Let' be clear. What we have been doing is NOT WORKING. Doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results is the definition of insanity. So, repeat after me, "Recruit, recruit, recruit". When the army needed more people, they recruited them. They offered them something that was meaningful - to some it was a career, to some it meant the possibility of a college education at the expense of the government, to some, it was a way to find some purpose. Our club has been shrinking for years as the older members aged out or passed away. I think the median age of our active members is somewhere above 65. It has not appeared to me that our club has done any sort of recruiting since the 90's, when they used to hold mall events where people could see and even try out some boats for themselves. Sadly, insurance and other well-meaning regulations put an end to that practice, but even more sad was that nothing was ever proposed to replace it. From my viewpoint, as a "somewhat younger" member in the late 90's, I suggested things like announcing our races in the local paper, trying to get some TV coverage or other promotion, as well as several other ideas that fell on totally deaf ears. The prevailing opinion was, "we have plenty of members to put on races, and folks coming from other clubs fill in the gaps". Well, friends, that "blind eye" attitude has come around and bit us in the proverbial butt, to the point where we have only an occasional "other club" person coming to our races and just the surviving members of our own club who can still stand up and race. Try running a race where there are just 10 drivers and classes where there are 6 boats running, 3-boat heats? Not much fun. Our races have shrunk from 2 days and 5 rounds of heats to one day and 3 rounds. In furtherance of the, "we'll be OK if we continue to do nothing" policy, the donated prizes that we used to give out for high points in each class, Tee shirts, and other small rewards, no longer exist. What this says to prospective joiners is "this is not a club, it is a bunch of crochety old (mostly ) men who aren't the least bit interested in me". Getting back to my mention of the army above, the offer of "something in it for the recruit" got results. We offer next to nothing "for the recruit" and haven't done so for a long time. It is about time that MEMBERS became RECRUITERS and "groups of guys playing with their boats" became actual clubs again. Regular meetings, planning sessions, work sessions to improve the pond, solicited donations from local merchants, advertising in local papers and maybe a little TV coverage are all things that COST LITTLE OR NOTHING to the club and could offer a means of raising the club's profile in the community and attracting more members, especially in areas like ours where the pond is hidden away from public view (and cell phone service, and motels and restaurants... but I digress). Looking at the new approach to putting together a starter boat with a cheap car motor, a club could CONSIDER offering such a setup to a prospect at an even further reduced cost by subsidizing say, half of the cost. making it somewhere around a $100 investment to get started. And, let's not forget to re-instate the novice class and special practice times, so the prospects can learn how to run the boat before having to race the boat.
