LEADER TO LEADER
Membership Update
by Jim Rice,
Chairman Leader Member Committee
Sadly, we lost a significant
Leader Member in January. Jim Giffin, the District X
vice president, passed away. He was a member of
AMA’s Executive Council for only a short period of
time, but it was easy to see he had a passion for
everything and everyone involved in modeling. His
long time involvement with International Miniature
Aircraft Association (IMAA) prior to joining the
Executive Council (EC) leaves many friends around
the country with memories of their connection with
this well-traveled and seasoned modeler. He was also
a retired US Army officer, so I thank him for his
service to both his country and his passion!
Thoughts and prayers to his family.
My last column generated a lot of
discussion. If you don’t remember it, go back and
review it. I had 95% favorable comments and a few
that took exception to my critical view of how we
might be running off, or not retaining, current
members.
My general comment to that would be if you and your
club have none of the problems I pointed out, then
export your secrets to the rest of us, and if you
see one or more of those problems in and around your
club, set about trying to fix them. I would guess
very few clubs can say they have none of the
problems and very few have all of the problems, but
as an organization we have all of the problems
outlined ... somewhere in our membership and
chartered clubs.
Good thoughts for 2010: Our national membership
drive is simple this year—We are going to resurrect
the AMA Ambassador program and encourage/advertise
the sign-three, fly-for-free program. While that
program has remained in effect for the last five to
six years, there was much discussion after last
year’s drive indicating that many folks, leader
members, club officers, and even officers of the
organization, were either unfamiliar with that
program or had forgotten about it.
When you get a chance to explain the program to
clubs and individuals, definitely take a moment to
do so and encourage everyone to take advantage of
it. It could grow the membership significantly and
reward those who work the hardest with free
membership.
It is time to start planning for 2011 and the
celebration of AMA’s 75th Anniversary. The HQ staff
is busy planning national events and advertising,
but we should all take advantage of this opportunity
to toot our own horns locally. You might hang the
75th Anniversary Banner at one of your traditional
events, or create a special event to celebrate, but
as you do so, make an extra effort to get local
media coverage.
Most papers, radio, and TV stations like to support
long-running and historic things. We have a great
history and superb track record and we ought to be
bragging about it during that banner year. Start
looking out a year and see what you might be able to
do and get the plans rolling. Heck in 1976 I built
several airplanes with red, white, and blue color
schemes and Bicentennial marking to celebrate
America’s birthday. I was stationed in Germany at
the time and my German flying buddies loved it!
The AMA Forum continues to grow and has established
some permanent threads. The Safety-specific thread
will have official AMA positions on questions asked
locked in place to allow others to quickly get
answers for which they may be searching. The forum
is moderated, but generally has kept a spirited yet
gentile atmosphere with little need for moderator
input. You should visit it if you haven’t. We are
nearing 1,000 members as of this writing.
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