Should the VAC leave the WBCCI??

[Buttercup]

Ken,

I wanted to respond to your suggestions.
First - a simpler Vintage Advantage. The problem we have is that there are not enough contributors now for what we do put out. As anybody who has worked on a newsletter can tell you, the act of wrangling up people to write stories and submit them in a timely manner is a challenge. Calls for stories and rallies and whatnot go out way in advanced. We have basically one regular contributor. The rest of the comes from whatever we can scrape in. Without contributions, the VA would be a one page sheet and the back side would be mostly a place for the mailing label. Any contribution, no matter how big or small is welcome - we just need them to come in! There is an idea out there right now that we should go to a bi-monthly VA. But again, getting contributions is the limiting factor. Without submissions, that newsletter would just be a repeat of the last issue with a different picture on the cover.

Website Updates - this also takes a ton of work. The VAC has all the facilities in the world. The web site can do just about anything we need it to do EXCEPT write itself. The facilities are there for anybody to submit content to the site about practically anything. This includes rallies. But that is not happening. We (those of us who are trying to put out publications and maintain websites) need input from the members for what is happening. We send out notices asking for rallies and events going on, but very little comes back. This goes for the Vintage Advantage as well, we ask for input for things happening around the country, we get very few responses back.

To close the web site would in my humble opinion alienate members who do actually get some use from it. About 1/2 of the members join/renew online - that was a benefit they asked for. Shutting that down would be a step in the reverse direction. The site does have a classified ad system, an events system and a library of every vintage document ever given to us in electronic form (all viewable once you have logged in). But given all that it does have, the members just are not taking advantage of it all. We always entertain ideas for improvements and put in place the ones we can (not things can be as everybody wants).

I can say that when it comes to the mothership, the VAC operates about as independently as possible from what WBCCI is doing. I cannot think of one time in the last few years that I can recall where we had to do something because the mothership made us do it. We really just sort of do our own thing.

Originally Posted by Ken J

Rallies and more rallies

Simpler Vintage Advantage sent on a consistent basis - make sure all rallies are noted

Either update and keep the website updated (with all rallies noted and a good classified section and library) or close it

Don't worry about what the mother club is doing - remain positive and forward thinking

Do these things and I promise the club will grow to the numbers in the past.

Ken J.

[Ken J]

Please understand that I put these ideas out there as a response to Zep's asking for support and suggestions - not intending to to be critical, or put anyone on the defensive - my intention was to show support - in my opinion, if those four things happened, and whatever it takes to make those things happen, the VAC will turn around.

If I am overstepping my bounds, please do not hesitate to let me know......

Ken J.

[LI Pets]

Ken are you saying you want to help Tim accomplish those goals?

[Ed Emerick]

Originally Posted by Ken J

If I am overstepping my bounds, please do not hesitate to let me know......

Ken J.

There are many that have the same conserns........... and wants.

[Buttercup]

Originally Posted by Ken J

Please understand that I put these ideas out there as a response to Zep's asking for support and suggestions - not intending to to be critical, or put anyone on the defensive - my intention was to show support - in my opinion, if those four things happened, and whatever it takes to make those things happen, the VAC will turn around.

If I am overstepping my bounds, please do not hesitate to let me know......

Ken J.

Ken, I didn't take that as critical, but rather to put some light on the ideas and difficulties we have been working with. We actually are looking at everything you said. So, you posted a good thing!

[Ken J]

That was my intent -

Bob - yes I would - - and I challenge others to do so to - in fact I already do to some extent because I (and others - no one does this stuff alone) do two vintage rallies each year. One is very successful and has national exposure and the other is in the early stages - this year being the second year.

But, only if asked, I don't want to butt into something that sounds like is being planned already.


Ken J.

[Boondocker]

Originally Posted by Ken J

.....in fact I already do to some extent because I (and others - no one does this stuff alone) do two vintage rallies each year........
Ken J.

Not to mention that little get-to-gather balloon rally thing. Ken does an ENORMOUS amount organizing events. He manages to do this without wearing a tux and without having everyone else pay his way. Interesting concept don't you think?

THREE CHEERS FOR KEN!

[TinCanLand]

I have to tell you, as a newbie, I would never trust any organization that has an actuarial table in its bylaws (!)

[LI Pets]

ok, get ready to join, it's coming out

[Byams55FlyCl]

Originally Posted by Buttercup

I wanted to respond to your suggestions.
First - a simpler Vintage Advantage. The problem we have is that there are not enough contributors now for what we do put out. As anybody who has worked on a newsletter can tell you, the act of wrangling up people to write stories and submit them in a timely manner is a challenge. Calls for stories and rallies and whatnot go out way in advanced. We have basically one regular contributor. The rest of the comes from whatever we can scrape in. Without contributions, the VA would be a one page sheet and the back side would be mostly a place for the mailing label. Any contribution, no matter how big or small is welcome - we just need them to come in! There is an idea out there right now that we should go to a bi-monthly VA. But again, getting contributions is the limiting factor. Without submissions, that newsletter would just be a repeat of the last issue with a different picture on the cover.

Website Updates - this also takes a ton of work. The VAC has all the facilities in the world. The web site can do just about anything we need it to do EXCEPT write itself. The facilities are there for anybody to submit content to the site about practically anything. This includes rallies. But that is not happening. We (those of us who are trying to put out publications and maintain websites) need input from the members for what is happening. We send out notices asking for rallies and events going on, but very little comes back. This goes for the Vintage Advantage as well, we ask for input for things happening around the country, we get very few responses back.

First, I love the high quality of Advantage. It is collector quality. Thank you!!

Please forgive me, as I am a rather new VAC member and so may be asking a question that has already been answered. Is there a thread here on Airforums that asks for Advantage input? Stories? Ideas for stories? Photos for stories? A brainstorming thread to get members to contribute to the degree that they feel comfortable; contributions ranging from a fully researched and ready-to-print article, to a photo that many may not have seen for years? Again thank you for letting me ask.

[eubank]

Originally Posted by Byams55FlyCl

...... Is there a thread here on Airforums that asks for Advantage input? Stories? Ideas for stories? Photos for stories? A brainstorming thread to get members to contribute to the degree that they feel comfortable; contributions ranging from a fully researched and ready-to-print article, to a photo that many may not have seen for years? Again thank you for letting me ask.

I think that's a pretty good idea!

Lynn

[Buttercup]

Originally Posted by Byams55FlyCl

Is there a thread here on Airforums that asks for Advantage input? Stories? Ideas for stories? Photos for stories? A brainstorming thread to get members to contribute to the degree that they feel comfortable; contributions ranging from a fully researched and ready-to-print article, to a photo that many may not have seen for years? Again thank you for letting me ask.

We are always looking for story ideas. Not only that but we are looking for contributions for the newsletter. Quite honestly, I (we) can only write so many stories about what WE are doing. We do need other input. We do need other story ideas. We are not like other publications in that we do not pay for stories and photos. so what we do get is from the heart and soul. It is submissions from people who truely enjoy the Vintage experience for the vintage experience.
What we do is to share those ideas and stories we get with the membership in the best platform we can create.
So if you have ideas or suggestions, I would indeed love to hear them!
Better still, if you have a story idea that you would love to share for the joy of vintage Airstreaming alone. We'll work with you to get it published!
Just so you all know, all of our stories are non-compensated, for the joy only stories. The people who have written stories for the VA have been written by folks who want simply to share their experiences to other vintage Airstreamers.

[wam52]

I think I tried to show positive support for the current VAC officer's attempt at taking a stab at trying to improve the VAC by my responses to the recent survey. While we are no longer WBCCI Members, we did not leave the club because of the VAC and I don’t believe that what the VAC is doing is causing the drop in participation. We left because we felt that the only way to voice our disapproval of its WBCCI leadership was to vote our conscience and walk away and deny them the one thing that they do want from the members, our money. We joined WBCCI because of the VAC more than 12 years ago. I was President of the VAC and my wife and I both took turns as its Membership Chair. We attracted many more members than we could keep. In 2002 there were more than 1900 VAC members and friends (subscribers).

No matter what we did we could only hold members who could turn a blind eye to antics of their local unit’s politics and the international leadership who felt they had a right to make decisions for the rest of us regardless of our judgment of the merit of that decision, including the near confiscation of the VAC Treasury. (Ed if it wasn’t confiscation it certainly was denial of spending privileges). I’m not certain of the membership count today but I believe it to be in the range of 400 with a scant few subscriptions. I personally think the VAC leadership is missing the boat by relegating its member market share to the tiny number of Airstream owners willing to put up with the leaderships verbal disdain of old trailer owners and its record of proven membership losses which the WBCCI incurs year after year.

The WBCCI as we all know is in decline. I have, in the past, advocated for a separate VAC and discussion with past VAC volunteers led to many interesting discussions and confrontations but that is all it was…discussion. It was after those discussions that I became convinced that there were still too many WBCCI loyalists for a separation. In other words splitting the club was not an option and I had little support for creating a parallel Vintage Airstream Club so my wife and I made a decision to enjoy the camaraderie of the local units we belonged to (all 4 of them) and became the VAC Region Rep for the northeast with the thought that if we didn’t go to international and concentrated on fun fellowship and adventure in our neck of the woods, essentially ignoring the IBT, we could still enjoy our time in the club. We were wrong; the events of the last couple of years have brought all those negative values about this clubs leadership to light. The isolation, vindictiveness and outright dishonesty of its leadership go against their own code of ethics and make a mockery of the club that once was.

Now with that said, I have reason to believe that what we witnessed in the last 6 years was a perfect storm of successive leaders who helped the acceleration of the membership decline which also helped the means to the lifestyle to which they also aspire to decline forcing them into their present exercise. The information highway, for which they have thus far had so much contempt, may prove to be their undoing. Change is coming, not as quick as the membership would like, but change none the less. It still remains to be seen whether attempting to the change the rules to everyone’s liking will in fact be a turning point for growth or whether the marketing damage has been so severe and pervasive that the WBCCI brand is forever relegated to the dustpan for eventual dumping into the dustbin of history.

In either case we still have the contacts we have made in 12 years and we will attempt to keep those active even though we may not attend “Scheduled WBCCI Events”. The only regret we have regarding our decision is the loss of our collective identity with those whose company we have had the pleasure of keeping on a regular basis for 12 camping seasons. To them, we say we are sorry but to quote a line from the movie Network “I’m as mad as hell and I’m not going to take it anymore”! Until we see and hear more positive evidence that the club is on the mend we will remain strangers.

[Ken J]

Rodney - Thank you so much for the kind words - its the enjoyment of others at these rallies that make it all worth while to me.......... thanks again

Ken J.

[safari62]

Time will tell what will happen with the main club and membership in the coming years, but for now the VAC needs to regroup and continue with improvements within the membership.

I want to thank KenJ, Tim K., and others for their positive comments on this thread. With all of the negative comments directed at the main club in general it should be a good sign to others that the majority of comments and feedback about the VAC remain positive. But all is not well with the VAC and even with all the efforts of the current officers the club has lost some of the appeal it had. I would agree with KenJ on his thoughts and feelings about why he took a break. But just like Ken, I just rejoined and want to help contribute to the VAC.

Even though my region and unit (New England 064) has been very active and has mostly stayed positive over the last several years. But I had become less connected to the vintage segment of the club.

I only realized from reading Wayne Moore’s post (WAM52) that both Wayne and Linda left the club sometime last year. As he said in his post this decision was based on the current problems at the top. Wayne and Linda were members for twelve years and I believe he was the R1 VAC rep for all of those. I want to thank them again for representing the club and all of their work.

Therefore I volunteered to step in as region one Representative for VAC. GUP.

Vintage Airstreams have been my major interest which began with the purchase of our trailer and start of our restoration work in 2002. I joined the club directly and used the VAC as inspiration and information in the years to follow. We now have about 90k miles travelled since getting the 62’ back on the road.

My experience with the main club has been positive from the perspective of an end user and attendee at so many rallies. Probably since I have not attended many business meetings and stepped into the deep side of the pool to relate up close and personal with some of the clubs problems. But I want to contribute to helping VAC and its members first. By increasing our presence at the Region level and adding new ways to incorporate our collective interests. There is some disconnect now and I imagine many are looking for more vintage related activities within the very full schedule in the northeast region.

I want to help vintage owners get more out of their vintage ownership and club membership. Sometimes all that requires is showing up. Other times it must be lots of work. One thing VAC owners will agree with (in active units) is how convenient it is to attend the rally of your choice. Although there are very few vintage centric rallies, any year rig can attend. Same with a standard rally where new and vintage are all part of the mix.

Now there are more options than ever for the vintage enthusiast. The Vintage Airstream Club, Tin Can Tourists, Airstream Life Jams and TAC Bashes and rallies to name a few. They are all good and like travelling in general you get what to bring to it.

I hope to continue the original ideas of the VAC and help improve on the way we connect to all owners of Airstreams at meets and on the road to the future.

Gary Campbell
New Region One VAC Representative
wbcci #3363

[wkerfoot]

Gary,

As Region 1 representative please be aware that you can obtain VAC merchandise from me for sale at any VAC event. The merchandise is sent to you and you return the sales proceeds and any unsold merchandise to me. No financial obligation on your part, only safekeeping.

Bill

Originally Posted by safari62

Time will tell what will happen with the main club and membership in the coming years, but for now the VAC needs to regroup and continue with improvements within the membership.

I want to thank KenJ, Tim K., and others for their positive comments on this thread. With all of the negative comments directed at the main club in general it should be a good sign to others that the majority of comments and feedback about the VAC remain positive. But all is not well with the VAC and even with all the efforts of the current officers the club has lost some of the appeal it had. I would agree with KenJ on his thoughts and feelings about why he took a break. But just like Ken, I just rejoined and want to help contribute to the VAC.

Even though my region and unit (New England 064) has been very active and has mostly stayed positive over the last several years. But I had become less connected to the vintage segment of the club.

I only realized from reading Wayne Moore’s post (WAM52) that both Wayne and Linda left the club sometime last year. As he said in his post this decision was based on the current problems at the top. Wayne and Linda were members for twelve years and I believe he was the R1 VAC rep for all of those. I want to thank them again for representing the club and all of their work.

Therefore I volunteered to step in as region one Representative for VAC. GUP.

Vintage Airstreams have been my major interest which began with the purchase of our trailer and start of our restoration work in 2002. I joined the club directly and used the VAC as inspiration and information in the years to follow. We now have about 90k miles travelled since getting the 62’ back on the road.

My experience with the main club has been positive from the perspective of an end user and attendee at so many rallies. Probably since I have not attended many business meetings and stepped into the deep side of the pool to relate up close and personal with some of the clubs problems. But I want to contribute to helping VAC and its members first. By increasing our presence at the Region level and adding new ways to incorporate our collective interests. There is some disconnect now and I imagine many are looking for more vintage related activities within the very full schedule in the northeast region.

I want to help vintage owners get more out of their vintage ownership and club membership. Sometimes all that requires is showing up. Other times it must be lots of work. One thing VAC owners will agree with (in active units) is how convenient it is to attend the rally of your choice. Although there are very few vintage centric rallies, any year rig can attend. Same with a standard rally where new and vintage are all part of the mix.

Now there are more options than ever for the vintage enthusiast. The Vintage Airstream Club, Tin Can Tourists, Airstream Life Jams and TAC Bashes and rallies to name a few. They are all good and like travelling in general you get what to bring to it.

I hope to continue the original ideas of the VAC and help improve on the way we connect to all owners of Airstreams at meets and on the road to the future.

Gary Campbell
New Region One VAC Representative
wbcci #3363

[safari62]

Originally Posted by wkerfoot

Gary,

As Region 1 representative please be aware that you can obtain VAC merchandise from me for sale at any VAC event. The merchandise is sent to you and you return the sales proceeds and any unsold merchandise to me. No financial obligation on your part, only safekeeping.

Bill

Hi Bill
Thanks and good to know. I think we met briefly in Salem. OR at the International. That is, if you were there?

I have a few things to learn about about how the club operates.

Thanks again.
Gary

[wkerfoot]

Gary,

Yes, we were in Salem. Parked right next to the Torpedo and Dr. Holman, Jr.

Bill

Originally Posted by safari62

Hi Bill
Thanks and good to know. I think we met briefly in Salem. OR at the International. That is, if you were there?

I have a few things to learn about about how the club operates.

Thanks again.
Gary

[Byams55FlyCl]

VAC does not pay travel or camping expenses of their officers, representatives, or liasons. Correct?

[RickDavis]

Originally Posted by Byams55FlyCl

VAC does not pay travel or camping expenses of their officers, representatives, or liasons. Correct?

That is correct. The year I was prez I did go to Vermont to look at the site and arrange a gathering spot for the night before the parade in.

I could cry about the out of pocket expense, but the truth of the matter is I delivered a trailer in the area so I did get paid to go there, but not out of club money.