membership

[Underwater]

Well said!

[Seanc]

its always nice to wake up to a nice long poast by Babblefish, but they usualy make me late for school

[darkdep]

Babble:  I understand what you're saying but the discussion (at least from my point of view) isn't about "closing" the club; it's about looking at the size of the membership, the size of the online participants, and discussing some possible ways to use that to our advantage. 

Some ideas have been brought up to the executive over the last month regarding our income, and possible ways to use it to the advantage of our members.  The reasoning was that a club with 50 paying members has less potential than one with 200 paying members.  Once the club expenses are paid (expenses related to the meetings and giant auction, door prizes, website, food, etc etc) then whatever is left over can be used in different ways to benefit the club.  If there is only a couple bucks left, well, nothing much can be done.  If there is more, then a lot of options open up...special guest speakers, club subsidized group orders, better facilities, etc etc. 

There is nothing wrong with looking at the club, it's membership, and thinking of ways to spend the cash...in effect, this discussion is simply about looking for ways to give our members more, since the club is growing.  I for one have been wanting to bring Spencer Jack in to talk at our meeting for a long time; he, like many other speakers, does presentations at aquarium clubs for the cost of travel and lodging.  Considering how popular the CITES speaker was, I think that speakers of this caliber would be greatly enjoyed by many. 

I love OVAS and very much enjoy being a part of this community; it's not my personal desire to "lock out" anyone.  If anything, I want to bring more members in.  We have a membership goal for next year which we'd really like to attain...if we can do that, it would help justify some of these ideas.

[Underwater]

I think I understand what the APW is talking about.  Providing incentive for people to buy an OVAS card.  Why buy the cow when the milk is free?

I agree with Babble that the forum is, and should remain free.  It's bad form to provide a free service, then charge for use of it.  The internet, in particular, should be free.  I wouldn't pay to chat on a fish forum, and I shouldn't expect anyone else too.  The forum is a great tool to get people aware and involved with OVAS from the start.  I only found OVAS after moving here because of the website.

The logical solution is to leave what's free and create new benefits for members. This will provide incentive to join OVAS, without taking something back that's already been given.

[artw]

The mini auctions, the speakers, the socializing at the meetings, and the 15% discount at various stores, and the warm and fuzzy of contributing to a non profit organization is the incentive to buy Memberships.  It is stated in our By laws and/or Constitution that non members may attend 2 (two) Meetings for free and then they should be encouraged to buy a membership.  In my opinion,  this is not Executive Dubya speaking, this is Art speaking, that the forum and the website should be free for anyone.  as it as an EXTENSION of the club proper.  There was some talk about limiting the Classifieds to members only but if someone really wants to sell something they are just going to go on used ottawa or ott.forsale anyway.

[Underwater]

Yes I think I was a proponent of making the classifieds members only.  But that's not really benefiting the club, since the more people use the classified, the better.  More items for sale, more people buying, better prices for people trying to sell, etc.

After I thought about it I realized how silly it was.

[BigDaddy]

Here's what I'm getting out of this thread

Passionate people who want to drive the club to continue being great.  I think that's awesome.

As an exec, I do see a potential to "bring more into the fold" so to speak when I look at the incredible levels of activity on the forum in comparison to our membership numbers.

Now, some people will be active on the forum, and never purchase a membership.  Some people will be active on the forum, purchase a membership and never attend a meeting.  Some people will only buy a membership strictly for the 15% discount.  Some people will strictly attend meetings and never use this site.  I know of one member personally who can not attend meetings, and doesn't get any discounts in her area, and yet she faithfully buys a membership.

I have already made mention of this at the executive meeting... the Public and Corporate Affairs chair (currently vacant), not only has a responsbility to be the liaison with our Corporate partners (the brick and mortar shops as well as our online partners), but is still a PUBLIC affairs chair.  That means engaging, and informing, the PUBLIC (read non-OVAS members) about what our club does, and why one would want to be a member.

A lot of this discussion will be falling into the hands of that individual to provide feedback and suggestions to the Executive and to the membership.

Stay tuned

[pegasus]

The present OVAS philosophy is the best I've seen, so please don't change. I was a member when the club had a nazi type at the door taking counts of who was coming in free to the meetings... not a nice site! Today, we trust any non-member to have a good reason why not.
I for one would even give free membership to all under 16 and their driver should be welcome and praised.

OVAS  Club/Forum should emphasize on publicizing its presence more than its membership as it will come by itself later on. To do so... one proposal would be to have a business card made for both, given to paying members to be distribute to co-workers, friends, anyone we know have fish. With 10 cards I should get at least 4 new members to the forum and one membership for the club..  Now that's my 2 cents.

[Sue]

I for one would even give free membership to all under 16 and their driver should be welcome and praised.

Just a note in case anyone didn't know that the membership fee for children (15 and below) is already extremely low. 7$year, $ 4/half year. Its a token amount...about the cost a burger and fries. I agree with you that their driver should never feel the the need to join the club.  I'd also encourage members to refrain from out bidding kids at the auctions when ever possible.

[PaleoFishGirl]

I'd also encourage members to refrain from out bidding kids at the auctions when ever possible.

Except for Seanc... cuz that's just fun    LOL
Besides, he's not really a 'kid' anyway 

[Seanc]

hey i qualified for a junior membership, tht mkes me  kid! doesn't it. and sue, i totaly agree, don't outbid me, or else !!!
now to more serious stuff.
I like how my mom/dad/cousin ar alowed to come eavin thought they don't have a membership, thts realy nice. having a forum hat you have to be a member to acces would be pointless,  the forum brings alot of people, i think alot of people started on the forum, then "upgraded" to the meetings, and its nice to meet people you talk to on the forum in person.
We also hve a gret comunity here, i hve been to other forums, nd there are usuly alot of goofbals, that re rude, anddon't give good help or anything, nd we are almost free of thoughs(except for that one guy), its a great comunity, and thnks to every one who has hellped it come all this way.

[BigDaddy]

For the record, I don't think anyone ever suggested having to pay to use the forum.

The forum, like the meetings, are open to the public.

[babblefish1960]

There is mention of 967 total members, but there is no mention any where, of how many have a paid membership card to support the Board / Forum, so I wonder how many uses the service, and how many contribute...

Many other Boards / Forum limit the services of non paying members, to support those who support the service, non paying members can only read certain threads, not allowing posting, viewing of the classified areas is limited to paying members, meetings have charges for non paying members, if auctions take place, item are sold and carry a 25% surcharge, and so on...

The quality of a service, is as good as what goes into it.
I support the Board / Forum, do you ?

Regards,
Denis

Reading this post certainly gave me the impression that the idea of paying to use the forum, or at least certain portions of it, was what was being put forth in this thread.

[artw]

UCGraphix is not on the Executive

[charlie]

Hello, when i started this topic it was not with the intention of wanting to try and lock out ,seperate, or cause greif between paying vs non paying members, it was simply to encourage growth & greater success in the club. Big daddy & Darkdep express it best in their summary of what they were getting from this topic.
I take no preference as to if one is a paying member or non paying member, in fact some of the people that i have a very high regard for in this hobby are both paying & non paying members.
Regards

it's about looking at the size of the membership, the size of the online participants, and discussing some possible ways to use that to our advantage. 

Some ideas have been brought up to the executive over the last month regarding our income, and possible ways to use it to the advantage of our members.  The reasoning was that a club with 50 paying members has less potential than one with 200 paying members.  Once the club expenses are paid (expenses related to the meetings and giant auction, door prizes, website, food, etc etc) then whatever is left over can be used in different ways to benefit the club.  If there is only a couple bucks left, well, nothing much can be done.  If there is more, then a lot of options open up...special guest speakers, club subsidized group orders, better facilities, etc etc. 

There is nothing wrong with looking at the club, it's membership, and thinking of ways to spend the cash...in effect, this discussion is simply about looking for ways to give our members more, since the club is growing.  I for one have been wanting to bring Spencer Jack in to talk at our meeting for a long time; he, like many other speakers, does presentations at aquarium clubs for the cost of travel and lodging.  Considering how popular the CITES speaker was, I think that speakers of this caliber would be greatly enjoyed by many. 

I love OVAS and very much enjoy being a part of this community; it's not my personal desire to "lock out" anyone.  If anything, I want to bring more members in.  We have a membership goal for next year which we'd really like to attain...if we can do that, it would help justify some of these ideas.

[/quotHere's what I'm getting out of this thread

Passionate people who want to drive the club to continue being great.  I think that's awesome.

As an exec, I do see a potential to "bring more into the fold" so to speak when I look at the incredible levels of activity on the forum in comparison to our membership numbers.
e]

[dpatte]

actually, i didnt have anything to do with this new format; but I was president of the club when i decided that making an interactive website should be the main goal of my presidency (all poiticians desire a legacy )

[henry]

I believe that to increase your paid membership, all you really have to do is make paying dues easier.

Give people some other options besides paypals. Just let members know they can pay at Big Al's and give a mailing address out in "purchase membership". Perhaps other LFS would also offer collecting membership dues. Maybe an application form on the website.

I believe the ovas executive did a great job in revamping the website. With the changes to the website, one can see their only goal was just to promote the hobby.  I think that is the most important aspect as well, and they did a super job.