Improvements in club membership

[Big C]

Originally Posted by KathrynOKC

I'm a new owner and becoming involved in the Oklahoma City unit. I feel having a Face Book page for the units that are updated can help in the regions.

Big ditto!!!

[Blue Pearl]

I want to apologize for my comment on the blue beret. It looks very smart on our military men & women. The heritage of our blue beret is such that I love to wear it!

[Protagonist]

Originally Posted by Blue Pearl

I want to apologize for my comment on the blue beret. It looks very smart on our military men & women. The heritage of our blue beret is such that I love to wear it!

Huh? I know you're only poking fun at me by misinterpreting my comment, but for the benefit of other readers, let's set the record straight…

When I commented about berets not looking dorky on our troops, I didn't mean WBCCI blue berets, just berets in general. The dress uniforms for US Army include berets, in either green (Special Forces), maroon (Airborne), tan (Rangers), or black (all other Army).

In the US Air Force, berets are maroon (Pararescue), scarlet (Combat Controllers), pewter gray (Combat Weathermen), royal blue (Security Forces), pewter green (SERE Specialists), or black (Air Liaison Officers).

US Air Force Auxiliary (Civil Air Patrol) wears navy blue berets if they have attended an event called the "National Blue Beret" in Oshkosh, WI during the EAA AirVentures Airshow. If they attend Hawk Mountain Ranger School and achieve the level of Advanced Ranger they are authorized to wear black berets.

I try not to joke about or men and women in uniform; I have too much respect for them. They can joke about themselves all they want; they've earned the right, but people like me who haven't served haven't earned the right.

[Blue Pearl]

I'm not poking fun at anyone,and I also respect our military, just trying to get out of whatever I got into with the dorky beret statement. And I still love wearing my Beret.

[Protagonist]

Originally Posted by Blue Pearl

I'm not poking fun at anyone.

Pity. I don't mind people poking fun at me, as long as I get to laugh along with you.

[Big C]

Originally Posted by Blue Pearl

No criticism of BigC but I did giggle when his first paragraph said he wanted to show his kids Americana the way it use to be and the next he said he wasn't sure about joining the WBCCI because the website was outdated. Yes the WBCCI is outdated in some respects and moving forward in others, that's the fun of it. Help with the change but enjoy the past. I love my wool blue beret and wear it all the time even if it looks dorky.

I felt odd posting my comment that way, but its like buying a "vintage" home then bringing the wiring, plumbing, etc up to code...

[Protagonist]

Originally Posted by Big C

…its like buying a "vintage" home then bringing the wiring, plumbing, etc up to code...

If you intent to live in a vintage home, it should be brought up to code. Many, if not most, Victorian homes didn't have indoor plumbing or electricity. Adding plumbing or electricity for modern use doesn't make it any less Victorian in style.

So it is with WBCCI. You can add modern bits behind the walls without making it any less classic, or any less of an homage to Wally Byam. The man was forward-thinking in his day. If we intend to honor him, shouldn't we be equally forward-thinking?

[KenSanLan]

Originally Posted by ddruker

I'm responding to the discussion above how how to target younger members.

Basically we're a young family with 10 year old twins. At this age (kids around 5th grade) many of our friends at our elementary school are starting to experiment with RV trips with their families, which could easily be a gateway to owning an Airstream. We all remember being thrown in the back of the station wagon for family road trips when we were kids.

I think the key thing to understand is that I'm trying to create amazing memories for my family - that's the number one reason I bought my Airstream - it's a little different than the message about "living life on the road" that I assume is directed at retired folks that I see all over the website.

I think the whole discussion above about a better on-line presence - whether through a website for through facebook - and better email communication is a good one. This stuff is absolutely mandatory for people my age - we don't care about membership cards, we don't want paper. Just make it easy to sign up on line, learn about what's going on, and get your events into my google calendar and I'm super happy.

A couple of additional thoughts.

The very first thing anyone my age looking into becoming part of the airstream community is going to do is to google "Airstream." Try doing this.

The first search result is the Airstream company.

The second search result is for the Wikepedia article on Airstreams. WBCCI is briefly mentioned in this article, but there is no link to either of your websites. Anyone can edit wikipedia entries - so someone should go do this - make sure the wikipedia entry on WBCCI is correct, and add a link to your new website.

Air Forums comes up as the fourth search result - so anyone looking at becoming part of the airstream community is going to find this website. I've found it to be an incredible resource.

Neither WBCCI.net or WBCCI.org come up anywhere in the first four pages of Google search results for Airstream - which basically means that Google does not know you exist. And as such, folks from my generation are not going to find you easily. So I would advise a search engine optimization project for your websites.

Other thoughts:

I became aware of WBCCI through this forum and by meeting members on the road this summer who sought us out in campgrounds. Almost everyone we met were retired couples and they were super nice and helpful. But if you want to recruit more young members, the first thing I would want to know is whether the organization thinks about people like me, and our needs - or are you really more for retired folks living on the road.

Our schedule is super busy, and we have to plan far in advance. We aren't retired, so I only have weekends, plus a max of three weeks per year of vacation, to use our Airstream. So having early notices of events is really mandatory - and week long caravans are impossible to do more than one or two a year of. Really cool, special weekend trips that the kids would love would be awesome - this is the kind of stuff I'm now planning on my own.

Also, given we have such short windows for vacation, we care a lot more about having a great experience than pinching the very last penny. I don't want to waste money, but vacation time is even more precious. The messaging on the website about caravans seems to focus on cost savings - I can understand why it's there, I'm just saying it misses the mark with my needs.

I would also want to understand what events are kid friendly and whether the organization in general is family friendly - I can imagine my kids and dog really pissing off retired couples who are trying to get away from grandkids, noise and chaos. I found just one page on one of the websites about streaming with kids - it's pretty thin - and it talks about grandchilden. How about lots of pictures of happy young families, or some indicator of kid friends events on the schedule pages?

I hope this helps - I'm not exactly generation X - but we do have lots of friends that are intrigued by our Airstream and I hope this is helpful feedback about how to get them more interested in joining.

What an eye-opener this is! Great input - we are in "pre-retirement stage" already, but thinking about our friends and family, these are exactly the points that they would make, were they giving serious consideration to WBCCI. If our wonderful club is going to thrive, we have to change our focus a little.

[Blue Pearl]

Big C. That is perfect, bring the WBCCI up to code.

[KenSanLan]

Originally Posted by Big C

I felt odd posting my comment that way, but its like buying a "vintage" home then bringing the wiring, plumbing, etc up to code...

Big C - I am not very familiar with posting procedures in this forum, but would really like to contact you about tenkara angling. How can we get in touch?

[SilverPal]

Good thread with some great ideas...and no negativity. Where's the 'like' button?!

Our unit, the Central Coast California unit, utilizes Facebook. Due to member concerns, it's a closed page for unit members only and works very well. We share experiences and photos with club members who are unable to make a rally or event. When heading out on the road, it's used to ask member input of favorite campsites, etc. I highly endorse Fb as a way to communicate with members in a timely manner.

KenSanLan....to private message (PM) a Forum member, click on the member's name for a drop down box. Good luck!

Teresa....you NEVER look dorky! Missed you at the Albuquerque Balloon Fiesta this year!

[quilter]

Dan (ddrucker) has pretty much covered club activities. We are not retired, but our kids are in college. So we are also on the weekends-only, 4-weeks-a-year plan.

The logo needs an update. It's too busy and doesn't reduce well enough to be used in the title bar. Take a look at Facebook, Microsoft, Google, and Airstream. They all have versions of their logos that are recognizable in the title bar.

I'm surprised by the number of ads. For $65+ per year, I expect not to have ads on the website.

We've met several club members on our trips, and we've only had the trailer for 3 months. Everyone has been friendly and they all like to talk about Airstreams. In particular, they like to talk about their trips and their specific trailer. Each trailer has a story. I'd like to see more of that "brand" come through in the web site. The current brand seems to be all about Wally, but Wally is gone now.

[wheel interested]

The logo where? I can no longer find the website unless it's the beta WBCCI.net, is it? That is all Google renders.

[wkerfoot]

Carol,

Look here: http://www.wbcci.org/

Bill

Originally Posted by wheel interested

The logo where? I can no longer find the website unless it's the beta WBCCI.net, is it? That is all Google renders.

[wheel interested]

Thanks Bill. Is the WBCCI .net also an official website? I am embarrassed to say I can't keep up with what is and what is not. I wonder why the .org site does not show in the search engines...life used to be so easy... I am so confused!

[wkerfoot]

Carol,

That is a question for the ECC.

Bill

Originally Posted by wheel interested

Thanks Bill. Is the WBCCI .net also an official website? I am embarrassed to say I can't keep up with what is and what is not. I wonder why the .org site does not show in the search engines...life used to be so easy... I am so confused!

[damonbeals]

Yes it is confusing having both wbcci.org and wbcci.net. But it's going to remain this way for a while longer.

wbcci.org is the where HQ and all International stuff will be hosted and posted.

wbcci.net is where all Unit and Caravan websites are hosted.

The long term goal will be to combine everything into one site with one domain name, but it's going to take time and more resources, which the ECC doesn't have currently.

Damon
ECC Chairman
#4827

[KathrynOKC]

I didn't know there were two sites

[rodsterinfl]

Just another thought, I don't have a family of my own and am not retired yet I do not know what goes on at a Rally. What do people do besides a pot luck and park near each other - not being negative at all just curious if there are local activities pertaining to the rallies, etc. Perhaps some old iteneraries for people to look at would also help garner interest.

[Protagonist]

Originally Posted by rodsterinfl

Just another thought, I don't have a family of my own and am not retired yet I do not know what goes on at a Rally. What do people do besides a pot luck and park near each other - not being negative at all just curious if there are local activities pertaining to the rallies, etc. Perhaps some old iteneraries for people to look at would also help garner interest.

Don't feel alone. I'm also single, still working, and have never attended a Rally, WBCCI or otherwise. I will be attending a non-WBCCI really over the Veterans' Day weekend, and expect it to be a learning experience.