The Region “A” rally season is well underway with both Florida and Alabama hosting very successful rallies.  We reported on the details of both in last month’s newsletter.

       As we write this article, we are just about a week away from our departure for the South Carolina District rally in Myrtle Beach.  The rally will be held at the Springmaid Beach Resort and Hotel.  This facility is NOT within the legal City of Myrtle Beach and so is not governed by the laws and ordinances you may have heard about that were designed to deter motorcycle rallies in Myrtle Beach itself.  The SC rally will have all the traditional events that you’ve come to associate with GWRRA rallies and will not be affected by the City of Myrtle Beach’s policies.  Come on out and join us.  Nan and I stayed at the Springmaid Resort during the SC annual officer’s meeting and found it to be a really neat site.  We hope to see you in Myrtle Beach the week of the 30^th of April thru May 2^nd. 

       We were saddened to receive the resignation of South Carolina District Director, Carl and Donna Blackston.  Carl and Donna have done a magnificent job rejuvenating GWRRA in the South Carolina District.  Under their leadership, recruitment and retention of members has been outstanding, often leading all of Region “A”.  They and their staff were key players in hosting Wing Ding 30 in Greenville, SC last year.  The SC District and their chapters were responsible for many of the unseen details that made Wing Ding such a success and Carl and Donna were largely responsible for making it all happen.  Carl and Donna have done a fantastic job in Region “A” and we really hate to see them step down.  They are departing because of the demands of their respective businesses in these hard economic times.  We wish them the very best and look forward to seeing them around the rally circuit when their circumstances permit.

       Taking over the South Carolina District will be Charles and Kathy Coleman, the current SC Membership Enhancement Coordinators.  Charles and Cathy were pictured on the cover of the Wing Ding 30 program.  They have previously served as Chapter Director (two terms) of SC-E in Greenville.  Charles and Kathy have also been instrumental in the SC District’s great Recruitment and Retention efforts during the last year.  We know that they will do a fine job as the new SC District Director and we extend to them a hearty welcome to the ranks of Region “A” District Directors.

       Once again we remind our Region “A” members that we have a work assignment at Wing Ding 31 selling tickets and need your help.  If you are planning on attending Wing Ding in Tulsa, OK please let your respective District Director if you would be willing to donate a couple of hours so we can put a schedule together.  It’s light work, indoors and lots of fun.  We’d really appreciate you help!  Thanks!

       Our Region Membership Enhancement Coordinators, Bob and Karla Greer have distributed some important information to the Districts concerning new procedures for handling the Area Run Lists.  Without going into the specifics of those new procedures, (see Bob and Karla’s article in this newsletter for details) we understand that there are a couple of additional steps that we are asking of the Chapter Membership Enhancement Coordinators.  These additional steps (which record the actual member contacts where needed) will be useful in measuring the effectiveness of our Recruitment and Retention efforts.  All we ask is that you give this important task your best effort.  Thanks!

       Our Region “A” Officer’s Meeting will be held in a new location this December.  You will recall that the last several years we held this event at the George Bagby Lodge and State Park near Ft. Gaines, GA.  Last year we experienced some problems there with both service and sanitation issues so we decided to move to another venue.  This year we will meet at the Lakepoint Lodge and Resort, which is located at Eufaula, AL.  This is a fantastic site, where both the Alabama District and Region “A” rallies have been held in years past.  We will arrive on December 4^th, Friday afternoon or evening and meet Saturday the 5^th from 9:00 AM till 5:00 PM.  Most folks will overnight both Friday and Saturday and we’ll head for home on Sunday, the 6^th.  The rooms are only $69.95 per night plus tax.  We will have coffee, soda and water service in the meeting room throughout the day on Saturday.  As always, this is a legitimate business expense for your respective Districts, reimbursable from your District Treasury as funds permit.  The phone number for the lodge is (800) 544-5253.  Please tell the person answering that you are with the GWRRA group.

       We look forward to seeing you at a GWRRA event soon,                   

Bob & Nan

       I need to start this out by congratulating all of our District Trainers for an outstanding 1^st quarter.  By my calculation Region “A” accumulated a total of 5,642 training hours while providing training to 1,534 of our members.  Great job, folks!

       All the members of the Region “A” staff is well into planning for our rally in September.  Besides scheduling a couple of seminars, I’m also planning to conduct our LTD Trivia Challenge.  As soon as I tweak the rules a bit I’ll forward all the criteria to our Region Web Wizard to post on the Region “A” LTD page.  It will run pretty much the same as last year, so start planning who you will have at the rally to represent your respective district.  I’m hoping to have even more fun with it this year than last.  By the time this gets published I should have all the information on the web.

       On April 18, Sharon and I were over in Alabama presenting an Instructor Development & Certification Program to eight very enthusiastic members.  As soon as they become certified, Frank & Linda Teasley will have the makings for a super LTD Training Team.  I’ll take this opportunity to remind everyone that the more instructors you have in your district, the easier the Trainer’s job becomes.  These training teams also provide a very good talent pool when it comes time to find a replacement for the District Trainer position.

       I will be presenting an Instructor Development & Certification Program on June 10 (Wednesday), just prior to the start of the Georgia District Rally in Hiawassee, GA.  The class will begin at 8:30 am in one of the classrooms at the Ramada Lake Chatuge Lodge (host hotel).  We should finish around 4:00 pm that day.  Come and get involved by becoming a GWRRA LTD Instructor.  Any current member may attend.

       May your highways be smooth and the sky be blue – enjoy the ride.

Dave & Sharon

  “The Results are in the pudding”

       That title was just to catch your attention but what we really wanted to let you know is that very positive results are already showing for those that have committed to contacting all members from the newly formatted Area Reports.

       Although we, here in Region “A”, only received this new format with the February 2009 Area Reports and have only had a chance to use it and put it to work for us for two months now, other Regions within GWRRA have been making good use of this new format for several months now. The results for those that are making good use of this new format are positively shocking and amazing.

       You too can see a dramatic increase in your Chapter participation by doing the following.  Think of all the benefits of increased participation.  More FUN.  More and diverse activities. Better chance to capture the traveler’s plaque. More helpers for the CD to delegate jobs to.  More participants trained and ready to take over Chapter leadership positions. And this list can go on and on and on…..  It is so simple.  

1.     Chapter receives their Area Report each month.

2.     CD or Chapter MEC contacts each and every member from all four tabs of the monthly Area Report. The Unassigned Zip Report Tab is for District.

a.     New Members Tab

b.     Expiring Dues Tab

c.     Prospectives Tab

d.     Expired Dues Tab

3.     CD or Chapter MEC completes the following 3 columns for each of the above tabs, saves the data and forwards the corrected Area Report to the Region MEC, with an information copy to the District Director and District MEC.  In Region “A” it goes to Bob & Karla Greer at mec@gwrra-regiona.org

a.     Contacted Y/N

b.     Date

c.     Comments (Member’s comments when they are contacted.)

       OK here is what you have been waiting for.  Just what were the positively shocking and amazing results from these other Regions? In the chart below, Regions X, Y & Z represent Regions that have been using the new Area Report format since mid-Summer 2008.  

       Although a 2% difference doesn’t really seem that significant, if the above numbers were extrapolated out for 12 months, it would show that Regions X,Y & Z would loose 1,732 members and Region “A” would loose 3,294 members, nearly twice as many.

       As great as Region “A” is at recruiting new members, we simply can not recruit enough new members to keep up with the current loss of members without doing something about it.  This is a simple way to accomplish it.

There is just ONE BIG thing that has to happen to make this work for you. 

Contact every member from every tab every month. 

And remember, leaving a phone message or sending an e-mail does not constitute contact. 

A personal contact may be just what is needed to retain that member on your list.

Bob & Karla