Announcing BMW MOA 2021 Grand Coddiwomple!

[60aviator]

You should ask for the entry fee back.

Trust me you don't want to do that or irritate Greg as the next thing you know you are a volunteer!

 

[gregfeeler]

trust me you don't want to do that or irritate greg as the next thing you know you are a volunteer!

 

[gsinnc]

Trust me you don't want to do that or irritate Greg as the next thing you know you are a volunteer!

Now THAT was funny!

 

[310jen]

Hint: The vast majority of members apparently don't care about high mileage heroes any more than most riders give a crap about quarter mile times for bikes anymore. Mileage survey results ought to show that sentiment given the utter lack of participation across that vast, vast majority of members. Is it even 5%?

It's nice and all, but mileage != to motorcycling fulfillment anymore than a smorgasbord or Golden Corral is indicative, by their quantity, of a tasty meal.

I look at all the folks I work with in their 30s and 40s - our target demographic if we want this club to survive - and they just don't have time to ride significant distances or spend a week riding to a rally given current employment reality. The MOA, right now, has little to offer someone that doesn't pursue big miles or doesn't want to go sit in a fairgrounds once a year with a bunch of old farts listening their parents' old fogey music. The weekend getaways are great, but that's an idea from back when I was on the board in 2010. What's the next item that will bring members onboard? Is there one?

Is this even under discussion at the board level? It's hard for me to tell, as a member. Right now, it feels like when it comes to member benefits, we have weekend getaways, the rally, a magazine, and a raffle and that's about it. I'm not counting IG or FB because it's not apparent to me that we actually use that to recruit or that those outlets have actually realized member attraction and growth. Coddywhatever is a nice idea - in a time when there's not a pandemic, anyway - but what else does the club offer? Local route sharing? Local tech days? Local group rides? Any of this coordinated with local clubs might help drive membership in both.


how long until some snarly mod comes along and quotes me "for posterity?"

The club is stuck again and doesn't know what to offer its members in exchange for their membership dollar. It feels like we have some folks that haven't worked in a decade or two trying to understand the reality of folks 30 years their junior, with predictable results.

IMHO, now that I've participated in two car clubs that have chapters, I think it's a far better structure. The national organization provides dollars to the chapters, along with portions of membership funds so that all clubs can put events on. My Porsche Club of America chapter, Redwood Region, runs concours events, runs a TSD rally school, teaches car judging, runs autocross and track events, runs "tours" that are like rallies, runs "drives" that are a one day event, etc. There are endless opportunities for me to socialize with my fellow enthusiasts in a bunch of different ways.

Where is the BMW motorcycle equivalent offered by the national club, that will encourage me to get on my motorcycle and meet new fellow enthusiasts? While I like the NorCal club, I'm all done camping. So what's my benefit from MOA membership here beyond a magazine and a rally that I'm probably not going to if I have to cross the plains again?

Anybody got any plans for changing that? Until we put "benefit" in people's hands in exchange for the membership money, this club will continue to shrink. What's the retention rate on new members now? I presume that's been analyzed. If people are churning, are we arranging interviews with non-renewals?

Sorry to derail your thread, Greg, but this strikes me as about as effective as all that money we spent on Camp Gears, thinking if we recruited teens, we might be able to get new members into their grandparents' club.

I care about the high mileage....and placed really well in the BMW MOA mileage contest. I rode 28,000 miles during my coddiwompling

 

[rangerreece]

Plant the seed.

Jhonathan Gifford, BMW MOA Regional Coordinator, and Member Forces recruiter, Ambassador, in his 30’s: recruited in his teens through camp GEARS.

Thomas Higgins, lifetime club member, grew up in the club, now restores airheads and has participated in our rallies his whole life. His daughter, a freshman at Troy University also rides an Airhead, I signed her up for the club yesterday.

Steve Damron, just rejoined in October when I met him at a Halloween party, rides a K75 was attending rallies in the early 80’s as a kid in a sidecar with his dad who is also still a member and owns a boxer werks airhead restoration shop up north.

Mike Miranda, fellow pilot that I recruited last year, widower, friend of mine, races Hondas at vintage days in barbers, asked me yesterday, is there anything the club does, you know, like a scavenger hunt for me and the boys to do on the bikes (he has two teenage boys that ride BMW F650’s… he rides Airheads). I showed him the link for the 2022 Grand Coddiwomple on the website) his boys are MOA members also. They now have a mission oriented reason to go ride together, we provided that.

Jennifer Ott… we’ll, her club membership and participation needs no explanation.

Too many examples of our efforts actually working; these are only a few examples, I literally have hundreds of examples, by name, of riders who are members because of efforts and initiatives that the club works hard to provide for our members or prospective members with the long game in mind.

If you’re not seeing what I’m seeing, I encourage you to expand your view beyond the forums, even beyond Facebook and social media. Take a look at Bill Wiegand’s spread in this month’s ON regarding the foundation bike rebuild and the story of the MOA member from Chicago that created it. Zach seems to be very happy to have inherited his “father’s club.”

 

[Visian]

Jhonathan Gifford, BMW MOA Regional Coordinator, and Member Forces recruiter, Ambassador, in his 30’s: recruited in his teens through camp GEARS.

Here is Johnathan’s intro that I posted to the community, published on our web site, 20 years ago. I believe this was before Camp GEARS, but you make a good point.

Ian

 

[rangerreece]

Here is Johnathan’s intro that I posted to the community, published on our web site, 20 years ago. I believe this was before Camp GEARS, but you make a good point.

Ian

Thanks for posting that link. The CAMP GEARS comment regarding Jonathan came from a conversation I had with him in Great Falls last year.

 

[Visian]

Thanks for posting that link. The CAMP GEARS comment regarding Jonathan came from a conversation I had with him in Great Falls last year.

This is so long ago that Johnathan may not even remember!

 

[pglaves]

This is so long ago that Johnathan may not even remember!

I don't think Camp GEARS was Johnathan's first exposure to the BMW MOA but I vaguely recall his presence hanging around at the very first on in Morgantown.

EDIT: Charleston - not Morganton.

 

[Visian]

I don't think Camp GEARS was Johnathan's first exposure to the BMW MOA but I vaguely recall his presence hanging around at the very first on in Morgantown.

This is what I remember... I spotted Johnathan on IBMWR and spoke with him in Charleston (you're talking about the 2003 National, right?)

Dang, getting old sucks!

It was quite rewarding to see him get so actively involved in the club over successive years, I chalk this up to the warm reception he experienced.

 

[rangerreece]

I don't think Camp GEARS was Johnathan's first exposure to the BMW MOA but I vaguely recall his presence hanging around at the very first on in Morgantown.

Cool… you guys know how rally conversations go… I leave the rally and my head is numb. I probably got the specifics of what was said with Jonathan mangled, point remains the same. Still a big fan of the CAMP GEARS and it’s program successors, and will go to my grave knowing these programs work.

I’ll throw another name out there, Cassie Maier, daughter of an ambassador, and most definitely a CAMP GEARS grad… like I said, hundreds of examples to pull from.

Thanks Paul and Vonie and everyone that has worked so hard to pass that torch.

Thanks to Greg Feeler and the team for putting together the Coddiwomple.

 

[pglaves]

This is what I remember... I spotted Johnathan on IBMWR and spoke with him in Charleston (you're talking about the 2003 National, right?)

Dang, getting old sucks!

It was quite rewarding to see him get so actively involved in the club over successive years, I chalk this up to the warm reception he experienced.

Yes, Charleston, not Morgantown. Voni and I had camped out at the campus and that is where Camp G.E.A.R.S. was born.

 

[Visian]

Yes, Charleston, not Morgantown. Voni and I had camped out at the campus and that is where Camp G.E.A.R.S. was born.

I remember... you all gave the young GEARS people that wonderful rally experience of camping in the mud!

 

[pglaves]

I remember... you all gave the young GEARS people that wonderful rally experience of camping in the mud!

At least we were not down by the river where it really got muddy. Up on the campus it got wet but there was actually real grass like a person would expect on a college campus. And we had real bathrooms in the dormitory buildings.

 

[Visian]

At least we were not down by the river where it really got muddy. Up on the campus it got wet but there was actually real grass like a person would expect on a college campus. And we had real bathrooms in the dormitory buildings.

I actually thought this was a great venue... the eating area, S&S facilities, nice level grassy spots... everything except the part about the microburst that blew away the beer tent!

 

[gsinnc]

Yes, Charleston, not Morgantown. Voni and I had camped out at the campus and that is where Camp G.E.A.R.S. was born.

Wow, Charleston was my first MOA national Rally. We were at a Hampton Inn about 5 miles from downtown and missed the big storm that blew through. But the thing I remember was the city of Charlotte let us use the parking deck downtown so we had three covered parking. Great memories

 

[duccy]

Just curious

Has anyone received their certificate and pin? There was an allusion to it a few posts back but I haven't seen anyone posting a photo of either.

R Baker

 

[r0ckrat]

Has anyone received their certificate and pin? There was an allusion to it a few posts back but I haven't seen anyone posting a photo of either.

R Baker

There are a few people on facebook that have posted pics of receiving theirs, but I haven't gotten mine yet.

 

[skibum69]

Nope.

 

[179212]

Coddiwomple

I have received the certificate and the pin I will post pictures tomorrow.
I found the the whole Coddiwomple thing so much fun I signed up to do it again.