<VV> Director`s Comments in Communique

[Kent Sullivan]

Let me start by saying that I am a friend of Jackson. He restored his '65
Corsa coupe in my shop. So of course my comments are going to be somewhat
biased--unavoidable.

Jackson and I did not talk about his column before he wrote it but I have to
say that I agree with a lot of what he wrote. CORSA is in serious trouble,
folks, and there is no magic way to right this ship. Membership is declining
overall, and it's unclear how to reverse this trend. We have to have a plan
that deals with this very likely reality.

Jackson's language may be a bit tart, but I certainly prefer it to another
round of "well, things aren't that bad--we only need people to get out there
and recruit a few new members". Articles like that are not telling the real
truth about what's happening and do a disservice to the CORSA membership.

The hardest thing for an organization to do is to have the courage and the
foresight to reinvent itself before the landscape changes so much that it
has become irrelevant. That's what I see is happening to CORSA. The
"business model" is one that has been around for 100 years or more for a
non-profit club--but I believe it's clear that this model is going by the
wayside, and fast. We can either choose to take the risk of changing before
it's too late or essentially do nothing, and accept the risk that the
organization will continue to lose members until it can't survive.

So, specifically--I think CORSA has to take a hard look at the wisdom of a
yearly rotating national convention. I don't think events like this make
sense in a world where gasoline is $4 a gallon (which will be back--we are
just having a temporary reprieve) and where there are far more efficient
ways of having smaller, regional get-togethers that use the power of the new
networking tools to connect people. A yearly face-to-face convention made
the most sense when the ways of people staying in touch when they weren't
face-to-face were primitive. That's not the case any longer and the
sophistication of social networking tools is increasing. And, an additional
factor is the spread-out-ness of clubs in the Western Division. The clubs
are overall smaller and are very far apart compared to the Eastern Division.
Just getting a club to take on the task of holding a national convention in
the West is a challenge now--we almost didn't get a bid for 2011. Denver
took it on, and I don't consider them a Western club geographically. They
are certainly in the Western Division so their bid is valid. I just mean
that the fact that they are doing the convention is illuminating--no clubs
west of the Rockies submitted a bid, from what I can tell.

Jackson and I both work in the tech industry and we are all too familiar
with how rapidly-changing demographics are affecting what people expect an
organization to be. Mike says "lead, follow, or get out of the way" and I
see Jackson trying to lead. It might just be that the direction he is
proposing is one that is pretty radical and therefore shocking to some or
many current members. I can tell you that it's not at all shocking to people
under the age of 30; in fact, it's becoming the expected way of doing
business.

--Kent

P.S. For those of you who don't know me, I served 7 years on the CORSA BoD
and am a past president of the CPF.

P.P.S. If you send Jackson private email, please be respectful. He is only
trying to help CORSA and if people fly off the handle at him, it's not going
to help.
-----Original Message-----
From: virtualvairs-bounces at corvair.org
[mailto:virtualvairs-bounces at corvair.org] On Behalf Of Michael Kovacs
Sent: Thursday, December 03, 2009 7:28 AM
To: John Howell
Cc: VV
Subject: Re: <VV> Director`s Comments in Communique

I was of the same opinion after reading his "comments" last night. All
negative, not positive. 

"LEAD, FOLLOW OR GET OUT OF THE WAY"

 I'll contact his email and make my thoughts clear to him too. 
 MIKE KOVACS 



----- Original Message ----
From: John Howell <32chevy at 0306.org>
To: VV <virtualvairs at corvair.org>
Sent: Thu, December 3, 2009 12:44:50 AM
Subject: <VV> Director`s Comments in Communique

I hope the Western Director Jackson Dell Weaver is one that is being
replaced in the next election. After reading his comments in the December
issue of the CORSA Communique I would like to see him replaced, we don`t
need officers with that attitude. So I say Jackson you are part of the
problem not part of the answer, if you don`t like CORSA just LEAVE !

John Howell