<VV> CORSA business, was: The tent and PR

Fri Sep 24 20:42:19 EDT 2010

The BOD is not opposed to VV airing CORSA business. We would just like all
of you to give us a chance before using VV as an outlet for frustrations. If
you don't talk to us first and then go out on VV with tangent that will
insight more anger and distrust, it does not help anything or anyone. That's
all we ask. If there is a problem please approach one of us and let's see if
we can work on it. We will not all see eye to eye but we will promise to
listen. Now just because we don't do something that you suggest does not
mean we aren't listening. There are 12 of us too and we don't all see eye to
eye either. Something I think will work may not be supported by the others.
We DO have a pretty cohesive group right now and we are working hard to get
things done while we are on the same pages right now. Things move slowly in
CORSA because of rules and policies as well. Sometimes things won't be
implemented RIGHT NOW or in some cases EVER.

 And by the way there is no I in team. So touting ones own horn does not
help the situation. I have heard a lot of ME and MY and I over the course of
this past few weeks. WE are a TEAM. IF WE can not work things out then WE
ALL failed CORSA. Each BOD member comes up with an idea and then we talk
about it amongst ourselves. An original idea becomes a collaboration. So
should it be with the relationship between the BOD and members. 

So what I'm saying is THINK before you spout some ill fated dribble to VV
and upset more people. Try talking to one of us first. The BOD of the past
is NOT the BOD of today.

Thank you all for reading this dribble!

Jason Cesana
CORSA Vice President
CPF Vice President
Member Bay State Corvairs

-----Original Message-----
From: virtualvairs-bounces at corvair.org
[mailto:virtualvairs-bounces at corvair.org] On Behalf Of Mark Corbin
Sent: Friday, September 24, 2010 3:51 PM
To: David Neale; virtualvairs at corvair.org
Cc: CORSA BoD
Subject: <VV> CORSA business, was: The tent and PR

I love it when MY plan succeeds. And that was to get people proposing plans
to help CORSA. 

The board doesn't like seing VV used to discuss CORSA business. Yet they let
the genie out of the bottle by providing the forum. That it is open to both
members and non-members makes it what it is. If they didn't want CORSA
business to be discussed in front of non-members, they should have limited
VV participation to ONLY CORSA members.

But VV is what it is. Discussion of the organization's problems may be
brutal at times, but it is ultimately healthy. Non-members just have to
remember that there really IS more positive things about CORSA than
negative. Unfortunately, without joining, it's hard to know all the
intangible benefits of belonging. And as one poster pointed out, nowadays
EVERY organization is suffering from financial problems brought on by
declining membership.

Regrettably, the younger generations (particularly the under 30 group) are
simply NOT joiners. Their idea of socializing consists of a Facebook page,
and communication to them is texting one another. They have the idea that
they need nothing more than the internet to provide all their needs and
wants. I think they are wrong, but only time will tell who's wrong and who's
right.

Unfortunately, that only makes CORSA's job in recruiting new members even
harder. Which is why I think maybe hiring a PROFESSIONAL PR person may be
the only answer. And pay him based on results. Our first such effort
resulted in hiring Marcus Associates, our first professional management
firm. They managed to increase CORSA membership significantly, as I recall.
Then the CORSA board got the feeling that they were costing too much. Enter
H&M. CORSA membership peaked, and has been declining ever since.
Coincidence? Possibly. But regardless, it's obvious that we NEED a
professional PR person now.

We also need the board to lay out a plan to the membership, and then follow
it. One more thing that the board doesn't like is to publicize its
activities. This only results (IMO) in impressions that they aren't doing
ANYthing.  I really believe (and as a former board member myself) that they
should be more open in keeping the membership informed as to their
activities, and maybe even hold the board meetings in an open-door manner,
similar to town council meetings. In the right format, it may just help
their image, and benefit their efforts.

But the bottom line (no pun intended) is that CORSA needs to get it's
financial house in order - with a specified plan based on statistically
reliable membership projections, and not on a "cash on hand" thinking. As
one poster proposed, keep all expenses within a balanced budget, and work
from there. Here is where an experienced, successful business person or
financial comptroller is needed. (One such person, for example, is Cal Clark
- not that I'm volunteering him, mind you.) Are there any amongst the board
members? Business people know HOW to run a business profitably. And, despite
our image of CORSA, it IS a business. It should be run as such.

Anyway, I'm happy to see that (mostly) positive posts are coming out of this
thread. It shows that CORSA is indeed alive.

-Mark

> [Original Message]
> From: David Neale <david.neale3 at ntlworld.com>
> Subject: <VV> The tent and PR
>
> <<Of Course General Patton said---One minute after H-Hour on D Day, 
> you
don't have a plan anymore---just have to see how things work out.>>
>
> Quite.  Which boxer, (was it Mike Tyson?), who said something along 
> the
lines of ... "everybody has a plan until they get a punch in the face". 
Presumably, most people, having suffered the trifling inconvenience of a
punch in the face from Mike Tyson, would never recall their own name, let
alone whether they ever had a plan or not.  
>
> CORSA is special enough that it simply must succeed ... it has done so
through crises before today, and by the wit of all those involved, it has
survived.  Maybe some things have to change ... that is the case with most
organisations .. but core functions should never be up for disposal. 
Despite Mike Tyson's quip, true insofar as it goes, a plan is always a
prerequisite. 
>
> And, despite the somewhat grim tone of some of the comments from
contributors here, sharp comment, provided it is constructive, is essential
to enable close inspection of all aspects or an organisation's structure and
operation.
>
> If comments are not constructive, they shouldn't be made. It's as 
> simple
as that.  
>
> I'd only add that, being a Brit, there appears precious little that I 
> can
do to assist CORSA month-on-month in any voluntary sense ... but if someone
would entrust me with any chores which can be sent backward and forward by
e-mail, in the form of clerking office work, I would be delighted to help.
>
> David Neale
>
> Poised in anticipation over the keyboard in leafy Leicestershire, 
> England
>
> '65 Monza 140HP 4-speed convertible
>

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