Time for Change ???

I have undertaken a SWOT analysis of our club

MY INTERPRETATION BELOW

Strengths

Loyal Long Term Membership - Resilient

Very Strong Technical Sharing of Knowledge

Good Regional & National Events

Great community of Like minded enthusiasts

Proud History - Protected Status Quo

Excellent Web Site - Very well Developed

Excellent E - Commerce - Shop

Increasing appreciation of X1/9s - Credible Classic - Modify Potential

Weaknesses

Expensive Membership

Declining Membership

Declining Leadership - Out of Touch - Not Active

National Economic Decline

X1/9s Scrapping Continues

Private Forum

Poor Perception (Secret Society)

Relevance

Opportunities

Build Future Plans - Open to ideas - less insular - CHANGE

Effective Leadership - Decisions - Action

Member Referendum - Members have a say

Reduce Membership Fee / Cost benefit Analysis

Open up the Forum - wider stimulating audience

Threats

Members less able to Justify current membership Fee vs benefits

Perception of Committee - Poor - Inactive - Declining

Evident member Frustration

Reducing Membership

Closed Nature of Forum = Low Traffic - Same People Posting

Magazine - High Production Costs

Editor Turnover Due to Low Support / Criticism From Committee.


My Views only - So My Question

Do We Adapt or Die??

All Views Welcome. :twisted:

The limited production numbers of the cars will lead to an equaliberam.

There will be a time when scapping and X will be a sin or not heard of.

The basic car is sound apart from rusting. There is a true following of loyal people to the car. I expect that in time Loyalist to the car will increase and level out the membership.

I would recomend Gobal interests as the following in the UK and Europe is not the total picture. USA has many interested car owners with few options for information. The UK/Euro car owners and suppliers can inform and benifit to all parities.


TonyK.

hi everyone,obviously the numbers will get less and less each year but not drastically if we act now,if we keep people interested in staying within the club it will survive,if we do not put 100% effort in then the club will die a slow death,when i took over the role of thames valley regional officer i only accepted the role because i knew i would give it 100%,everything i do i give it 100%,with me its all or nothing,in my area the amount of meets in the 4 years before i took over you could count on one hand,last year we did 9 meets this year it will be more,people in my area seem genuinely pleased with my efforts,so i believe if you take on any role in this club either give it 100% or step down and let someone else do a proper job of it. there is some unhappy people in the club with regards the national meet,the lack of information and the reluctance from the committee to give us the information that members are asking for,the national meet last year was organised by february and it was great(well done les mott)we are now a few days from june and still nothing is set in stone,will it happen? at this rate no,this leaves disappointment and bitterness in the club,i get 3-4 phone calls a week asking me about this,for some of these people it will be their first national meet,the editor has been blamed for the reduction in numbers of the membership(about 10 less in the last year but i have had 1 new member in the last week to add on),this is ridiculous and the said statement should be retracted with an apology to mark perry,his efforts and finished work are superb and the committee should give credit to mark not insult his work,thus now we have lost a fine editor well done committee!!! our internet forum is great too,neil ottoway is doing a great job,memebership is too expensive and we need to find a way of lowering this,the mr2 club charge £10 per year,the fiat coupe club charge £15 per year,maybe its time for a change....but some people are scared to change...we offer our overseas members a internet only membership maybe we can do the same for the uk members too,some clubs have 2 different memberhips for their uk members,one with the magazine and one without,it would give our members freedom of choice and some want the magazine(me) and some don't,lets give them the choice.yes we have loyal members but lets not push our luck with neglecting them.it has now got to the point where i think if others won't/can't give their role's 100% effort then i will step down from my role within the club,in fact i am 80% sure i will not re-new my membership in october because people take on certain roles,bask in the glory of their role and give nothing back,i hope they either improve their efforts immensely or step down and let someone fill the position,someone who gives and wants the best for this great club...no individual no matter how big their ego is,is as big as this club,also yes we the members should have a vote on everything in the club this can be done online to avoid costs,last year i travelled 340 miles to the national meeting it would be nice if us southerners had one a bit closer to us,we seem to have to always travel the furthest....come on people show us your passion give us your thoughts reply to les's commets ....cheers pete

51 views and no replies....if we want this club to be better and survive we need to know what you think,don't be shy 'you pay so have your say' this is your chance to give you opinion

Thanks for starting up this thread Les; it should generate some
interesting debate. One of the things we are trying to do as a
committee is understand what motivates people to join and remain in the
club - is it the magazine, the website, the social events etc? Until we
understand this, it's hard to know the best way to evolve. Rob has been
including survey forms in membership renewal packs to try to get
peoples' views, but hasn't had any responses. I'm looking to get an
online survey up and running in the next couple of weeks and hopefully
this will encourage more responses (although we need to be mindful of
the fact that responses may be skewed towards the views of our more
internet-savvy members).

The magazine question is an interesting one. It forms by far the
largest proportion of the clubs' expenditure and it is this that
effectively determines the membership fee. The fee (which was voted for
by club members at AGM) could not be reduced without reducing the
quality or frequency of the magazine. Hopefully, we can determine
peoples' view on this through the survey. We've also discussed offering
web-only membership in the UK as well as abroad. The difficulty is that,
as the number of magazines produced reduces, the unit price goes up
until it isn't viable to produce a magazine for those people that do
want it, so this is a risky strategy until we understand how important a
regular, quality, paper magazine is to our members.

With regard to the Editor's position, I'm sure I speak for the committee
when I say he's done a sterling job and has brought some fresh thinking
and imagination to the content. We've had some interesting debates
along the way, but it was all intended to support the role of Editor and
in no way undermine it. However, it's quite easy for the tone of a
message to get lost in translation when communicating by email and maybe
we could have worked better together with more face to face or phone
contact. I think we all acknowledge that this role is by far the most
time-demanding of the committee roles and we were genuinely trying to
support Mark. With regard to blaming Mark for losing members, that's
very wide of the mark and I'm not sure where it came from. It's a
perennial problem that we lose members in the winter months and we need
to find a way to keep interest in the club going during this period.
However, it's virtually impossible to put a mag together during that
time as everyone has their cars tucked away and it's hard to get content
from members. We just need to find a way to keep in touch with our
members during this period, if only to say "hey, we're still here" and
to get people looking forward to the spring when they can get their cars
out again and benefit from club membership.

Finally, I'd say that, despite what people think, this club is open and
democratic and is run according to its constitution. The committee is
voted for by club members and any member who has been with the club
sufficient time can come along and put themselves forward for a
position. It's obvious from some of the threads on the forum that
people do care passionately about the club and it would be great to see
people at the AGM putting themselves forward for key positions so we can
evolve the club in the right way in line with what our members expect.

Neil

I fully welcome your views and insights - Neil my issue is that nothing of what you have just said comes through in the minutes of the meetings?? read them again Neil. The only minuted item regarding reducing membership was that it was due to the lack of magazines between Dec - March.

As a member of the club now for four years we have never before had such a regular magazine as we have enjoyed since Mark took over. The secretary only notes in the minutes what is discussed - that is the role of the secretary and one that Steve has clearly carried out.

Neil so just to be clear if the future of the club is being discussed as you say - then why is there no indication of that in any of the committee minutes??

Oh I never received a questionnaires in my membership renewal last week either.

Apologies for the cynicism but I have attended the last three AGMs and Committee meetings so I know how they go from first hand experience.

Les, you've demonstrated exactly the point I raised about the risks of communication via email and the problem of how emails can be misinterpreted through a lack of context. As you say, Mark has been excellent in providing a steady flow of magazines and the context of the discussion was more around how we can keep people interested in the club through the winter months. I can easily see how the minute could have been misconstrued though and that's the danger of publishing concise minutes.

I'll check with Rob around the paper survey - maybe he'd stopped doing it through lack of response, or maybe I got the wrong end of the stick.

The committee is committed to the success of the club and is trying to do its best, given we all have family and working lives to deal with as well. However, we do need your support, encouragement and ideas, so we'd welcome any positive suggestions on this thread.

Hmm.

Magazines-
I don't particularly care too much about the mags. The car has been out of production now for over 20 years and there is only so many tech tips,restoration stuff etc that can be put into the mags- people, and I include myself in that, get a bit bored of seeing the same thing time after time in a slightly different writing style, and its been a long time since we've had a great resto story spread over a few mags.I stopped buying car magazines a few years back as there is only so many MGB buying guides you can stomach before you cry enough. £4 for a rehash of a 1982 mag just isn't worth it. I personally would be happy with a quarterly A4 black and white newsletter. This club started long before the internet and Email, and has doggedly stuck to the old way. £30 a year is too much.

Forum-

I think it should go public. I get quite a few emails and phonecalls about X1/9's due to the Ebay guide etc. People thinking of buying an X1/9, or needing tech help. I will never not give someone advice and/or tech help if they are non members- they are possible members and enthusiasts who love the car- thats enough for me- the club is not bigger than the car. Xweb is a great place- lots of very helpful people. There is of course some disagreements etc, but I've never seen a forum where this does not happen.. but it does seem to work. People will make up their own minds anyway. There would have to be a private area for organisation of events and financial stuff etc I suppose but this is also fairly normal within club forums.

Meets-

What a club should be all about. Like minded people enjoying the cars and each others company. Doesn't have to be a big long weekend, just a meet in a pub for a pint and a blether. National should be once a year,in different parts of the country every year, and organised early, with dates chosen not to clash with any other bigger meets. Problem up here in Scotland is that there is sometimes 100's of miles between members so we are fairly isolated. But is has been done before. Remember also that everyones circumstances are different, with work,family and spare cash,just because 1 meet is a washout doesn't meen there is no interest.

Website-

The website is great, but I'd like to see a far bigger personal touch, with cars for sale, member profiles,photo gallery etc. Most of my regalia orders come from overseas, and this is where all the interest comes from. It should be the No.1 point of contact for X1/9 owners worldwide, of course linking on to all the other X1/9 clubs and suppliers out there.

I've wandered away from X's a few times now, deciding that enough was enough for many reasons, but I come back because I love X1/9's.I'm quite fortunate in that I can do all the work myself and don't really need the backup of a club, but I understand that a lot of members and X1/9 owners out there need some advice and even hands on assistance at times and I get the impression these are the people we are losing as they can go and buy an MR2 or MX5 and have all the backup that a large well organised club can give. We are,in a way, the guardians of X1/9's in the UK, and I feel we are failing them. When they're gone, they're gone and we'll all be driving Euroboxes.

This is the sort of debate i am striving for here - simply because it doesn't happen at Committee meetings - many people cannot attend those meetings due to other more important priorities in their lives.

My Vision

Reduce the membership fee in line with other clubs ie £15 Uk £8 overseas

Open up the forum retain a members only section

Club - mag - less frequent and PDF on the website - Print it off yourself Club spends 80% of its revenue on the Printing of the magazine - I enjoy the mag but I don't get 80% of my satisfaction from it or my desire to continue my membership because of it.

National as Tiff - and I am more than happy to get involved - you don't have to be a committee member to help.

Regional events - the structure is in place tried and tested

So come on members post your views - its your club

If your happy the way it is then say so - if your not tell us why

Thankyou

Finally, a positive suggestion for the overall 'vision' of the club. I'm all for debate (and yes, we do have such debates at committee meetings) but without anyone proposing a solution they can be rather pointless.

I actually agree with the model laid out above.

Chris

I wish to propose that my 'Vision' Be put before the whole membership in the form of democratic referendum.

Along with Les, I'd be happy to reduce the frequency of the mag, or lose it entirely in return for a reduction of the membership fee. However, we do need to understand the views of the wider membership, either by a referendum of some sort or vote at the AGM (whatever is in line with the constitution).

I'm cautious though as, at the AGM a couple of years ago, Gomer produced a number of options regarding the mag vs membership fee. The vote at the time was to maintain the frequency / quality of the mag in return for an increase in membership fee, so the magazine was felt to be important to those that attended that year. We do need to find a way to get the views of all members; I worry that those who participate in the internet community perhaps get their voices heard more than those who don't (and it's those that don't that probably most value the mag).

I'd suggest that if we move to an online magazine, the whole concept of a mgazine becomes a little outdated. There should be a method of allowing people to submit articles, photos etc throughout the year. My "vision" would be:
- Membership fees in line with Les's suggestion
- Bi-monthly monochrome newsletters (4 or 8 pages) with details of events (those who are regular internet users can opt out of these to save costs)
- A more flexible website, allowing ongoing posting of articles (making more work for myself here, or we could better harness the power of social networking sites to achieve this). This would effectively replace the mag.
- An annual yearbook (40+ pages colour) looking back over the previous year (events, trips, milestones, major restorations etc). This could come out in Jan / Feb looking back over the previous year and would motivate people to join the club for the year ahead.
- A more connected committee - make more effort to publicise meetings and encourage members to submit agenda items for discussion. Better and more regular communication with the membership.

Neil

Great ideas - The AGM has a poor attendance for lots of valid reasons, in terms of involving our membership we must engage each and every one of them - a postal vote may be necessary with postage paid by the club. Im also very aware that some members are not web-wise and we could arrange / make adjustments for that. however the entire membership should not have to pay for that - more likely an option for printed mags at an extra price.

I have to say though I am very encouraged by your ideas. How do we progress from here?

Thankyou

neil i am impressed by your response,fast,informative and intelligent,we all need to 'club' together on this,i am a fan of the magazine but i am content with receiving the said mag 2 or 3 times a year with a newsletter bi-monthly.

As a long standing club member (22 years and counting) and first time RO/committee member, I'd just like to add my pennorthworth.

Neil talks about any member standing for a postion at the AGM. I have never been to an AGM, nor have most members, I suspect. Getting anyone to stand for anything is very difficult. How many RO vacancies are there? This problem isn't unique to our club, or unique to our club at this moment. I hesitate to bring David Cameron's big society in at this point, but it's the same issue really.

I have attended one committee meeting so far, had to miss 2 others due to unforseen circs, I'm happy to participate on Skype, others may be the same for the AGM, so why can't this be organised? Not everybody wants to use the technology, but for heavens sake, let's make it easy for those who do.

I take the point about the mag/forum, in that not all members like to be part of an online community, but most members are on email, what's wrong with a weekly digest of the main forum points circulated to everyone, it only needs to be 2 or 3 headings, nothing fancy, just so everyone knows that SOMETHING is being discussed. BTW is there a centalised list of all member emails so that messages can be sent? Doubt it somehow. If there was, we could perhaps send some of these ideas out to everyone, I'm not sure asking them to vote would necessarily work (apathy rules), a better way might be to say "we propose to do x, y and z, if you don't like it, say so, otherwise we will assume you agree and will go ahead". Ok, not quite as democratic? But sometimes that is what has to happen to get anything done (and yes I do read the Telegraph :lol: )

I think an open forum will help, but that won't reach those who don't like talking online. Social networks are good, but I don't do Facebook, even though I am happy to post on forums online, see below for the others I belong to!



What I am trying to say is that there isn't an either/or, we need to reach people EVERY way we can.

Shoot me down in flames on any of this if you want to, I won't feel offended