Communications to and from National offic

I wanted to start a discussion with the other RE's as to what they see as being the most urgent needs they have to get info to and from the National office and between each other and the members in thier local regions.

I will start by saying that for my own case there has been times when I just did not have anything to write in my own regions newsletter that I felt was worthwhile or wasn't covered on the web or in the magazine or on forums. Better to not write anything and leave the members guessing about my mental deficiencies,than to write something down and confirm thier suspicions.
Please do not turn this into a posting of they didn't do this for us, as finger pointing does no one any good.
I thought that the face to face with the BOD and RE's was an excellant start at the last convention but was concerned that the tone showed that there is not a good trust relationship between the two groups. I also realize that in racing there is a lot of type A personalities,but we all need to build up the club as a whole for it to prosper.
This organization has always been an example of the finest in member driven organizations, but maybe that was during a time of less competition. We need to develop ways to build our membership and name recognition up and at the same time retain the members that we have.

The most disconcerting conversation that I have had recently was with an excellent volunteer worker,(F&C in this case but with other specialties also) who said that he felt that there was no need for him to renew his membership. This is a person with over 35 years of membership and he felt that the return for his investment in time and money just wasn't there any more. When asked to elaborate he could not put it down as being prompted by one or two items, but being a cumulation  of events and circumstances.

It was also brought to my attention that in our Region, that the members monthly meeting was 30% to 50% of the total members in the region and is now 5% to 10%. Some of the past RE's have said that this decline was due to the advent of more Race information being on TV. What is your opinions and if you haven't seen this decline what do you attribute your success to?
Thanks for any postings that you think may help.

Paul Morrison
RE Mahoning Valley Region #080

How would  I renew my scca membership. 22fr174937

call 413 2374939  or e mail morenovj@comcast.net

After some 18 months, I thought I would provide some feedback, though I must add that since Paul's post I have become an ex-RE due to other work challenges.

The national BOD face-to-face with the RE's are certainly beneficial. They need to have a good facilitator, one who knows how to control but not lead. It does concern me that there is so little direct communication with the national BoD and the RE's for all the rest of the time. I think there should be a monthly report from the BoD on what are current subjects/challenges/topics being reviewed by the BoD across the regions, which would allow for better feedback from the RE's to the national board. We don't need to know "Phil M is working on the annual tax return" but we should know that "Mazda are pissed at us because...".  

I, too, would often find I had little to write to members that wasn't already well covered elsewhere. It would fascinate me and frustrate me that a racer would find time to post a long story about a race that would show up in my email in-box but if I asked them to write it up for use in our region's newsletter, it would never come.

I did learn - though not all may agree - that the use of Forum's has become very important. I could gauge sentiment on many issues by reading the relevant forum's (Hey, you're reading this!)  If "my" Solo members were upset about something, there would be plenty of posts out there on the subject. If I wanted to get views, input or disseminate information (say; "sign-up for reserved numbers now"), posting to the Forum was as effective a way as anything. So I would say to all R.E.'s , you have to be active on your bulletin boards.

In regard to the long-time worker not rejoining. It was/is always an amazement to me the people that constantly renew their memberships and who do not race/solo/TT/rally. Our chief of T&S has been a member for over 30 years. Wow. She doesn't comptete, so what encourages her to the regular headache/race weekends? What is the reason for them to rejoin. It has to be the spirit of comradeship that exists within the club - locally, divisionally and nationally. That is an area that isn't really handled that well - not when viewed against the growth in alternate clubs, specialized clubs, other activities. For example, when someone joins the SCCA at the very least, shouldn't they get an SCCA decal to put on their car.  I work at a large bank - 100,000 employees - they regularly put out posting of people celebrating 30yr, 25yr, 20yr etc anniversaries. It would be simple for National Office to have a web-page with longest serving members. How many 50+yr members do we have? We have to provide a sense of pride in membership, whether that be locally or nationally. That's what groups like NHRA do so well.

When NASA made the agreement with Grassroots Motorsports publication that every member receive a subscription  to GM, they beat SCCA to a great benefit idea. Because we regularly hear of the cost and challenges of producing SportsCar magazine, I did raise at last years Nat Convention the idea that we should merge SportsCar with Racer magazine (both printed by same company) and give every full SCCA member a RACER subscription (I have no idea whether Racer mag would like this suggestion). But hey, that way we would get something we WANT to read, rather than feel we OUGHT to read. It should also provide significant cost savings overall. I never heard any more back on that. Whether it was a good idea or bad, it would have been nice to have received feedback to know if it was even considered.

But hey, an RE makes a suggestion to National Office and doesn't get feedback - what's new.

With the progression of club racer's to an increasingly pay-and-play attitude, whereby they expect to turn-up to an almost professionally run racing weekend, race their car, pack up and go home, we have to work to instill in them that they do so based on the volunteer efforts of a large group. Otherwise those volunteers will seek to be "paid participants". YES I KNOW that lots of drivers are supportive. But a region can do certain things to make sure the volunteers feel appreciated. Getting the drivers to come along to the worker-meal after a race day can make big impact. One race series in SE has a system whereby workers pick a driver and depending on where the driver finishes, the worker gets a prize. Such things can instill enthusiasm by the worker beyond the actual gift.

Many times the idea of requiring novice drivers to work a specialty as part of licensing has been raised. Personally, I think it should be a requirement, if only to ensure that the pay-and-play driver understands what else goes on. Make them do several hours "community service" whether in T&S, logging Sound or even serving food. Again, I think this becomes more necessary because of the increase in drivers who just want to pay, turn-up, race and go.

Our monthly membership meetings died out several years ago. We would announce one and nobody would show. Somewhat surprisingly, they were revived by the Forum's (that again). What started by a simple post asking what members wanted has evolved into an ongoing discussion about where to hold, what's the best food/beer/waitstaff and especially, a regular Poll to vote on where to hold the next one. It seems that its become a challenge to find the ultimate, best place to go and that encourages the people to turn up. I can't explain it better, but its working.

Well, that's a long diatribe and my lunch break is over.

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year too....

Martin.

Hi Steve,

Congratulations on being voted in as RE (soon to be) for your Region. This will definitely be one of the more rewarding and challenging positions in the SCCA. I truly believe the RE's are the real leaders of the club, because without the Region leadership and Region viability, our programs simply would not exist.

I am here to help and assist you in any way possible (that always sends shudders down the spine of most reasonable people). I may not always have an answer, and certainly I have been known to have the wrong one (my backside still hurts) but I will get you in the right direction and do my best to make your job as easy as possible.

Here's to a great 2008 for you and the Detroit Region.