RE: First report from the CAPS Conference

I sent a copy of Bob's 1st report to all Region 7 Board members, judges and club presidents that have e-mail. I will post all replies and comments I get. 
The first one is below.

Sue RVP 7
On Fri, Jul 25, 2014 at 2:14 PM, Phil Williams <rtgphil@gmail.com> wrote:
Good information....a clear confirmation of what is not happening in our society or others.
One thing clearly missing from the article is the lack of members, leaders and potential leaders who are (1) enthusiastic about their membership and/or their leadership position AND at the same time, notably active at an extreme level.
A garden club typically have lots of members who love programs, pictures, presentations, food, fellowship and meeting.
From churches to iris societies, the frequently missing ingredient is PASSION and SERIOUS ENERGY AND ENTHUSIASM at the meetings as well as in their own gardens.
This is especially true for a first-time attendee...as his/her first impression is all important. Their first interest is GROWING irises. There must be pertinent information at their first encounter. It is often a one time chance to impress a brand new prospective member. 



On Fri, Jul 25, 2014 at 1:51 PM, Sue <barnes-s@charter.net> wrote:
Well, at last my ballot is submitted and my judges activity report is in the mail to Lorene. If yours are not they need to be very soon. Deadline for both are postmarks by Aug. 1. Remember the ballot can be done on line. I've included club presidents in this mailing as judges are plus for you club and so it is good to make sue your club (as well as the region) does not loose these useful members.
Attached is a report that was sent out by AIS to their board and RVPs. It is by Robert Pries a board member who attended a Conference of Coalition of American Plant Societies. I think it has some information about sustaining and increasing membership that might be of use. See if there is anything you could use, or that you can tell the Region board that might help us increase membership and participation in the region. 

Thanks, Sue

Sue Ann Barnes
205 Westwood Ave
Jackson, TN 38301
731-422-5253
731-499-1396
barnes-s@charter.net
"Never mistake knowledge for wisdom. One helps you make a living, the other helps you make a life." 
---Eleanor Roosevelt (PBK, Radcliffe College, 1941)



Sue Ann Barnes
205 Westwood Ave
Jackson, TN 38301
731-422-5253
731-499-1396
barnes-s@charter.net
"Never mistake knowledge for wisdom. One helps you make a living, the other helps you make a life." 
---Eleanor Roosevelt (PBK, Radcliffe College, 1941)


On Wed, Jul 23, 2014 at 2:19 PM, Robert Pries  wrote:


Report #1 from 2014 CAPS Conference;
The bottom line is all the plant societies are in trouble and struggling to regain there once prominent status. The question is now are plant societies (or any organization) relevant to their present membership and to potential members. I was amazed that at the conference AIS has lots of bragging points. AIS and another group were the only associations that were not in freefall of membership decline. One society that used to have 20,000 members now has 8,000. Our losses from our peak were not more than half and we might claim to be holding steady, but that is only the last two years. I believe the great 
deal of change we have undergone has helped.
The question for us may be can we grow again? Like most association members many of ours do not even know about initiatives we have started. I think most members had no idea we had a membership contest this year. It is doubtful how many articles in the Bulletin are really read, as opposed to seeing the pictures. While this is normal it means it is very hard for the national to do anything without the concerted help of regions and affiliates. News & Notes, by Nonprofit standards, is an incredible success with generally over 60% looking at it. Most Nonprofits get a readership of 16%. But relatively few people read any one article. So anything and everything we try to do works 
very slowly.

But back to the conference: The Garden Writers Association gave a
presentation. They just spent $10,000 on a consultant B to help them turn their organization around. They explained some of what they did but mostly recommended three books on the subject which I purchased when I got home and 
have read 2. I would recommend these for reading by our officers and
directors. The most interesting was: bThe End Of Membership As We Know it (building the fortune flipping, Must-Have Association of the Next Century) by Sarah Sladek. The other two are: bThe Road to Relevanceb and the Race to Relevanceb. To summarize they say we must offer benefits to our members that are worth the price of membership. That these benefits must be valued by the members (Not what we think they should want) and that we provide benefits that would be seen by potential members as desirable. What the present membership 
values and what new or potential members value may not be the same and
sometimes may even be in conflict.
They point out that many boards do not contain any members who are young enough to carry on when the old members leave. They point to the rapid change in technology, and note that organizations must stay in pace with the larger world. Not all organizations are dying but many are being replaced by other groups or elements of our society. For example the AMA which is a shadow of its former self contains almost only old doctors, younger ones are joining specialty organizations which are growing. I read that just before talking to my urologist and even he, who is probably in his late fifties he said he quite the AMA and only belongs to his specialty group because he felt the AMA did nothing for him. What do we do for our members that they want? What attracts potential members? I think we need to constantly be asking these questions. 

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