2008 Convention

Maybe I'm missing something here....but has anyone published and agenda and when can we get people on this forum who are attending to actually share with us their opinions/likely votes on the key issues? Doug, your the President of my LMSC so I'd very much like to hear your thoughts/likely vote on: Oh oh, somebody asked for my opinion. Well since you asked, let me share my thoughts on the three issues you identified... 1) Holding nationals outside of US boundaries I think the rule proposal to ban hosting national meets outside the US is needless. If a proposal has merit, let it be considered on those and not some restrictive rule. Plus, Mark Gill has taken the initiative to put together a bid in PR, which he considers to be a great venue for this event. This behavior is what we need to encourage, thinking outside the box and taking action rather than waiting for bids to come in. And if PR wins 2010 LCM Nationals and the event bombs, no biggie, we will just keep that in mind for the future. 2) Scoring at nationals (club vs. regional team) I think R31 is much better written than the proposed change last year. Based upon all the angst and rancor over scoring at Nationals last year, I would be inclined to support this change. It would enable Clubs like AZ, COMSA, PNA, Oregon, NC, NEMS, and similar teams to compete against each other while Walnut Creek, TOC, FLAQ, DAMM, and others compete against like teams. I think this would enable us to move forward on this issue and not be distracted by it. Nationals is great and the team aspect of it is wonderful, but larger issues deserve more attention. Which is my segue into... 3) How best to market/grow USMS Big question, here is my little answer: Make membership in USMS compelling for ALL members. Our leaders, hence our focus, has been on competitive swimming. This is not the same as our membership, which is more social and fitness motivated. If we can get more discounts with companies (ex. Hertz, Liberty Mutual, and more) like a Chamber of Commerce or professional organization does, that will help our cause. Being able to swim in meets is great, but saving hundreds of buck$ a year on services that I already use is even better. There is much more about marketing that I could write about but the main thing is to make membership valuable to its members. Adding value can take many forms, more than I can identify right now.

Maybe I'm missing something here....but has anyone published and agenda and when can we get people on this forum who are attending to actually share with us their opinions/likely votes on the key issues? Doug, your the President of my LMSC so I'd very much like to hear your thoughts/likely vote on: Oh oh, somebody asked for my opinion. Well since you asked, let me share my thoughts on the three issues you identified... 1) Holding nationals outside of US boundaries I think the rule proposal to ban hosting national meets outside the US is needless. If a proposal has merit, let it be considered on those and not some restrictive rule. Plus, Mark Gill has taken the initiative to put together a bid in PR, which he considers to be a great venue for this event. This behavior is what we need to encourage, thinking outside the box and taking action rather than waiting for bids to come in. And if PR wins 2010 LCM Nationals and the event bombs, no biggie, we will just keep that in mind for the future. 2) Scoring at nationals (club vs. regional team) I think R31 is much better written than the proposed change last year. Based upon all the angst and rancor over scoring at Nationals last year, I would be inclined to support this change. It would enable Clubs like AZ, COMSA, PNA, Oregon, NC, NEMS, and similar teams to compete against each other while Walnut Creek, TOC, FLAQ, DAMM, and others compete against like teams. I think this would enable us to move forward on this issue and not be distracted by it. Nationals is great and the team aspect of it is wonderful, but larger issues deserve more attention. Which is my segue into... 3) How best to market/grow USMS Big question, here is my little answer: Make membership in USMS compelling for ALL members. Our leaders, hence our focus, has been on competitive swimming. This is not the same as our membership, which is more social and fitness motivated. If we can get more discounts with companies (ex. Hertz, Liberty Mutual, and more) like a Chamber of Commerce or professional organization does, that will help our cause. Being able to swim in meets is great, but saving hundreds of buck$ a year on services that I already use is even better. There is much more about marketing that I could write about but the main thing is to make membership valuable to its members. Adding value can take many forms, more than I can identify right now.