We’re pleased to report that the Region "A" Officer’s Meeting held at the George T. Bagby Lodge in Ft. Gaines, GA over the weekend of December 1^st was a great success.  We had a total of 72 Region and District Officers in attendance who participated in an informative exchange of GWRRA information and ideas.  Nan and I would like to personally thank all the fantastic volunteer leaders who took their personal time to attend (and in many cases, travel long distances) and participate in this most important business meeting.   Our thanks to the District Directors and Staffs of Region "A", who all contributed greatly to the success of the event by their active dialogue and suggestions.  A great weekend overall!

          While we’re dispensing “Thanks”, we appreciate the Districts getting their chapter chartering fees in on time.  Everyone made it under the December 1^st deadline and we are grateful for your prompt attention to this important matter.

          The various District Officer Meetings begin in January.  To show our support and to lend any assistance necessary, members of the Region "A" staff will attend each one.  Nan and I will cover Florida and South Carolina, while Jim and Sue Jackson will attend Georgia and Alabama.  Dave and Ellen Hamilton will cover the Mississippi District and the Alabama meeting.  We’re not there to run your meeting or over-shadow anyone, just to lend our support to the Districts for the fine job they’re doing and help in any way possible.  We look forward to these events and to meeting the many Chapter Directors and their staffs from across the Region.

          Please permit us one more reminder that all Chapter Directors, Assistant Chapter Directors and Chapter Ride Educators must sign the new MOU form in time to have it transmitted to the Home Office by February 1^st.  All District and Region Officers are in the process of accomplishing this now.  A good time to finish this mandatory project would be at the various District Officer Meetings during January.  If the District Directors could collect them all then, make a copy for our Region files then send the originals on to National that would be great.

          District Directors please remember to continue the chapter visitations by members of your staff throughout the winter season.  We need to continue the contacts between the Chapters and the Districts; the Region will participate in this as well.  Experience has shown that chapters who begin to drift away from GWRRA principles and doctrine sooner or later cease being a chapter in the traditional sense of the concept and devolve into private social clubs instead.  This usually leads to member attrition followed by chapter decline, so let’s keep up the good work we’ve already started by continuing our official visits at their business meetings.

          We’ll be sending out a list of the various District duties for the Region "A" Rally that you committed to at the Region meeting.  This list will be e-mailed to the District Directors.  If you have a problem with the schedule or want to make a change, please let us know.  Remember that for simplicity of scheduling, your District will have these responsibilities for the entire rally.

          If you have any ideas or suggestions that you think would make Wing Ding a more pleasant experience, please let us know.  The Home Office is looking for any practical improvements to the Wing Ding agenda that will make it more attractive to prospective delegates.  If you’ve got an idea, let us know. 

          Lastly, Nan and I wish each of you a Very Happy New Year for 2008!  2007 sure went by quickly and we are looking forward to a great 2008 with all of the great volunteer leaders in Region "A".  It has been a real pleasure working with you in the past in our capacity as District Director in Florida, and we anticipate just as much fun as Region "A" Director.  We know that 2008 is going to be a great year for GWRRA because we have such a fantastic team in each District and on the Region staff!

          We hope to see you at a GWRRA event soon,         

Bob & Nan

          Sincerely hope each one of you had a super Merry Christmas and the best New Years ever.  Sue and I really partied New Years eve until the wee dawn hours.  We broke out the Grape/Cranberry juice and downed most of the bottle.  Yep, went to sleep again in my lazy-boy and Sue was counting sheep on the couch.  Guess Dick Clark really rocked us into 2008 with the big ball drop.  Hey, maybe I can catch a rerun of it. 

Your Region ‘A’ Staff has been working hard behind the scenes putting together the upcoming Region ‘A’ Rally September 11-13, 2008, which will be held in Dothan, Alabama and that, is pretty close to the center of the Region.  Please put this puppy on your calendar cause we have never rallied in Dothan, Alabama before and it should be a good one with the theme being “LUAU.”  Why not wear your best  “Luau shirt” whatever that may be and of course remember you are coming Dothan, Alabama and those that don’t know, Dothan is known as “down-home” to almost everyone that is familiar with the area.  Mainly because so many folks left Dothan in the forties and fifties to seek their fortune in the cotton mills in Columbus, GA where cotton mills thrived and work was plenty.  Thus when asked where are ya from the folks from Dothan would just say “down-home.”  Hey, just a bit of trivia that I am full of.  I think my best Luau shirt will go very well with my “overalls” that I plan to ware.  Hey, after all it’s Dothan and it’s “down-home” so I will be in good company.    Yeah, I fit in well with them.

I might mention the rally will be held on the grounds of the Holiday Inn South.  The rate includes a full breakfast buffet and we have the complete hotel reserved for our rally delegates.  Call now for reservations 1-800-777-6611 no pre-registration needed and mention Gold Wing Road Riders when making reservations. 

Really looking forward to 2008 with many rides planned to many different events.  Hey, keep an eye on your rearview mirror of that Wing you never know when you might look in the rearview and there we are riding right behind you.  Ride safe and hope to see ya on the road or at a GWRRA event.

By the way, recruiting should be great in 2008 so sign a new Member up.  It makes you feel good and the new Member will feel good as well.

Jim & Sue 

         The Region “A” Conference this year was a great success. I believe that every attendee would agree that they left with more insight than they arrived with. Bob and Nan Shrader are going to make excellent Region “A” Directors. There are going to be a number of new Officers starting with Chapter Directors. They will pick new staffs including new “MAD Coordinators”. These changes should all take place shortly after the first of the year. I am looking forward to working with all of our “MAD Coordinators” in the NEW YEAR.

Where did this year go? I know you have heard this question ask year after year and you will hear it many more times in years to come. In case you don’t know the answer, the answer is “where all the other years went.” What is important, did we learn anything during that past year to make our lives and others better and safer for the years to come? That’s right, I said our lives and others!  When it comes to riding our bikes we depend on our rider courses, safety instructions, past experience and teachings from safety instructors who have a lot of experience in riding the Motorcycle or Trike.  OTHERS, what role does others play in all of this riding we do?  Others are the non-cyclist population. Who better to teach the non-motorcyclist?  The biker or triker of course! We know what dangers lie before us when sharing the highway with the much larger auto or truck. We know in our minds that the first words uttered by the motorist after running us over will be, “sorry, I didn’t see the bike.” Defensive riding is wonderful but not always enough to keep our shinny side up, if you get my drift. The need to educate the non-motorcyclist is greater now more than ever before because motorcycles are more prevalent than ever before. We need to spend more time with our family members, friends, etc. and help them understand what they don’t understand, “the motorcyclist.”

We hope you had a Merry Christmas and we wish the very best for you and yours during the coming NEW YEAR!

Ray & Cindy Erickson

     Recruiting of new members is important to GWRRA for continued growth. Retention of current members is what will keep GWRRA strong. Everyone within the association needs to understand there is a multi-phase dynamic process to member retention. The retention process starts the moment an individual or family joins GWRRA and continues through a member’s choice to renew or not renew their membership.  In our view the member retention process is broken down into three phases.

     The first phase of the retention process (Phase I) is what we call The Honeymoon phase. We say this because just like a marriage, the new member has a perception or expectation of new and exciting things. This phase is normally a short period that covers the timeframe when a member joins GWRRA to the first time they attend their first gathering. Critical to this phase is the initial contact. Since first impressions are lasting impression we need to contact a new member as we become aware they have joined.  In most cases we will be notified of a new member via the Area Report. Chapter Directors or Membership Enhancement Coordinators need to make this first contact.  The preferred way to make this initial contact would be via telephone. Email or letter work well but a telephone call keeps the personal touch to it. During this initial contact you should inform the new member who you are, why you are calling, what the chapter has planned and invite them to the next event. Ask them if they have any question you could answer. As a closing to the initial contact provide the new member with chapter contact information.

     The second phase of the retention process (Phase II) is what we call Chapter Life. This phase is the longest portion of the Retention Process. It covers the period from the Honeymoon phase to 60-90 days prior to the expiration of a membership. This period is when the member’s expectations are either fulfilled, resulting in a satisfied and hopefully enthusiastic member, or are left unfulfilled resulting in a disillusioned member who is not likely to renew their membership. Communications is critical during this phase. Chapters need to effectively communicate with participants (members) what the Chapter is or will be doing. Just as important to communications is the Chapter receiving feedback from the members to meet their expectations. Simply put, a Chapter that has fun will normally have good retention.

    The last phase (Phase III) is what we call Decision Time. This phase covers the last 60-90 days of a membership. Either the Area Report or chapter roster with member join dates is the best tools to identify these members. By this time, a member for the most part has made up their mind whether to remain with GWRRA or move on. In some cases a member does not realize their membership is getting ready to expire so they still have a decision. In either case that does not mean a members decision is set in stone in either direction. If the chapter finds they have a member(s) in this phase, communications will further this process along. Also during this phase the GWRRA home office sends letters to the member reminding them that their membership is due to expire.

     There are always going to be members who do not renew their membership for any number of reasons. If we from the Region, District and Chapter levels are communicating with the members and in turn they are communicating with us, the retention process will become transparent.

Until next month...Be Safe Out There!

Rick & Madalena Buck

         Our first six months as International Couple of the Year has been fun but it sure has gone fast! We’ve visited new places and met so many nice people. We know our next six months will go just as fast and will be just as worthwhile! 

We hope your holidays were nice. We’re lucky to be able to ride our motorcycles nearly year round in Florida, so we enjoyed going on some Christmas light rides. You sure get to see the lights better on a motorcycle!

As Region “A” Couple of the Year Coordinators, we want you to be aware that National MED plans to honor all Couples of the Year by listing them on the MED website. At your annual meetings in January, each District Director will ask Chapter Directors for the names of their Chapter Couples. So CDs, please go to your annual meetings with that information. (Or send their names directly to us at jjacob01@tampabay.rr.com.) Being Couple of the Year is such an honor and we want everyone to know it!  

As Region “A” Treasurer, I’ve been asked to do a seminar at the Florida CD conference in Daytona Beach the first weekend in January. The District Treasurer is newly appointed so I gladly accepted. Jake has taken on the role as Assistant CD of our Chapter FL1-A, so we’ll both be attending the CD Conference.  As you can see, even after our “reign” as International Couple of the Year is over, we’ll still have plenty of GWRRA activities to keep us busy.

We hope that 2008 is a healthy, happy and prosperous year for you. And we look forward to seeing many of you in 2008!

Happy New Year!

Jake and Joanne Jacob