by RAS
I am a member in a number of railroad historical groups, perhaps being in too many and as a result possibly not doing enough to support each. I am getting increasingly concerned by some of the trends I am seeing, which seem to be common in several of these groups, in particular:
1. An aging membership base and not much being done to bring in new members or increase public awareness of the group.
2. Little effort being devoted to promoting the programs that will be shown at the monthly meetings, but lots of publication space being expended on irrelevant trivia and regurgitated newspaper articles that seem primarily aimed at filling space in the flyer. I would much rather have meeting notices that provide a good description of upcoming events than have to root through a pile of papers with stale news stories written by people who know little about the industry or the hobby.
3. When a good presentation by a qualified speaker is available, the audience often is allowed to interfere with the presentation through irrelevant questions and trivia, to a degree that it drags out and degrades the program.
I see these trends as hurting the groups in the long term. I try to explain these concerns to the officers to the best of my ability, and offer to help where possible. Am I alone in this concern, or are there others out there who are seeing similar trends?
1. An aging membership base and not much being done to bring in new members or increase public awareness of the group.
2. Little effort being devoted to promoting the programs that will be shown at the monthly meetings, but lots of publication space being expended on irrelevant trivia and regurgitated newspaper articles that seem primarily aimed at filling space in the flyer. I would much rather have meeting notices that provide a good description of upcoming events than have to root through a pile of papers with stale news stories written by people who know little about the industry or the hobby.
3. When a good presentation by a qualified speaker is available, the audience often is allowed to interfere with the presentation through irrelevant questions and trivia, to a degree that it drags out and degrades the program.
I see these trends as hurting the groups in the long term. I try to explain these concerns to the officers to the best of my ability, and offer to help where possible. Am I alone in this concern, or are there others out there who are seeing similar trends?