far as I'm concerned, we do a horrible job of communicating with new hams. It's no wonder we don't have many new ham members.

What do we do to convince them to join our ranks? I for one don't see much incentive from HQ that would be an incentive to join other than a promise for a free publication.

I'm sure this topic will be high in the queue for review by the new Membership Manager, whenever a replacement is hired (and is something I know I've talked to Dennis M about and he's well aware of the difficulties). It's probably a topic best handled within one of the Board's committees rather than general conversation on ODV. Would that be EC A&F or PSC or some other? I know we (Board) tried to get some progress started by asking the Public Relations Committee to review our PR materials several years ago and that never really happened as far as I know. (July 2001) The general topic of how we advertise and brand ourselves to reach new members (or potential hams) is a key topic to our future well-being. I think we've made some real progress on that front in the last several years (thanks to K7BV and his staff), but it's a job never finished and could use regular focus/assessment. -- Tom ===== e-mail: k1ki@arrl.org ARRL New England Division Director http://www.arrl.org/ Tom Frenaye, K1KI, P O Box J, West Suffield CT 06093 Phone: 860-668-5444