In some states a mass-meeting is not possible
 

We look at Tennessee (and California and Texas may be in the same thought model) and see how much fuel is involved and think:
"I don't have a corporate subsidy for THIS..." and so it goes.

One answer is designating regions within a state, and if necessary even smaller areas for groups within the overall chapter.

Lets face it folks - meeting eachother should be painless, especially in the era of fuel crunches!

I personally would rather meet people around a barbeque and a picnic table than have to raise money to lease a colliseum and wait for people to drive several days. I know I'd regret not meeting people from the other end of the state, but we could have fun every so many weekends (depending on what we had going on).

LOCAL! We've got to think local...

Bringing people together need not necessarily mean EVERYONE all at once in one place. Think small, and it will grow.

Bob Marley said it best:

"Let's get together, and FEEL alright..."

ZZTOP had a lot to say too...

Dutch this is a problem for all the states, and regional meets are the best way to handle this, as leader that person will need to find ways to encourage this. Tennessee needs to have a active leader to will promote this.

Which leads me to this question ....Have you found out the status of nighttrain? :-huh I see that he still visits FTE, but has he been active in the chapter?

if not have you put yourself up for the position?

I don't want to answer for Dutch, but he and I have spoken about this.

As for Nightrain. He is MIA, He still visits FTE & makes posts but hasn't posted in the Tenessee Chapter since April of this year (I've search his posts) I'm not sure if he has viewed it or even is interested anymore.

Due to his lack of activity & with Dutch & myself being the most active members at this point, we thought it would be a good idea to accept nominations & get a poll started to get a new leader.

Yes, Dutch is in the running. To be fair the nomination & polling is being conducted by a third party that isn't interested in the position (which is myself) & nightrain will be included as well to keep the position.

Hopefully more people will step up with nominations & participate in the Chapter. A chapter is only as strong as the voice of it's members.

I said it at the Rally, and I repeat it for all to see:

"I can be one heck of an 'Instigator'..." :)

I see some voices in East TN too though - and kinda hope to see nominees from that direction as well! Although it costs pretty much nothing to come on out to my place and have a bash, not to mention no EX to work around, there may be few takers on the BBQ thread at this end of the state.
OH WELL!

The areas where there ARE a lot of repondees can be looked at too, and I'm all over that, even if I can't make it myself!!!

Over by "K-TOWN" and Bristol, for example...

This is not about me. Its about everbody - and there's HUGE potential once we 'Git-R-Rolling"

We are in the same boat. I have divided our state into various regions and have been asking for volunteers to be "Regional Leaders". Only have one to step up to the plate for now. Hope to see more as the snow starts to fly. Heck some locations are a few thousand miles away. I have no finical means to charter a plan or boat to reach those locations. I have been doing some 13 hour drives here and there for meet-n-greets but only a few show up 2-3 so I only do those when I am going that directions for business or Dr. Appts. Hopefully this regional leader thing will work out but time will tell.

Having regional coordinators works very well I have found. Here too it is really to big a state to try and get everyone at the G2G's. Right now it is divided up into two areas and we are working on a third. By using regional coordinators you accomplish many things. (1) you get a local person that is more familiar with the are and has better understanding of where to plan such meetings. (2) you have a person whom is an extension of the chapter leadership which gives the meets a legitimacy as well as having a point person for the members in the area to look to for guidance. (3) This makes it to where the CL doesn't have to make every meet. Even though as CL I believe you have to make as many as possible. It is rough and demands a lot of a CL but if the CL won't make the effort then why will the members. (4) The area coordinators and the CL can work in unison to setup and organize state wide meets.

I have found that this works pretty well and with fuel prices the way they are having local meets will garner more interest. But a side benefit of this is that some will enjoy it so much that from time to time they will drive the extra miles to attend another regions meet, thus you start getting crossover members attending. We have some that actually will truck-pool to other areas too. When more members start driving to another area this also encourages others to do the same. A third thing we are working on is a floating meet that takes place in a different area of the state. This allow for members that are too far away for the 2 main area meets then they can have a chance to attend a meet also. This has the added benefit of letting members have a chance of a meet in their area or town then they are more likely to drive to another one somewhere else.

Thanks Rollie, We now have two active regional coordinators, one with an assistant and hopefully that will get the ball rolling. Time shall tell.

Rollie, Your comments coincide with my thoughts about the forums that I felt needed splitting to achive greatness for each state.
ie: The High Plains & NW Chapters

Building each STATE is what will make FTE bigger.
Anyone who doesn't see this is not looking into FTE becoming Larger & Greater. :(
The object of regional areas inside an INDIVIDUAL state IMO, is the only way to go.Regardless of a few people who happen to have get togethers themselves.

the plan for the time being is to leave HP and the NW intact as they are.

Regarding HP, it is in the works to rebuild the activity to a point where they can stand on there own as seprate states. Matts72 is overseaing the whole HP chapter for the time being.

Much of it is dedication. We have members who drive six hours one way for a NW get-together. Practical? Maybe not, but it works. The NW chapter seems to be the most "succesfull" chapter currently so I'm not complaining about a little driving :)

People keep using my post and drift away from my intent as well as the original meaning of what I said. Please read my posts again and see that what I say is a good and sound idea of how to set up chapters with local regional coordinators. This can be done within a state or within a group of states. The intent is to put out a possibility of getting more members involved in things without having to drive as far every time. It works and works well, some people cannot drive 6 hours to a meet but would drive an hour, there are others that will drive further. Dedication is one thing but not everything, I have members who are very dedicated to our chapter but have to face reality, and that is that they cannot afford to make a long trip. By doing things in regions it lets these people be part of the chapter without having to sacrifice other things. The chapter then has meets that involve the whole chapter and you have a better chance of getting people to drive the extra distance for those. Monthly meets can and should be held in regions to get the most activity, then have your chapter wide meets less often but as a bigger event. I am not an advocate of splitting chapters up nor do I want my message to be used to make a point about it. At the same time I do think the way we are doing things here in Kansas have shown they work and work well, as we set the lead for chapter activity we sure must have hit on something that worked and worked well. Though ours or the NW chapters methods will not make a model plan for every chapter to follow, there are definitely a lot to be said about how they work. Each chapter must find it's own way but if they can gain from some others examples and experience then it should be out here to help them. The whole idea of my examples and descriptions of how we work is to give information to other CL's that they can possibly use to help grow their chapters. Again it was never intended to try and give reason to break up or keep together a currant chapter. I have put forth my best advice in order to help any chapter that would like to use it but would not like it used or interpreted in a way to show that I think a chapter should be broken up or to show I think it needs to stay together. The NW, HP and all other chapters should and need to structure what is best for them and what works for them.

There are no plans by FTE to split up any chapters. If a chapter wants to split its their choice. If a user is not a member of that chapter, or a member of the FTE staff, then the chapter's reasons for splitting or not splitting isn't the users business and the ought to leave them alone. Instead, they ought to focus themselves on their own chapter, as Rollie stated.

Kansas has set a great example for several months and we were proud to have them represent FTE at the Kansas/National Rally.

Well, the point I was trying to make is that member dedication is a HUGE part of it. Without it, you can have ultra-local meetings that fail due to lack of enthusiasm, versus multi-state meetings that succeed due to motivated members. I belong to several different clubs; the secret to success seems to be one or two main coordinators who whip things together and make them FUN so people WANT to be there. It grows from there. I won't comment on the chapter division issue since that horse is long past beat ;)

Pro, that is very well said and is exactly what my statements were saying. The coordinators are important to keep it going. You cannot just leave it up to members to just try and get together, there needs to be a semblance of order and structure. In a big area that is the key role of the coordinators. The CL cannot be everywhere all the time, thus using coordinators allow for an event or meet to still have the solid structure with an appointed or elected person to oversee it. Again this gives the meet the legitimacy it needs as well as the other members the comfort of knowing that there is a point person to look too. A CL really needs to try and be at as many meets and events that is possible, but in reality they will not make every one of them. A solid foundation is a must for members will look towards these people to guide them or motivate them as needed. For the most part people are wary or cautious about just showing up at a place full of strangers, at least with a CL or coordinator there it creates a level of comfort to some whom might not just show up otherwise. This also allows localized members to get more involved and recruit more local members to the chapter. As the localized groups grow then the chapter grows. As it follows along this will now entice members to travel to meets and events in other parts of the state or states. Any national organization is built on it's local chapters thus a local chapter must be built on it's regional areas. The building blocks start in the localized areas.

if anyone here has any personal issue's with anyone on this board pm or email the webmaster with them, This is not the place for it.


Rlloie that is some great stuff that your posting....Keep it up man... :-X22

and pro you do have some very valid points lets hear some more.