In the long, I don't think what the WBCCI does about Bob will matter much. The world is changing. Social and civic organizations are dropping like flies. Stop by a meeting of the local Rotary, or Lion's Club, or JayCees, or Optimists, or whatever you have in your neighborhood. In our area, the average age of members has to be over 60. The "younger generations" aren't nearly as interested in flags, rulebooks, name tags or organizational politics. The Internet generation exists on spontaneous, decentralized, fluid social networks. I expect the WBCCI will take decades to wind down. It's not about Bob, or the international leadership, or local units. It's about relevance. The Web 2.0 Airstream owner doesn't care about ribbons, or nametags, or rallies. I think it is a younger, more socially-aware group that loves camping but finds the traditional "RV" distasteful on some level. I think free-spirited local units will help the WBCCI stagger on for awhile, but eventually technology and social networking will supplant the need for an "international" organization. In the long run, the Internet is a destablizing technology... and that's often a good thing. Great organizations are going to use this technology to better connect to membership. Obsolete organizations are going to write new rules and policies.
Well said....
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Jason
May you have at least one sunny day, and a soft chair to sit in..
Ok, as a newbie who is in the process of getting an Airstream, just what is IBT? And where can I get information to find out the benefits of WBCCI? And an application, in case I'm interested? Thanks!
Steven
As a boomer rapidly approaching 60, I agree with Hampstead .... I attended my first and only rally last year and had my rookie enthusiasm quashed by an older member who called me "one of the younger ones" and made me feel very unwelcome because I didn't have the proper ID yet ... I knew I was in trouble then - feeling 16 at 60 not necessarily a good thing - at any rate, most of us working boomers are tech savvy and would agree with Hampstead that change has to come to this antiquated organization ... and good old fashioned courtesy and common sense would be a good place to start
As a 42 year old father of two, I am so glad that none of my experiences have been the same as continuously portrayed here in these threads. Sorry you all have such bad, or lack of experiences. Glad to be me and not you. I will now go back to enjoying the WBCCI as I did this past year. You all can go back to running my club down now.
Somehow I feel like I wrote something about declining church attendance and offended the leader of the Tuesday morning men's bible study at the local Lutheran church.
About a year ago, my wife and I decided to take a year off after our youngest daughter graduates. This led to a discussion about travel trailers. We didn't know what a "same old box" was. We figured it out for ourselves. We looked at vintage Spartans, Avions, Shastas, and, yes, Airstreams. The Overlander was a practical, not spiritual, choice... better parts availability, better support and these wonderful forums. (Everyone take a bow.) When we're done with our hiatus, we may keep the Overlander. We may not. It's a fun project but nothing close to a defining element of our lives.
I once spoke to you on the phone, Frank, after we bought our trailer. I know you are heavily involved in the WDCU unit of the WBCCI. I see you have realized your dream of running an Airstream business ("Frank's Trailer Works"). Congratulations. I have listened to you on archival episodes of the VAP. Your participation in the Podcast made it clear (at least to me), that Airstream travel trailers are profoundly important to you. If you ever got a triple-digit WBCCI number for "Anna" I imagine we all could hear your shouts of happiness from Catonsville. In other words, Frank, you are a "front pew" Airstream owner... I'm just a "Christmas and Easter" guy.
Given our wildly different perspectives, I can understand why you might have taken offense at my observations. And I apologize. It was not my intent to insult you or your club. I simply think the WBCCI is operating under an obsolete organizational model. I'm sure the WBCCI is full of wonderful folks. The members of the local Woman's Club were wonderful, too. They just never figured out they weren't recruiting enough new (and younger) members. They didn't understand the cultural shift, the different pattern of "joining" and the changed sensibilities of what people seek from affiliations.
Does the WBCCI work for most of its members, absolutely. Does it "work"? That's a different question and one I could hope might be discussed without offending individual members.
I think Hampstead38's post #28 on this thread is very relevant—it's an intelligent series of observations of how the world is changing and the internet is a big part of it. Just ask the owner of a newspaper how their business is doing.
As a 42 year old father of two, I am so glad that none of my experiences have been the same as continuously portrayed here in these threads. Sorry you all have such bad, or lack of experiences. Glad to be me and not you. I will now go back to enjoying the WBCCI as I did this past year. You all can go back to running my club down now.
You know, I have to agree, my expierience has been very positive. Have fun finding virtual friends. I'm going camping, out.
The WBCCI is taking a proactive look at where the club needs to be heading. The Region 2 website has posted a number of documents pertaining to the 2020 Planning Committee and their presentation at the mid-winter IBT meeting. If you want to help shape where this club is going, it's worth checking out the doc's. You may want to start with this one...
Proposed Action Plan for 2009 WBCCI.org Web Site Proposal December 2008 Public Relations Report Motion -Vision & Mission Statements 2020 IBT Report Mid-Winter 2009 WBCCI: New Directions - A compilation of proposals compiled by the 2020 Long Range Planning Committee Change in WBCCI - a series of articles by Phil Pons
As usual, the IP is misinformed. The confidentiality clause in RONR only refers to "Investigations conducted by a "Investigations Committee" and to certain details pertaining to a person who is expelled from an organization. Bob T was NOT expelled and NO investigations Committee was ever appointed. If the Ethics and greivance committee conducted an investigation, they failed to inform Bob T and did not include him in such. In fact, the Leadership under mr. Larson failed to follow proper procedures. It is noted that two "fron the floor" candidates for international office had greivances filed against them and both greivance were found to be without merit and were revoked or dropped. Now this year the technique was to charge outrages fees in order for the candidates to have their info printed in the BB. And when the fees were paid, their candidate papers and positions were still not printed. Check out "Which is it?" on Savewally for more details.
Hi, I,m Bob Thompson and just came upon this thread. So here are my coments:
The greivance apparently a planned action to keep me from running of International Offic which backfired. Yes they suspended me and yes an IBT appeals board revoked the suspension and restored me to full membership without a break in service.
The RONR clearly limits the Confidential part of a greivance to any investigation that a greivance committee may undertake. Other then that ALL of the reswt the the procedures and actions are open to all members. So the International President was clearly wrong. Period. having said that My wife and I do NOT want any apology from the International President because it would ring hollow and , In my opin, would not be worth the paper it would be written on.
My only concern is that the club leadership never again abuses, and violates the club's constitution and by-laws by what they did. (you can read the details on Savewally under International cartel railroads Bob.
My greater concern is what they did to interfer with Leo G's "from the floor Candidate effort. What they did was Wrong, wrong, wrong.
The leadership responsible for the above wrongful suspension and interference with an election and for $100,000+/- deficit this year will go out of office on 4July. So it is hoped that all of us can move on with an era of better leadership and look to the clubs future.
You know, we appreciate hearing your side of things, but all of this WBCCI political stuff is very off-putting for many, many people. We worked for a really corrupt bureaucracy for 25 years, it all sounds so sadly and sickeningly familiar. In other words, good for you to get your word out, but it reinforces some of our feelings that we want no part of it.
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