PRESIDENT TO PRESIDENT
Make 2010 Proactive
by Dave Mathewson, AMA President
Another year is in the books. I
hope everyone had a good 2009 and will have an even
better 2010.
AMA’s new online forum continues to grow. Over the
last month we’ve added two new sections. One section
will focus on Control Line modeling and the other is
a general Safety Discussion section.
The Safety Discussion section is an area where
members can post questions relative to safety issues
and, if requested, get a direct answer from AMA.
This area of our forum is being monitored by Ilona
Maine, who manages our Safety and Benefits
Department, and Jim Rice, chairperson of AMA’s
Safety Committee.
We’ve also added an archived section to this area so
that once a question receives an “official” answer,
the thread will be locked and moved to the archive.
Over time, as the archive grows, it will become a
knowledge base that members can search to find
immediate answers to their questions.
We’ve also added three new volunteer moderators to
help manage the forum. Peter Vogel is a general
moderator and oversees all of the forum sections.
Richard Grogan will moderate the Control Line
section, and Frank Geisler the Safety Discussion
section. These three volunteers will help keep the
forum running smoothly and keep it an enjoyable
place for members to visit.
Social networking is a term that describes how
millions of people are sharing information using the
Internet. It has become an incredibly popular way to
communicate. AMA has stepped into the social
networking world and now has a presence on a number
of Internet sites including Facebook, Twitter, and
LinkedIn. In addition we have an account on YouTube
and have been regularly posting videos on that site.
These types of online resources are a great help to
us in getting timely information out to our
membership.
Applications for AMA’s 2010 Take-off And Grow
program (TAG) need to be mailed to Muncie postmarked
by February 1, 2010. TAG is a great way to promote
model aviation to your friends and neighbors. If
your club is selected to host a TAG Model Aviation
Day, the AMA will provide up to $1,000 in advance to
use to set up and promote your program. Through TAG,
individual AMA members can also take advantage of
AMA’s Ambassador Program. Sign up three new Open or
Senior members with AMA, and a current member will
earn next year’s membership as our way of saying
“thanks.” Clubs applying to host a TAG Model
Aviation Day will be provided with a complete
program “requirements and guidelines” document to
use as a guide. This document will include ideas on
promoting and advertising your event as well as an
outline of possible activities to take place during
the actual day of the event.
Hosting a TAG Model Aviation Day is a great way to
reach out to your community to give it a taste of a
family-oriented recreational activity that all of us
enjoy so much. In addition, you’ll be creating
positive relationships with your neighbors that
quite often can help when the time comes to keep or
acquire new flying sites.
See you next time … Q
|
|
