UNITED STATES POWER SQUADRONS SAIL AND POWER BOATING

Transcription

1 UNITED STATES POWER SQUADRONS SAIL AND POWER BOATING National Administrative Officer Vice Commander Gary P. Cheney, SN 1911 E. Fort Macon Rd. Atlantic Beach, NC Report to the Board of Directors February 16, 2016 Committee Reports (full reports attached) Membership A link is now available for squadrons to check the follow-up status for cyber members and others who have requested contact: Headquarters is no longer sending new member and reinstatement lists to squadrons, they can be found on the website at Membership is dropping at 7-8% per year, up from 4-5% the last couple of years. Reason is not known at this point. Member Benefits PowerPoints for squadrons and districts to use for new members, booths, seminars, etc. have been updated. New brochures are being printed. Four new partners added: Road Scholar travel guides Fugawi charting software Helms Briscoe meeting services Heart Sine aed s

2 Leadership 213 class-students this year in six locations. OT in 3 was completed and will be tested on Friday. Work is nearly complete on Secretary s, protocol, meetings, and parliamentary procedure seminars. A nominating committee manual is underway as well. Squadron Development Three Forks, Dubuque, and Lake Seminole provisional squadrons were disbanded by the BOD in November. All were over or near the 3-year limit provided by the bylaws and there was no activity. This left with no provisional squadrons at the end of There is activity in D26 for a possible new provisional. Squadron Activities Serat approved one new team in Waukegan (D10). Page 2

3 Complete Committee Reports 2015 National Membership Committee Annual Report Submitted by: R/C James Pahl-Washa, SN-IN February 2015 USPS Membership Numbers/Squadrons 31 December 2014: December 2015: (2323) 92.7% retention 63 Squadrons experienced growth 4 Districts experienced growth (D28, D10, D15, D33) The downward membership numbers continue to spiral downward at 7-8% annually. Changing this trend will take substantial changes in the organization, and we look forward to the rebranding studies to outline the areas of change necessary to turn things around. The growth success stories above indicate that growth is possible, but barriers to growth must be addressed. Special Programs Member Involvement Retention Award (MIRA): coordinator is R/C Priscilla Clark Award Submissions are due by 15 May each year, and awarded at the Fall Governing Board Arlington Governing Board Presentation: 27 participating squadrons First Place: Akron Sail & Second Place: Great Blue Hill Sail Third Place: Sarasota Power & Sail San Diego Governing Board Presentation: 30 participating squadrons (11% increase over 2014) First Place: North Olympic Sail & Power (D16) Second Place: Cape Fear Sail & Power (D27) Third Place (tie): Seattle Sail & Power Squadron (D16) & Cocoa Beach Sail & Power (D23) First Place District: District 8 Observations: Participation continues to be relatively small by typically the same squadrons. The MIRA program is in need of review and potential changes to reach a larger group. Since retention numbers continue to decline, the overall effectiveness of the program is in question. Finley Sea Scout Service Award: coordinator is P/C Bruce Rodgers Two awards will be handed out at the 2016 Annual Meeting in Orlando (2015 Awardees): The honorees will be announced on Saturday, 20 February, during the Governing Board. More information coming forward regarding 2017 Boy Scout Jamboree USPS Youth Poster (Formerly Boarman Youth Poster Contest): coordinator P/C Phil Osborne 2013 Annual Meeting (2012 contestants): last year of Boarman sponsorship 2016 Annual Meeting (2015 contestants): Third Year of USPS Sponsorship Remarks/Observations: The Youth Poster Contest continues to be widely popular, and we anticipate another record year of participation. The display will once again be located at the entry to EXPO Page 3

4 which proved to be good for USPS membership. Active hawking of voters has proven effective. Delivery of non-winning posters to the District Commanders seats at the Conference has reduced return mail costs and eliminated lost posters. The program could benefit from more publicity and new sponsorship. We are working with R/C Mary Paige Abbott and Tammy Brown in approaching new corporate membership. BoatU.S. Distinguished Civic Service Award: coordinator R/C James Pahl-Washa The Top 10 National Finalists will be revealed on Thursday 18 February at the Awards Banquet. The top squadron and top district award will be announced on Saturday by our BoatU.S. National Sponsor, Ted Sensenbrenner, during the Governing Board. Remarks/Observations: Participation continues to be weak. We will once again simplify the submission process and insist that all submissions be electronic to enable distribution to judges and BOATU.S. We have made some minor changes this year to the award process that brings a new level of prestige at being selected as a National Finalist. We think this will help increase participation, since it s our belief that far too many examples of civic service are going unreported. We are also evaluating the scoring methodology to simplify judging, and placing more weight on content over numbers. Doing It Right (DIR): Stf/C Jim Pahl-Washa new program 2015 Annual Meeting: There were no awards handed out due to a one year hiatus as the program was redesigned Annual Meeting: Squadron Honor Roll Winners: 62 squadrons Berkshire Power (D2), Great South Bay (D3), Patchogue Bay (D3), Jones Beach (D3), Oyster Bay (D3), Captree (D3), Hempstead Bay (D3), Bayside (D3), Moriches Bay (D3), Port Washington (D3), Sebastian Inlet (D8), Ft Lauderdale (D8), St Lucie River (D8), Madison Sail & Power (D10), Rockford (D20), Catawba (D27), Shallotte River Sail & Power(D27), Cape Fear (D27), Fort Macon (D27), Raleigh (D27), Albemarle (D27), Cape Lookout (D27),Lake Norman (D27), Goldsboro (D27), Rocky Mount (D27), St Louis (D30), and Des Moines (D30). Squadron Winner: Shallotte River Sail & Power Squadron (Growth +5, Retention 90%) The Shallotte River website epitomizes Doing it Right by providing one of the most visually engaging experiences that a member or potential member can encounter with a squadron website. The welcome intro immediately emphasizes the USPS brand, providing the two most current watch themes. Scrolling down the welcome page clarifies who we are as a national organization and the Shallotte River affiliation. This site provides a brief history of the squadron, access to education, their current newsletter and will take online membership applications. Shallotte River is doing it right, and their membership growth and retention prove it! District Winner: D27 and D3 for (50% + participation) Newsletters & Others Published MEMCOMments: 1 published, distributed, and posted on the Membership website and SailAngle Membership Group file cabinet Blasts: Membership had a presence in every monthly Blast by at least one (1) of its focal points. The Ensign: articles printed relating to MIRA and Youth Poster Contest awards. Projects: Webpage redesign Page 4

5 Other: Answered general inquiries from squadrons and districts; assisted as needed Recruited new MEMCOM team members Established working relationship with the Marketing Committee that will continue Committee Leadership Organization Chart R/C Jim Pahl-Washa: Committee Chair, Awards Chair Stf/C Bob Howd: Cyber Squadron sub-committee chairman & National Mtgs Admin Logistics Chair Lt/C Scott Aitken (Cyber Squadron Asst) P/R/C Jack Appel (Inventory) Stf/C Linda Lalonde NMR Coordinator, and USCGA Initiative, Website redesign Coordinator P/C Lynda Leque (First Timers sub-committee chairman) Stf/C Wayne Lambert Membership Retention, Involvement & Revitalization & Marketing Committee Liaison Member Benefits Committee Brochures Out of stock on benefit brochures at HQ in January. Last order was in May 2014 for 20,000. New brochure has been created and sent to printers. New vendors have been added and some removed. Preferred to run out of them since look is totally different. Members will throw away the old ones and want only the new ones. Hopefully they will use up the supply they already have before ordering more. MB will be giving out a bag in Orlando Expo booth with a pack of MB (50/pack), and other fliers of MB vendors to place in the bags so squadrons will take back. If we only offer the brochure, they won t take the other brochures/fliers. Committee Leadership Changes Nominated R/C John Rowland has been involved in decisions and s for over a year. John has been taking over the lead role of obtaining vendors. John has submitted the HQ229 form already Nominated Staff Cdr Barbara Erickson has been involved in marketing material designing, monthly blast notices, and a variety of projects for the last 3 years. New Vendors Road Scholar is a not-for profit organization that will provide a knowledgeable tour guide almost anywhere in the world. They can provide, for a cost of course, lodging, meals and transportation if desired. As many of USPS members do not have boats now, but they enjoy the companionship of their friends they have made over the years, this could be a benefit that could be used to explore new areas on land with a tour guide to explain the history of the site that might not Page 5

6 be in the tour books. Road Scholar is donating over $1000 in prizes to the MB Raffle Fugawi Corporation is an electronics company and is a member benefit that is already established with the Canadian Power Squadrons. The software is very user friendly. Fugawi is offering any USPS instructor a 67% discount on purchase, 50% off the price for a student and 10% for all other members of USPS. In addition, Fugawi has other items for purchase and for them, we all would receive a 10% discount on those items. The Fugawi information is not on the website yet and most likely not until after the Annual Meeting. This is due to some minor details that need to be worked out between USPS and Fugawi. However, we are expecting excitement of this benefit at the Expo as the company will be there to explain their goods and services.fugawi is offering at our MB raffle 2 Fugawi Marine 5 PC full suite Navigation software. Donation of $600 worth of software for MB Raffle Helms Briscoe is offering their meeting location finder services to squadrons and districts. Mariner s Learning added back to the website once the discount issue was worked out. HeartSine discounts on AED Devices and Accessories. Website Pretty much done, but updates and changes are being made all the time. Public does not have access to benefit details, especially how to take advantage of the deal, but if a member logs in, they will have access to all. Super webmaster Gloria Shulke should get lots of credit for the many hours of work she put into it. Annual Meeting Seminar space was given up to make room for another committee. MB will have a raffle going on all day, so we will have visibility with the members RAFFLE/Door Prizes Committee has purchased a GoPro Hero 4 Silver as the main raffle item. This has been requested again and been a big hit in the past. Office Depot is donating $150 in gift cards and Keurig Coffee maker ($150 value) with free shipping to the winners location. Road Scholar - $750 & $250 voucher Fugawi 2 $300 value navigation software Sea Tow swag bags (bags of logoed items) BoatUS Foundation 1 inflatable life vest and 6 other regular Stearns Life Vests 2 $25 Sonny s BBQ gift cards (MB purchase) 2 $25 Steak N Shake gift cards (MB purchase) 4 1-day free Budget/Avis Rent-A-Car vouchers Page 6

7 Solude Coffee 4 bags of 12 oz coffee & 30 sample bags Bluetooth Pill PC/phone speaker 2 Wireless mouse 2 16 gb Thumb drives MORE POTENTIALLY FROM AFFINITY COMING Helms Briscoe and Rosen Centre are donating cloth bags for Expo via NatMeetingsComm. MB will be distributing at the Expo. Maintaining accounts, contacting for Expo, updating/tracking reports. Monthly blast notifications submitted. PowerPoint presentations updated. Leadership Development Committee Leadership Development Classes We taught in six locations in 2015: Jacksonville, Raleigh, Bethpage, NY, Charlotte, San Diego, and Seattle. Nearly two hundred students participated in LD 101, 102 and 103. P/R/C Pete Hames, AP continues to track our revenue, help local points of contact, handle printing and more things than I can detail, here. P/R/C Ed Kridler, SN continues to be our go-to guy for local point of contact (Jacksonville, Charlotte, San Diego and Orlando) D/C Andy Hyman, SN-ACH taught for the first time this year. The Leadership Academy, in Raleigh, proved very successful for the participants. Stf/C Harold O Briant, JN handled the Point of Contact duties and logistics and was an integral part of the event s success Seminars, Classes and Projects Secretary s Seminar Stf/Commander Mary Dodd, SN prepared the seminar. When it is approved, it will be added to our website. Mary, also, manages our seminar development OT in 3 D/Lt Betty Dysart, JN took the assignment to develop this at our San Diego meeting. P/R/C Pete Hames, AP beta tested in Houston. Betty will teach this in Orlando at 0930 on 19 February. This is an excellent piece of work and will be on our website after Orlando Protocol Seminar Stf/C Miguel Lugo, JN worked on this and it should be completed in 2016 Meetings Seminar P/D/C Brad Peters, SN worked on this and it should be completed in 2016 Parliamentary Procedure Seminar P/D/C Jeff McKinney worked on this and it should be completed in 2016 Clubhouse Rules A lighthearted look at leadership will be presented on the USPS cruise following the Annual Meeting. This will be posted on our website following the cruise Page 7

8 LD Website P/R/C Susan Darcy, JN updated the website following the new marketing model. Moving the actual site to the new software is underway. She, also, maintains it as well. In addition, she prepared the Commanders Calendar which is part of the electronic Commander s Kit on our website Broward County Waterway Guide With P/R/C Dick Pfenniger, SN prepared the 100 page guide draft. It is currently in the publishing process and printing should happen in the 1 st quarter. V/C Bob Brandenstein, SN, R/C David Allen, SN, V/C Gary Cheney, SN along with SueLee Tang were instrumental in supporting this effort. Once completed, the electronic model will be available for publishing in other geographies. The Pompano Beach Power Squadron received a $23,000 grant for the initial printing. All development was completed by volunteers, including the cover photography Leadership Development Classes We will be teaching LD 102 in Tacoma, WA in March and there are early discussions about LD 103 in the fall. We hope to return to the following locations in 2016 Savannah, Raleigh, New Orleans and Virginia (D/5.) We are willing to participate in another Leadership Academy as the Chief wishes. As we roll out OT in 3, we may have to change Module 4 in all three classes. We ll make that determination based upon feedback throughout the year at Pittsburg, in particular. The plan would be to complete the modifications by Orlando, Seminars, Classes and Projects Nominating Committee Manual We will continue the effort to write a manual based upon the work in our Nominating Committee Seminar (P/R/C Ed Kridler, SN is on point for this in conjunction with the process agreed by the National Nominating Committee Chair and the National Law Officer) This manual will be for District and Squadron use Protocol Seminar Should be completed in 2016 Meetings Seminar Should be completed in 2016 Parliamentary Procedure Seminar Should be completed in 2016 Waterway Guide - Should be completed in 2016 General Comments: The Staff Commanders, along with P/R/C Susan Darcy, JN and P/R/C Pete Hames, AP participate in monthly conference calls. Each member of this leadership team heads a primary activity as noted in our accomplishments detailed above. This team fields questions throughout the year. Each member provides a different and valued perspective. I m delighted to report all members coming back for another year. Squadron Activities Committee The major emphasis for the committee remains to get the Squadron Activities web sites updated. Stf/C Carl Filios, SN-IN, has been very helpful in updating the new SAC website. It is now up to our committee to develop the new content for the site. Page 8

9 The SERAT Committee under the leadership of Stf/C Jim Strothers continues to promote the SERAT program and encourage other Squadrons to form a SERAT unit. Committee members have made presentations at various District events to promote the program. They also continue to provide information of the program to Squadrons to assist them in forming a unit. Information describing the SERAT program is on the National USPS website public information page. There is also limited information currently available on the Squadron Activities Committee website, which is still under construction. The SERAT committee is working to determine what information should be on the website. Plans are to include the Manual and Training information on the website for easier access for members. Jim and his team will have table at the Expo in Orlando to promote the program and to answer questions from interested Squadrons. P/D/C Donald Stark, JN, attended the Tall Ships America annual meeting in Quebec in January. Tall Ships America remembers quite well the terrific job that was done by SERAT at the 2013 Bicentennial of the Battle of Lake Erie. SERAT earned a lot of respect for the fine job that was done. There will be parades of sale in Toronto, Erie, Chicago, Fairport Harbor and Duluth. SAC will encourage nearby Squadrons to participate for the US sites. L/C Gary Wells, AP, the chairman of the Amateur Radio division and president of the USPS Amateur Radio Club has been instrumental in revitalizing the amateur radio net on Echolink. The amateur radio net has been running every first Thursday of the month at Echolink allows licensed amateur radio stations to communicate with one another over the Internet, using streaming audio technology. The Echolink program allows worldwide connections to be made between stations or from computer to station, greatly enhancing Amateur Radios communications capabilities. Participation has been growing slowly. Gary plans to have an Echolink session at the Expo to demonstrate how useful Amateur Radio is on a boat and elsewhere. The committee members have attended Squadron and District meetings, representing the Squadron Activities committee and have facilitated communication about boating and other activities. The following are the goals set for 2016 for the Squadron Activities Committee by incoming Rear Commander Jerry Madden. 1. To have the SAC website up and running with all available upgrades installed. 2. To encourage registration of all cruises and rendezvous so that interaction between squadrons and districts may be available for use. These events are fun and expand the social aspect of each squadron and/or district. 3. To be able to register all Port Captains in every squadron, for use by local USPS members or those who may travel into another area. Port Captains are a valuable tool which can be utilized for the convenience of members who travel outside their own squadron reach. This person is "the- know- it- all". Where services are available for whatever the need is that arises. From pulling a tooth to fueling your boat, this person can tell you where to go. 4. To capitalize on the now active amateur radio component of SAC. This is a growing segment of USPS and should be utilized to its fullest. Registration in the USPS Amateur Radio Club is up and running. The use of "Echolink" software allows licensed users to communicate over the internet. Page 9

10 5. To expand the SERAT (Squadron Emergency Response Assistance Team) program to many new areas around the USPS umbrella. This is a very valuable arm of USPS in which it assists local government agencies in performing their duties. 6. To encourage the use of on- the-water Educational Cruises by instructors whether it be our courses or instructors from another agency. Knowledge is power. I want to thank all the members of the committee for their fine work supporting SAC and USPS during my tenure as Rear Commander. It has been a privilege to be the committee chair. I hope to see everyone at the Squadron Activities Expo booth in Orlando. Best regards, R/C Paula Mizell, JN Page 10