Firebird Club: Subdivisions

Lets hear ideas on how we can conduct meetings. As well all know, it will be impossible for everyone who wants to come to drive down each time. The idea of subdivisions came up. I think the idea could work but it needs focus.
If we did a Western MI set of meetings and an Eastern set it would be good, but what about those further north? There has to be a way for us to get together without putting people out too much.

[knuckles]

east and west would probably work well enough. but i dont think its something to worry about in the beginning, maybe after theres a lot of members. no sense dividing the club in 2 right from the start. itd be twice as hard to get more members.

[knuckles]

as for meetings... a central meeting a couple times a year, division meetings as often as anyone feels like organizing, and jump in other shows already in existence. just my thoughts

[CHMLEON]

Copying this over from the other thread...

To keep the group as a whole running we should have one main group President and then one Vice-President per Division. The Vice-Presidents would report directly to the main President which would co-ordenate everything.

Meetings could be recorded and securly posted for those in the far northern regions

[phoenix_rising]

All great ideas. keep it going!

[MattODoom]

Im really not interested unless its a localish thing like the WMCC where all the guys are within a reasonable distance of eachother.

The cool thing about the WMCC is all the guys see eachother frequently so everybody knows eachother. If Im in a MIFC odds are ill see the eastside guys maybe once a year. Probably not even that much.

We need a WMFC / EMFC

[02hawk796]

I would suggest one group with the exec level people representing the whole, and then "area coordinators" as they are known, who coordinate the local stuff and can find and organize events, but don't need to deal with admin stuff in general.
All members would be welcome to all events everywhere, but it would not be viable for a detroit person to organize a Grand Rapids or Traverse city event.
When thngs get rolling, evetually there should be a rotation of execs, so that one area does not have the leaders all the time, the Prez comes from a different area each time.
Also, normally a rule should be that no 2 competing events be scheduled for the same day. However, because of the size of MI, perhaps some conditional rule could be used, like "within 200 miles of each other" or something.

[phoenix_rising]

Im really not interested unless its a localish thing like the WMCC where all the guys are within a reasonable distance of eachother.

We need a WMFC / EMFC

I understand what your saying and I agree with you. I want to make it conveinant enough for everyone to be involved on a regular basis.

How would we decide what is East and what is West? Maybe give people the choice if they are on the border?

It also sounds like we should have one guy heading up the group, a president of sorts, and then two sets of regional executives to run local events and meetings.

We have an Executive Board:

President
Vice-President (Eastern Chapter)
Vice-President (Western Chapter)
Treasurer (Should we have two? Should we have two accounts?)
Secretary (Eastern Chapter)
Secretary (Western Chapter)
Membership Chairperson (Eastern Chapter)
Membership Chairperson (Western Chapter)
Club Photographer (Eastern Chapter)
Club Photographer (Western Chapter)
Newsletter Editor
Web Master


How should we handle things like finances? Will we have two treasurers one for each chapter?

Also, a question for Doug, Does the WMCC have a set of bylaws that dictate how the club is to be run?

Also is the WMCC a loosely managed group, meaning that there are little rules and participation in events in not really necessary, or is the WMCC more stringent? Meaning that to maintain status in the club a member has to show up for events, or something of the sort?

[CHMLEON]

How should we handle things like finances? Will we have two treasurers one for each chapter?

That will have to be tossed around.

On one hand if we divide it up finances may be tight (depending upon how many peaple join per division).

But on the other hand if the finances are done through one then if more events are held on one side of the state then the other division may complain that there member dues are not being used to develop and fund events in their division.

[WMCC Doug]

Morning Ben,

Well, WMCC does (did) have a set of bylaws, but I have not looked at them in years! We run things pretty loose. Meetings are not run by a rigid set of rules. I just try to be patient when the group gets off on a tangent.

We have no rule about membership status based on attendance or activities. We just try to be friendly and easy going and hope that is enough for our members to want to participate in our activities.

Over the years, we have had cycles in our membership numbers. There was a time in the 80's when we might only get 8 or 10 people to a Club meeting, but now we average 35 to 40 people attending our meetings.

You will find that sometimes, people will come around for a while, and then just sort of fade away, while others get involved and become active right away. Eventually, the group will consist of people that are pretty like-minded, and share common interests (besides the cars).

The enthusiasm that is here right now will not last. That's not a put down, just a fact of how things go. You will need to be persistant, and not get discouraged. There will be ups and downs, but in the end, the effort is very rewarding.

[ezysk]

Ok.. I started to write a post, but then thought about it more.
Here is my 2 cents.
The funding should go to one central place.
Then it should be broken divided up into different cost categories for the organization.
Categories might be:
Events
Web Site (maintenance and fees)
Accessories a.k.a. (Logo Stickers, shirts, hats, etc)
etc.

Then for the items that are location specific, such as East Side Gatherings or West Side Gatherings, the funds for those events should be split up at the time of the event based on estimated attendence.
So if you only have 4 members from the West side and 32 members on the East side and you figure 3 members might show for the West Side and 30 from the East, then split the Event fund by 30/3 or 10:1

Just my 2 cents.
And does my 2 cents count toward the membership fee...

[phoenix_rising]

Interesting idea! Lets see what the rest of the group thinks.

Next question after this,

How will funds be divied out?

What should be the process to request funds?
I don't want it to be complicated, but I do want to have some planning to be going on for each side.

A budget for each side?

[ezysk]

Just do it through email, phone calls or IM.
Make sure all VPs and President are aware.
They will make the decision.
It currently looks like 3 people so any voting will never be a tie.

[81DaytonaPaceCar]

I think we're getting a little carried away here.

As a suggestion, let's define the following before we even begin talking about fees and where the money will be kept:

1. Purpose - Call it a Mission Statement. What are our expectations? What will the club provide? How formal/informal do we want it?

2. Structure - Will it be divided into a East and West subgroup? What positions will we need to fill? Who would like to apply for those positions (keeping in mind that this will be a huge responsibility and commitment)? What do those positions actually represent? What are their roles and responsibilities?

3. Incorporation and registration - As (I think) Gary said before, we need to get registered with the government to really make this work correctly. So we'll need an official name and responsible officers that will be registered with the name (can't put the cart before the horse).

4. Website registration/development - Might sound minor compared to the above issues, but this will likely require the most real work and definately maintenance.

I don't think we can move forward with the smaller details until the big ones are defined. Often, if the larger issues are correctly defined, the smaller issues sort themselves out.

Just my two cents...o.k., maybe a dime...

[phoenix_rising]

Understood Jeff. We are waiting until later on to vote on anything. NOTHING IS FINAL YET. I am just getting the ideas out there so everyone has the chance to get their $0.02 in.