For President: Greg Feeler

Greg Feeler
Boise, ID

IÔÇÖm Greg Feeler and I am running for reelection as President of the BMW MOA. I do a lot of long distance touring on my K1200RS, and I have several other BMWÔÇÖs that are a lot of fun in the twisty Idaho mountains north of my home in Boise. IÔÇÖm an Information Technology manager by trade, and joined the BMW MOA when I started riding BMWs over three decades ago. In addition to previous positions on the BMW MOA Board, IÔÇÖve been President of my local BMW club, serve as a Cyber Cafe Committee Co-Chair for the International Rally, and am a BMW MOA Ambassador.

The Board is a team effort, and together we are making the club better with innovations like:
ÔÇó Webcasts of the Board of Director Meetings. The members who watch say these really open up the workings of our club.
ÔÇó Creating the board@bmwmoa.org email address to make it easy for any member to ask questions or make comments directly to the Board.
ÔÇó Writing the ÔÇ£From the BoardÔÇØ columns in the Owners News so you can learn about the projects of the Board committees.
ÔÇó New software for our website to make Rally Pre-Registration, the County Store, and the Join & Renew processes easier and better. These new features will come online starting this spring and through the summer.
ÔÇó Beemerville! This is a major initiative to involve more of you in the club, give you opportunities to serve, and revitalize our traditional volunteer culture.
ÔÇó The Regional Events program. These are non-rally events at different times and locations throughout the country. Our first ÔÇ£Weekend GetawayÔÇØ was held in Utah last September and several more are planned for 2010.
ÔÇó The Rider Performance University (RPUÔäó) and supporting the BMW MOA Foundation. The new RPUÔäó program will organize all our new educational activities, and be overseen by the new Rider Education Coordinator volunteer position. We are working with the BMW MOA Foundation to increase fundraising for rider education.
ÔÇó The Superbike Superstakes giveaway. This first ever promotion will add new members, and gives all members a chance to win an S1000RR (or other prizes) while improving relations with BMW Motorrad USA and BMW dealers nationwide.

For all we have done and are doing, we have even more opportunities and challenges ahead. We need to increase our appeal to the next generation of BMW riders while maintaining our core culture. We need more of you involved in the club, which is why Beemerville is so important. And, we need to do these things - and more - while carefully managing our budget during a challenging economy.

It is a great privilege to serve on the Board of Directors and be an advocate for your interests. If you like the direction of these innovations and would like them to continue, then I would appreciate your vote and the opportunity to continue to serve as your President.

Ride well, and often.

Greg said:

For all we have done and are doing, we have even more opportunities and challenges ahead. We need to increase our appeal to the next generation of BMW riders while maintaining our core culture. We need more of you involved in the club, which is why Beemerville is so important. And, we need to do these things - and more - while carefully managing our budget during a challenging economy.

Click to expand...

greg - that list of bullets contains great accomplishments. yet, each thing in the list is somewhat tactical.

how do these all play into a *strategy* for accomplishing what i've quoted above?

(in thirty words or less... )

ian

Visian said:

greg - that list of bullets contains great accomplishments. yet, each thing in the list is somewhat tactical.

how do these all play into a *strategy* for accomplishing what i've quoted above?

(in thirty words or less... )

ian

Click to expand...

You should pose the same question to his opponents. Oops

Visian said:

greg - that list of bullets contains great accomplishments. yet, each thing in the list is somewhat tactical.

how do these all play into a *strategy* for accomplishing what i've quoted above?

(in thirty words or less... )

ian

Click to expand...

Ian,
Strategic goals are great things, and the Board works on them continually, but it is the accomplishment of the tactical things which actually provides tangible benefits to our members. From the quotes:


1. Appeal to the next generation of BMW riders:

- Our new software will help fulfill the user experience expectation of younger riders.

- The S1000RR Superstakes is all about a bike that who's riders represent a 34-year average age demographic.


2. While maintaining our core culture:

- Interest in improving riding skills is a core value of our current membership. 75% of our members mentioned it as important from last year's survey. RPU will provide more and better education then we ever have.

- The social aspect of club membership is also a core value, and our Weekend Getaways give more of our members a "local" venue to meet in intimate groups. For many who have attended so far this was their first BMW MOA activity.


3. More of you involved in the club:

- Beemerville is first time in our history we have made volunteer recruitment a strategic goal. Our Consumer Affairs Liaison was, and the Rider Education Coordinator will be filled by Beemerville volunteers.

- Webcasting the Board meetings has received rave reviews. It opens up the process, and encourage the average member to consider service to the club. I have heard both of these comments from people who have viewed the Board meetings on-line.

- The "From The Board" columns in the ON provide accountability to the members, and give them information so they can in turn contact the Board with their opinions, ideas, and questions.

- The "board@bmwmoa.org" email address is generation an increasing number of messages from individual members. Each one gets answered. Every time a member emails their Board they are no longer on the sidelines.


4. Carefully managing our budget during a challenging economy:

- The Superbike Superstakes was design with three goals: build membership, reach out to a new group of riders, and create excitement. It is working. Our renewal rate this spring is twice as high as our pre-recession rate. We have sold close to 6,000 tickets, 60% of which have gone to exiting members. This is generating many new - and renewal - members, and a very important source of cash for the club during a tight financial year.


That's more then 30 words - but I'll bet a lot fewer than you expected.

GregFeeler said:

Ian,

...
1. Appeal to the next generation of BMW riders:[/U]

- Our new software will help fulfill the user experience expectation of younger riders.

Click to expand...

1. What kind of software has been developed to fulfill the user experience expectation of younger riders?

2. Many references have been made to the survey results. When will the general membership have the same access to the survey results as the candidates. I assume all candidates have access to this data?

Paul

GregFeeler said:

Ian,
Strategic goals are great things, and the Board works on them continually, but it is the accomplishment of the tactical things which actually provides tangible benefits to our members.

Click to expand...

strategy is the art of devising or employing plans to reach a goal.

tactics are specific actions, programs, etc.

deploying tactics without a strategy increases the risk of sub-optimal results.

don't get me wrong, i think all of the tactical achievements are great, and something to be proud of... but what is their aim? create a perception of greater value, higher satisfaction, a feeling of enfranchisement, faster growth, higher loyalty/retention....???

the questions i am looking for answers are:

- what are our objectives and goals?

our web site says: The goal of the club is to promote the camaraderie and friendship of individual members and BMW motorcycle clubs.

our web site also says: The BMW MOA's stated mission is to foster communication and a sense of family among BMW motorcycle enthusiasts.

- what is the strategy we will use to achieve our objectives and goals?

one *strategic* statement i see is "more of you involved in the club." this tells me that we see involvement in the club as a way to achieve our goal.

another strategic statement is "the social aspect of club membership is a core value..." under the objective of "maintain our core culture." again this is good, since for so many years (and maybe even now?) people saw their membership in the BMW MOA to be a magazine subscription.

- what tactics will be deployed under this strategy and how will they achieve the goals?

there are a lot of tactics listed. how do they fit together strategically to achieve our goals?

this isn't semantics. for over 10 years i have seen our strategic plan and it's not much more than a listing of things we're doing or have done recently.

meanwhile, our membership numbers are flat-to-declining and there appears to be a significant amount of churn (members coming and going).

ian

I for one

I, for one, am entirely satisfied with Greg's statement of tactical and strategic goals, and I don't think he needs a lot of help figuring out which is which.

Maybe I don't need to be the smartest guy in the room, but I like to be the most comfortable with the Club's direction and speed..

And, right now, I am. I have not always been.

Jim

Visian said:

strategy is the art of devising or employing plans to reach a goal.

tactics are specific actions, programs, etc.

deploying tactics without a strategy increases the risk of sub-optimal results.

don't get me wrong, i think all of the tactical achievements are great, and something to be proud of... but what is their aim? create a perception of greater value, higher satisfaction, a feeling of enfranchisement, faster growth, higher loyalty/retention....???

the questions i am looking for answers are:

- what are our objectives and goals?

our web site says: The goal of the club is to promote the camaraderie and friendship of individual members and BMW motorcycle clubs.

our web site also says: The BMW MOA's stated mission is to foster communication and a sense of family among BMW motorcycle enthusiasts.

- what is the strategy we will use to achieve our objectives and goals?

one *strategic* statement i see is "more of you involved in the club." this tells me that we see involvement in the club as a way to achieve our goal.

another strategic statement is "the social aspect of club membership is a core value..." under the objective of "maintain our core culture." again this is good, since for so many years (and maybe even now?) people saw their membership in the BMW MOA to be a magazine subscription.

- what tactics will be deployed under this strategy and how will they achieve the goals?

there are a lot of tactics listed. how do they fit together strategically to achieve our goals?

this isn't semantics. for over 10 years i have seen our strategic plan and it's not much more than a listing of things we're doing or have done recently.

meanwhile, our membership numbers are flat-to-declining and there appears to be a significant amount of churn (members coming and going).

ian

Click to expand...

Others may be very satisfied and that is fine. For the most part operations seem to be on course but our membership has declined and that is one of the reasons for the present raffle. The loss of members from a high of 40,000 should cause at least an eyebrow or two to rise.

Ian's concerns are fair and friendly.

The toughest goal is to get "more of you involved in the club." The club wiki is there but how does the MOA get more of our diverse and talented membership to volunteer?

Marketing and Branding for all but.......

Thoughts about the new generation

1. Appeal to the next generation of BMW riders:

A. I am also interested in the software application and approach. The trend is that manufacturers ( or a club ) are using social networking sites and bloggers to receive feedback from customers. This fosters transparency and allows the customer to provide feedback for future goods and services. I am not sure how this helps foster the family ( MOA ) approach but I do know that if you have satisfied customers you have satisfied growth. Instead of customers maybe call them enthusiast.

Some trends for 2010:

Online Marketing Spending

In 2010, two-thirds expect to spend the same or more than in 2009.
Approximately 70% plan to increase (1-30%) or significantly increase (30%+) their unpaid/earned/proprietary media.
The top priorities in 2010 will be social networks/applications and digital infrastructure.

Emerging Trends

Customer experience will be more important than ever.
Storytelling will evolve - location will become a key component; the speed at which stories are developed is crucial; and above all, emotional connections matter.
The beginning of the end of the banner ad.
Branded content syndication will replace some paid media.
40% of opportunity is mobile

Social Media

Social is becoming increasingly mobile.
Measurement will be more important than ever.
Real-time search is inextricably linked to the "statusphere."
Forms of content consumption will continue to be fractured; the nimble marketer will need to be in as many places as possible.


Read more: http://www.scottmonty.com/labels/trends.html#ixzz0kemZ8sKT


B. The S1000RR Superstakes represent a 34-year average age demographic ? I believe both BMW Motorrad and the MOA is spot on but my own observation suggest that the group is younger. The S1000RR owners that I met are just out of college, or in a secure trade job and all with their finances in order. They also mention that the BMW has more bang for the buck and actually are pleased to have something that is not Japanese. They were well informed due to print and electronic media, thus telling the story of social networking. Also mixed in this lot are all ages interested in that fine machine.

I had my doubts because I thought BMW would stay on the touring road of GS's and LT's.

What is your description of the next generation BMW rider?

What is your definition of ÔÇ£our core cultureÔÇØ?

PAULBACH said:

1. What kind of software has been developed to fulfill the user experience expectation of younger riders?

Click to expand...

The software I was referring to was an update to our on-line services that is replacing the very dated products we've been using for the last six yeas or more. The new software provides a more contemporary "cart" shopping experience more familiar to those who make frequent on-line purchase.

2. Many references have been made to the survey results. When will the general membership have the same access to the survey results as the candidates. I assume all candidates have access to this data?

Paul

Click to expand...

Good question, Paul. We are way behind in sharing these with the membership. We have planned to print these results in a series of articles in the Owners News but some other projects have bumped this back. Hopefully we can get this information out to the members relatively soon.

PAULBACH said:

Others may be very satisfied and that is fine. For the most part operations seem to be on course but our membership has declined and that is one of the reasons for the present raffle. The loss of members from a high of 40,000 should cause at least an eyebrow or two to rise.

Click to expand...

Paul,
You are correct that our membership numbers are down from their all-time peak of just above 40,000. However, we hit that just before the economic meltdown and the bursting of the housing bubble. Given that we are in the worst recession since the Great Depression of the '30's, the BMW MOA is doing well.

At the end of February we were at 36,206, which is a reduction of about 10% from our 40,000 peak. Considering the record high unemployment rate, I think we are doing much better then the economy overall. I expect the March numbers to be higher.

Ian's concerns are fair and friendly.

Click to expand...

Yes they are, and I always appreciate them.

The toughest goal is to get "more of you involved in the club." The club wiki is there but how does the MOA get more of our diverse and talented membership to volunteer?

Click to expand...

I'm not sure what you are referring to when you say "club wiki" - we don't have a wiki at this point.

To measure success for our volunteer efforts you have to set some parameters. My experience with volunteer or membership groups is that the best you can expect is a maximum pool of one to three percent of the members from which you can get volunteers. Our efforts with the Beemerville project have worked very well so far. As I mentioned in an earlier post, we have filled two Key Volunteer positions in the last six months with people who are first-time volunteers.

However, we can do better. We especially need more people to run for the Board of Directors. All volunteer positions are important, but if we don't have our "best and brightest" running for the Board, we are going to be in trouble. This summer and into the fall I want to see a series of articles in the ON and on the web site talking about the why people should consider that level of volunteer service.

We have from 6,500 to 10,000 people at our rally every summer, but usually get less than 20 members at the Town Hall meeting on Friday mornings. I've had close to 100 people show up at a Saturday night "Mini-Town Hall Meeting" at regional rallies with less than 600 total attendees. Something is wrong with that picture.

I'm going to make a special appeal to our members to "volunteer" one hour of their time in Redmond to attend our Town Hall meeting where we can talk about our volunteer culture and the opportunities for service inside our club. We have to continue to get the word out that the best way to make this club yours is to volunteer. I know you know that - we just need every volunteer to carry that message.

I'm a little concerned that we believe software is going to somehow improve recruitment of a younger generation when there is no compelling reason for them to join the club.

Speaking for myself, a better shopping cart isn't a compelling reason--I might use it once a year to renew (or once every three years). It might make the experience of signing up easier but in and of itself, a newer shopping experience is not a reason to join the club. I might also ask how is it that we know this shopping cart needs replacing (in this challenging economy, if it works; don't fix it)?

What are the new and more compelling reasons a rider in the 34-??? age group will want to join the MOA?

Visian said:

strategy is the art of devising or employing plans to reach a goal.

tactics are specific actions, programs, etc.

deploying tactics without a strategy increases the risk of sub-optimal results.

don't get me wrong, i think all of the tactical achievements are great, and something to be proud of... but what is their aim? create a perception of greater value, higher satisfaction, a feeling of enfranchisement, faster growth, higher loyalty/retention....???

the questions i am looking for answers are:

- what are our objectives and goals?

our web site says: The goal of the club is to promote the camaraderie and friendship of individual members and BMW motorcycle clubs.

our web site also says: The BMW MOA's stated mission is to foster communication and a sense of family among BMW motorcycle enthusiasts.

- what is the strategy we will use to achieve our objectives and goals?

one *strategic* statement i see is "more of you involved in the club." this tells me that we see involvement in the club as a way to achieve our goal.

another strategic statement is "the social aspect of club membership is a core value..." under the objective of "maintain our core culture." again this is good, since for so many years (and maybe even now?) people saw their membership in the BMW MOA to be a magazine subscription.

- what tactics will be deployed under this strategy and how will they achieve the goals?

there are a lot of tactics listed. how do they fit together strategically to achieve our goals?

this isn't semantics. for over 10 years i have seen our strategic plan and it's not much more than a listing of things we're doing or have done recently.

meanwhile, our membership numbers are flat-to-declining and there appears to be a significant amount of churn (members coming and going).

ian

Click to expand...

Ian,
There must be at least two dozen question in your post. Let me give you a short answer which I hope encapsulates what you are asking about.

As a preface, strategic goals are adopted by a vote of the Board, so what I'm saying is a reflection of my thoughts and to some degree those I believe are representative of the Board at large.

First, we need to be at the center of the BMW motorcycle world. We have a tag line on our promotional material which says we are "The Ultimate Resource for BMW Riders". That's pretty close.

The operational items that could fall under this would include expanding communications to our members and all BMW clubs. We would also find ways of facilitating both our traditional physical and virtual clubs, but also many of the new virtual clubs and groups. This goal can also include educational and training programs.

Next, we must continue to be a member-driven organization. Maybe "continue" is presumptive because we haven't always been as much as we should be. But, I think we are well on that road.

We need to continue to build "round-trip" communication between the members and the Board. We have a good start in the "From The Board" columns, and web-casts of our Board meetings, and also in some of the surveys that were done in 2009. This would also include things like "Beemerville" (volunteering for the club), and volunteer and leadership training for our clubs, like the "Leadership Summit" at the 2009 Johnson City rally, which will return this year in Redmond.

It's long been said we are a family. Another word for that is community. We need to build on that sense of community - or even communities. Operationally, we would have more events and riding opportunities (street, touring, dual-sport, and track). Communities thrive on information flow, and we have a lot we can do to inform and facilitate.

All of the above goals won't get far if we don't pay attention to the bottom line. We need to be fiscally responsible and maintain financial health while still expanding our offerings. "Responsibly expansive" would be a good description. We've been doing that over the last 18 months and I think it will pay big dividends as the economy improves.

Speaking of the last 18 months, I'm going to address your statement:

meanwhile, our membership numbers are flat-to-declining and there appears to be a significant amount of churn (members coming and going).

Click to expand...

Actually until January of 2009, well after the housing bubble burst and the world was in a recession did our membership numbers start to decline from a record of just over 40,500 (August, 2008). Those numbers would say we were on a major growth trend before the bottom fell out from under almost everything. In the time since we have added a number of new initiatives and expanded our offerings. In my opinion, we've held our membership numbers very well over the last 18 months, and they are starting to go up again.

As for churn, I know of no metric that establishes some kind of standard of measurement. Clearly, we want people to stay once they join, but what is a good number? Where do they go when they leave? Perhaps we need to really improve here, and perhaps we are doing better than average. This is a rich opportunity for us.

GregFeeler said:

As for churn, I know of no metric that establishes some kind of standard of measurement. Clearly, we want people to stay once they join, but what is a good number? Where do they go when they leave? Perhaps we need to really improve here, and perhaps we are doing better than average. This is a rich opportunity for us.

Click to expand...

What do you mean there is no standard? Define one as a goal "We would like 50% of all new members to re-up". Traditionally, what percentage of new members sign up for a second membership? You could measure what new members started with and how they renew too (if they took a 3y membership, do they stay with that or change to something else? Is it more or less their original? Surely that data exists and can be mined from existing numbers.

A good number is 100% renewal rate. For now, I'd like to understand why people don't renew.

ian408 said:

What do you mean there is no standard? Define one as a goal "We would like 50% of all new members to re-up". Traditionally, what percentage of new members sign up for a second membership? You could measure what new members started with and how they renew too (if they took a 3y membership, do they stay with that or change to something else? Is it more or less their original? Surely that data exists and can be mined from existing numbers.

A good number is 100% renewal rate. For now, I'd like to understand why people don't renew.

Click to expand...

What I was saying is that I haven't seen any statistics about "normal" turnover in enthusiast organizations like the BMW MOA. People come and go as their interest in the activity builds and wains. Naturally, we want to keep as many members as we can, but to set a goal of 100% retention is not realistic. About all we can measure against right now is ourselves: is our renewal rate going up or down? One thing that will help us understand more is to survey people who don't renew to find out what drove that decision.

Retention/churn

Just my own anecdotal observation: I joined in 2001 and was given member number 101254. Somewhere recently I noticed somebody had a number in the 156K range. I'd like to see us keep more people but I agree that figuring out the numbers on this sort of thing is difficult.

Perhaps there are no stats. What about starting somewhere? What is your goal? How do you suggest the club measure this and if 100% renewal isn't realistic, what is?

I get the builds and wains bit but why is that? Has anyone ever followed up with at least some of the folks who don't renew (aside from your suggestion) in the past? Formally or informally?

GregFeeler said:

What I was saying is that I haven't seen any statistics about "normal" turnover in enthusiast organizations like the BMW MOA. People come and go as their interest in the activity builds and wains. Naturally, we want to keep as many members as we can, but to set a goal of 100% retention is not realistic. About all we can measure against right now is ourselves: is our renewal rate going up or down? One thing that will help us understand more is to survey people who don't renew to find out what drove that decision.

Click to expand...

Note of thanks

Greg - thanks for offering to commit to the work required as President. I appreciate that you are willing AND able to act in this capacity.

By-laws

Question do you believe that the by-laws should be up held and followed?