BMWMCCWA

there is a AGM for election of the club committee on the ‪Monday 8th of July‬ to take the BMWMCCWA into the next year. If you are in town come along and if you wish to support me trying to go for club President , it would be appreciated.
I hope we can get you along. If you are away you can still vote by login to the members only section of the clubs web page and opening up the link for proxy voting.
https://form.jotform.co/91703346285863
The following points probably cover where I stand on leading the club with the new committee for next year:
1...Resurrect ALL members interest in BMMCCWA. If elected I will meet with the new committee and devise a survey which will be sent to each individual member. With discussion within the committee we will devise a questionnaire designed to understand why 70% of members don’t involve themselves with the club. We will ask members to indicate what they would like to see the club get involved in. We would ask them what imput the club needs to instigate to get their interest up. Once the results of this survey become collated the committee will put to members the results and we will strive to carry out what members have told us.
Questions would be designed to find out with a carefully designed and comprehensive blueprint for what members want. What can be improved within the club and suggestions to encourage non participating bike owners into our club.
We will be especially targeting younger members with families to find out what would we need to do to make it easier for them to benefit and be more involved in being a member of our club to enhance their BMW bike ownership experience.
2...Be more flexible with club activity to encourage more involvement for time poor members by forming sub groups within the club so that they may become more involved with other club members in similar situations and use the clubs resources such as greater use of our forums and Facebook sites. These members will gradually get to know and appreciate the BMWMCCWA and what else it has to offer as our club charter dictates. “Enhance the enjoyment and skills of owning a BMW motorbike.”
These sub groups would liaise with the club committee members and be encouraged. For instance groups with various skill levels of dirt riding providing less skilled and less confident members experience and instruction on improving their skills and getting more confidence. A member has proposed to have a off road member attend committee meetings which I think is a good idea.
3...Resurrect new members being contacted by older club members for an introduction of the club what it has to offer, its charter and making them feel welcome 
4...I will try and develop more enthusiasm with the committee team which flows onto members.I intend making the club’s committee business more translucent with greater communication with members and at least committee minutes being available to members via more direct communications.A lot of members can’t get to the bi-monthly meetings. Club business should at least be outlined on the members only link on the clubs private forum for members to examine. If not attending formal monthly meetings members are left in the dark with club business.
5.. Greater use of social media to keep members informed. Blanket e-mail mailings for important announcements more often. Time poor members usually involve themselves on “spur of the moment “ timings when it comes to heading off on a ride. Social media allows members to contact and get together on these spur of the moment timings as it’s always better to head off on a ride with someone else.
6.. Develop greater ties with the BMW CLUBS INTERNATIONAL. Having attended a number of meetings with BMW clubs Australia I see a potential to get benefits for the club by being more pro -active with engaging with other State recognised BMW club’s and the  BMW clubs International. There was talk at the meetings I attended of their desire to get more info on our events and club activities with our members. As a club I would encourage greater affiliation with communication with these BMW affiliates. BMW International reps were suggesting greater support of Australian club events that promote the marque. They indicated, it all depends on the numbers, with the number of participating club members being involved from the clubs and the events themselves are what they would use to determine support. They see Australia and it’s vast distances and scenery as a great marketing tool for selling their bikes.
I feel the club by having greater contact with the other BMW recognised clubs and BMW international would generate a greater voice from members. For instance we could put pressure with a combined push on BMW to fix some of the irritations that we have with our bikes like not being able to replace batteries in the tyre pressure monitors for instance. I feel this would be important for generating greater interest from members. BMW owners would benefit from the collective voice. This may be another reason for non participants to take an interest and it would help draw an interest to participate in other numerous activities that our charter dictates.
7.. I spoke with the AUTOCLASSIC bike manager Jonas, he said over 60% of new bike sales are sold to the under 50 demographic. He mentioned they will continue to help with the club and suggested that he place a club flyer in each “bike sold package” to help promote the club. He said if we wanted to organise a track day he could help. This could help generate more interest in the club from members wishing to take their sports bikes out on a race track.
8..I have considered some events that could appeal to more members such as “A annual ride to celebrate the ownership of a BMW motorbike” this would be similar to our 40 year club celebration ride with a well advertised day tabled for the ride and BMW bike owners on mass going for a ride on a fixed interesting route and allowing family and friends to get together at the ride endpoint. I would suggest more advertised rides out to country towns meeting up with members  families that may want to travel by car to the destination for lunch or picnics.
With the right marketing and effort these activities could appeal to more of those non attending members and allow these people to feel more part of the club.
 9..We could be more proactive with timings and information. For instance why would the club hold a AGM on a ‪Monday night‬ when people have been working all day prior to the meeting which from experience can go on late into the night if positions are contested. Also some people aren’t available during the working week. These questions could be incorporated in the intended member survey.
Also in the survey we could determine the interest of members wishing to get together for rides or other events with different timings and days. If there was interest in pre-organising times to arrange rides with more use of our social media network platforms the club should encourage this happening. Also to be determined is if we will keep the bi-monthly club formal meetings in a similar format for face to face club business discussions or alternative means of holding formal meetings.
10..I intend to run a committee which acts as a team with the committee members being tasked to carry out their specific roles which will be discussed at the initial committee meeting so everyone knows what is expected from them. I don’t intend to micro manage and will be relying on these members to be enthusiastic and dedicated to move the club forward. We will be having more regular discussion on club business during the committee meetings which we will convey to members for their approvals with greater frequency via internet communication, using our web page or social media.
11..As a fairly high profile club I feel we should form a higher profile with the local community. As the RFDS has helped many members when they have had mishaps while riding in the outback and it’s work generally, this organisation and others such as Prostrate cancer research which is relevant for members and others which I pushed the club to support in the past. I will work with the committee to organise fund raising events to support these community funded organisations. I would like the club to become more involved with issues such as the talk about reducing speed limits and traffic and road issues that members are affected by.
12..Having finished as the VP last year after serving 5 years on the club committee I feel I understand the way the committee should be operating.I have deliberately taken a break from the club and kept on the sidelines to allow the current committee to show some change in inspiring more members to be more involved. To my mind this hasn’t happened as indicated in poor showings at events organised by the current committee with only small numbers of the regular core club members participating 
I am putting myself up to lead the club with much enthusiasm to carry out the role of President as I feel I can with an enthused committee running the club, make it even better for current active members and we can draw into the fold and encourage and inspire many more non active and non members members to get their involvement with enhancing their ownership of their BMW motorbikes. The BMWMCCWA is a club for all BMW bike owners.
13..Voting at the AGM UNLIKE LAST YEAR should be via a secret ballot with members placing their selection on a ballot paper. It is unfair on members to expect them to not be allowed to vote privately.

Bill
I disagree with your comment that camaraderie has reduced in the BMWMCCWA.
I originally joined the club because I owned a BMW bike but now I own a BMW bike mainly so as to belong to the club. It's a great club and I enjoy interaction with the members of it, including yourself.
Being a committee member requires a solid commitment and we should be grateful to our current and past committee members for their efforts in keeping the club going.
If we have a democratic vote on committee members each year, and the members in attendance at the AGM vote officers in or out, then surely we as members should respect the decision of the meeting.
I suggest most club members are in the club for the fun of it and really don't want too much stress. It's not a political party.
I may or may not attend the AGM this year but whether I'm there or not, whatever the meeting decides is OK.
Thanks again to the people currently on the committee, your commitment to doing jobs that 'someone has to do' to keep the club running is greatly appreciated. It's a great club, let's not talk it down.
JD

Bill I also disagree with your comment “camaraderie seems to have disappeared for the majority of members of the BMWMCCWA". How do you arrive at this conclusion bearing in mind the membership is almost 190 have you spoken personally to 95+ members? By your own account you have not come to any club event since the last election, so how do you gauge this change in camaraderie? I have attended most Sunday's and many rides and events and camaraderie is alive and thriving.

Jono with respect I disagree with what you say that the camaraderie within the club is alive and thriving. Yes it certainly appears to be within the club regulars that attend events and meetup on Sundays and I myself enjoyed these events ,members company and the camaraderie. But what I am saying is the charter of this club “ to bring like minded BMW bike owners and others that are interested in the marque, together to enhance their BMW experience “ is not being followed up by a greater proportion of members. What I have been saying is that there is a very high number (“ by your stats 70%”) of non contributing, signed up club BMW bike owner members in this club and many more that aren’t club members that we should be reaching out to.
For a club to be strong the leadership should be striving to reach out to all members that have joined the club and own BMW bikes to help them enhance their BMW BIKE experience and want to participate and contribute to the club. I feel as a club we have to put more effort into achieving this. I am not being political or sniping from the side, as some are suggesting, I am being upfront with how I feel about the club going forward and would like the opportunity to try and instigate change to get more BMW bike owners involved. I have been a member for about 12 years and served on the club’s committee for 5 years respecting and supporting yourself as President and your agendas over this time. It was certainly a learning curve understanding and observing the committee system. I felt I had contributed to the club during this time by initiating and contributing to a lot of activities and events and trying to be a enthusiastic team player while on committee. I was disappointed that I was tiffed out of the committee last year as at the time I was starting to feel comfortable with taking on a leadership roll to replace yourself as you were indicating you wished to stand down. I have laid low over the last year so as not to be accused of sniping from the sidelines and being bitter or interfering with the new committee. I wanted to understand how looking from the outer, the club appeared. My current postings on our forum relating to the direction the club is going indicate my thoughts which I have put down and been upfront about not to cause divisions and conflicts as some are suggesting, but to get all members that have signed up for this club to become more involved in participating and contributing to make it a more diverse and stronger club.
Surely it does mean in order to get across what I believe needs to be done and where I am coming from prior to an election, people should have some communication from me, which is a bit verbose at times I must admit, but I feel is necessary to get my message across.
I am presenting myself for club President to try and initiate change which involves encouraging more of our non participating members to feel they can become more aligned and want to participate and feel comfortable within the clubs charter.
I look forward for the opportunity by members support at the AGM to achieve this over the next year as club President.

Bill,
I don't agree with your comments, I am generally not a participant in club rides as it is not my thing, but occasionally attend some events such as tonight's Greenhills dinner, this is because I have other interests including participation with other bike clubs.
I think from where I am standing, the committee are doing a great job, including when you were there, if there are activities that you think are worthwhile doing, then have a chat to them, I am sure it will be taken on board, its part of their job, I have not seen you in quite a while so have not heard any of these ideas.
At the end of the day the committee make decisions, there will always be decisions made that we don't agree with, so we have to suck it up and move on, or alternatively if you want to influence the direction of the club have a crack at the elections like you are doing, but lets hear specifically what your thinking is, as I said so far I have heard nothing.
Bowe

It’s important for a club member to express his reasons for nominating for committee. I have quite a bit to say and it’s easier putting it down here rather than in front of the AGM when it is getting late and everyone is tired. I would like the opportunity to lead the club into the next year with more BMW bike owners enjoying what our club has to offer, rather than just our current club regulars who make up a very small number of BMW bike owners that ride and own these bikes in Perth.

Bill, it's pretty simple really, if you don't like it leave the club. Your obviously not happy so I strongly suggest you find something that suits your needs.

I don't think any of Bill's post have said he doesn't like the club.
What Bill has said is that he believes the club needs a change of direction.

Realistically, I think Bill is right.

davebeemer1 wrote:Bill, it's pretty simple really, if you don't like it leave the club. Your obviously not happy so I strongly suggest you find something that suits your needs.

Dave your comment is just plain silly. If you have bothered to understand what I have been trying to get across.I am trying to instigate a change in direction of our club to stimulate a greater participation from the other 70% of signed up members and have been pointing out that at the moment currently there is a regular core of generally older members that basically is the club with the other 70% being no shows. I am saying we can at least try to get these members involved. The strength and camaraderie of a club is based on maximum member participation and members wanting to be participants in their club.
I have put my name up for club President to enthusiastically try and lead the new committee to achieve some change to develop this.
It is up to the AGM to decide if they wish to support me or just leave things as they are. Your comments are unhelpful.

Having been a member for just under ten years I believe that our club has an incredibly strong philosophy and set of unspoken values which are enduring. This philosophy and set of values likely existed for many years before I joined the club and will continue for many more I am sure.

Our club philosophy is then brought to life in a formal manner by committee members as well as informally by each and every member in their own way. Both the formal and informal contributions are quite different though equally valuable and most importantly, complementary to each other.

Like any organisation there is room for improvement and a good example of this is can be seen through the gradual adoption of Facebook to complement The Forum. Refinements and tweaks will take place as good ideas gain energy and enthusiasm

In essence, I don't sense sufficient energy across the club for a change in direction. Our club is incredibly unique and robust and I feel fortunate to be part of it.

GSDisciple wrote:
In essence, I don't sense sufficient energy across the club for a change in direction. Our club is incredibly unique and robust and I feel fortunate to be part of it.

John it’s not a major change in direction I am proposing. I am trying to get more of our members involved and wanting to be involved in the club. I feel a more diverse club with a greater number of the 70% no shows being involved would increase the depth and use of the club for all members and allow more members to experience what our charter is all about.
“Bringing together BMW bike owners to enhance their enjoyment and experience of owning a BMW bike”

Bill and to all those still bothering to read this diatribe and managing to stay awake

It seems to me that this discussion is going around and around but hopefully will soon disappear out it's exhaust with the rest of the hot waste gas being spruiked here on this forum over the last week or so

Bill, Please get off this forum and give us all a break as you have really been re hashing the same theme over and over again ad finitum and I think most members are getting weary of you beating the same old drum!!

We get the picture okay, Your pissed about being tiffed and want to be President!!

Now I suggest that we let the Members have their collective democratic vote at the AGM on the 8th July and may the best man win!!

What you have actually succeeded in doing Bill is to ensure that I for one will be there to place my vote for the best person for the job and I hope you won't be too disappointed in the result

Meanwhile please give it a rest!!

Swampy

Bill many of the objectives you talk about are consistent with things that I and the committee would like to see happen. There have been several attempts to engage younger members and family members but with limited success. In my view we would need younger members in a marketing and organising/ride leading role in order to attract and retain other younger members. The most likely path to getting there seemed to be through family membership and members sons and daughters getting involved. But as many have already stated that age group are busy and time poor, they have careers and young families of there own and little interest in the structure of a traditional club. It’s more like contact your mates and go for a couple of hours ride somewhere. The involvement of partners is always welcome but not everyone has a partner interested in sitting on the back of a bike and going for a ride, and honestly I think some prefer to keep their hobbies seperate. So my view is that the club appeals to and fits well with the 40+ demographic and I think we offer a great environment free from politics and rigid structure, where people can come and go as their time permits, get help and assistance when needed, join in a lot or a little or even just for discounts on insurance and concessional licensing.
I do agree that we could do more of everything, communication, rides, events, tuning days and that this might make the club more appealing to some. But doing this takes input and time from members and committee and everyone has limits on how much they can do. I would really welcome your return to active membership, regardless of whether or not you get a seat on the committee. I think those members who give and continue to contribute to the club regardless of role or recognition are representing the core values and nature of our club that so many people find appealing.
I hope we can all call time out on this subject now here in the forum and keep the discussion for the agm where it can be debated and resolved by the members.

John thanks for your comments.They are all quite reasonable. I am just trying to get across what I propose to do if I get to stand as President. It does mean some communicating pre AGM and what I have published gives members something for them to consider before they get to vote to either support me or not. If some don’t have the intelligence or capacity to understand then that’s their problem

Bill

You seem to be representing that you have been unfairly dealt with by the club.

Firstly you were not deposed as Vice President as this implies sudden and forceful removal from a position. All positions are declared vacant at an AGM so you absolutely can not be deposed. You were an unsuccessful candidate for a vacant position. You had no entitlement to continue as Vice President unless elected to do so.

Again you were not voted out of the position, the position was vacant.

There was no conspiracy, another candidate was simply elected with out any malice on his part or any of the members. It surprised members that you were so impacted by the election result.

Bozo