UPDATE REGARDING DON CLARK'S RESIGNATION

Many of you have heard either directly or indirectly from a message issued by Cindy Reed that Don Clark resigned his position as International 1st Vice President effective at 5:00 PM EDT on Monday April 9, 2012 for medical reasons.  Don and Jan requested that information be sent with the simple stipulation that we accept their decision and pray for them as they returned to San Jose, CA, and his medical team for further diagnosis and treatment.  Since returning to San Jose Don has been undergoing specific diagnostic testing and now knows he has cancer and that it is malignant. He will undergo one more test to isolate type, stage and define treatment. We will make further information available as Don knows and shares it.  Please continue to pray for them and if you wish to send electronic communications continue to do it via Headquarters.

Read More about Don Clark's Resignation

New Rally Schedules

Many units are adopting a new schedule for their rallies.  The start day is moved from Tuesday to Wednesday (or Thursday to Friday for shorter rallies) and activities end on Monday instead of Sunday. Thus the main attractions of the rally will take place on the weekend. This gives those who are still working or have children/grandchildren in school an opportunity to attend and get the full rally experience.

Marketing to New Members

From Mona Heath, Oregon Unit 1st VP

Just over two years ago we launched a multi-tiered marketing plan to attract
new membership, which has resulted in incredible membership growth over the last
few years - our 150+ members are a mix of young professionals, outdoor
enthusiasts, full & part-timers and those who've belonged to the WBCCI for
40+ years.  It's been astounding to watch the new members soak up the
history from our older membership and, in turn, to watch that membership
become re-energized by the passion of new members.  

Partnership:  Our relationship with the local Airstream dealership has proven very rewarding for both the dealer and our Unit.  A New AS Owner Letter from our Unit is given to each new owner as part of their purchase paperwork.  It offers a $25 discount on their first ral

ly after they've joined our Unit.  Additionally, we've installed a dynamic, informative display in the dealership showroom complete with visual banner, photo album and digital picture frame.

 Our Unit is a welcome presence in the Airstream booth during RV shows.

Social Media:There are 52 individuals/businesses following our Twitter account (@WBCCIOREGON) and several members of our Unit are very active on AirForums.

With 197 "likes", our Oregon Unit Facebook page has provided a platform for curious AS owners to observe our interactions and has helped to increase our membership growth.

Note: Suzy Shepard from St. Louis will offer a seminar on personal and WBCCI use of social media at the International Rally in Sedalia.  Check out the Sedalia schedule to find out where and when. 

Postcards / Business Cards:  We've recently created postcards welcoming new
AS owners as well as Business Cards for our membership to share club
contact info (email address, Facebook & Twitter accounts, web address).

Word of Mouth:  The most valuable and effective resource of all; we're a
fun-loving, easy going and welcoming group which manages to balance the
needs of our members without overly managing their valuable weekend time. 

Rally Planning

From: Brian McFarland,  Northern Illinois Unit President 

I am scheduling my rallies for the weekends, beginning on Fridays, but people can show up Thursday to help set up. I make a rally announcement flyer which I email to members.  I then use the original email to add information about the developing schedule and the menu.

Instead of saying, members with names A-M bring a salad, members with names N-Z bring a vegetable, etc. I list the names of those coming to the rally, and list the dish I am bringing next to my name. The members reply-all to the email, adding their dish next to their name. You can then see what others are bringing and think of a complementary dish to bring. This happens through email two or three weeks leading up to the rally and really gets the members involved in the rally planning!

From:  Ann Newman, Central Indiana Caravan Chairperson 

If your rally or caravan includes camping at a State Park that doesn't accept group reservations and you aren't thrilled about putting 15 campsites on your credit card, here's an alternative.  This works particularly well for a "come and go" caravan. 

We scout the campground in advance and choose which sites we want, then we publish the site numbers on our website.  As members make their own reservations at the state park, they email our rally host with their site number and we publish it on the website.  Everyone knows which sites are still free and who is coming to the rally. 

Note: The last 2 strategies also work for supplies or equipment (firewood, grills, etc.).   

Here's an example from the Central Indiana Unit website: