www.usms.org/.../actionplan.pdf
I didn't go to the national meeting (too much work, not enough annual leave), but I do follow the convention via the post meeting report.
If you are interested in the future of USMS, you should read what is being proposed. USMS has come a long way since Amarillo and while you may or may not agree with all of the concepts and terms in the plan, IMHO, it is does a very good job of 1) recognizing our growth issues and 2) describing a plan for solving some of these problems.
I'm not suggesting that the plan is perfect and I'm well aware that USMS is not a democracy, but I feel that our professional staff and leaders should consider our opinions (as we are THE CUSTOMER).
Parents
Former Member
One of the benefits of membership growth is revenue growth without raising fees, a lot of costs don't scale up as fast as revenue so membership growth means you can offer better services to each member. Of course you have to have improved programs that you want to offer for that rationale to work.
But more fundamentally, I think it is the basic mission of USMS to increase the number of adults achieving benefit in wellness, health, fitness, and competition through aquatics. Membership growth is the natural measure of success in that mission.
One of the things I would be very interested in seeing is an analysis of the factors that lead some clubs to be wildly successful while others simply survive (or don't). Are there things that lead to success that can be replicated? Some sort of systematic survey of members that don't renew and why would also be very interesting.
Finally, I wonder if some sort of initiative to "take competition to the swimmers" on top of swimmers going to the competitions is something that might increase the proportion of swimmers that are engaged in the competition area and therefore motivated to maintain membership. By this I mean that a lot of swimmers don't go to meets not because they aren't competitive but because they don't have the time. Why not promote time trials that are held in a couple lanes in regular workout time slots? That would significantly reduce the barriers to participation, both in terms of time commitment and intimidation/self consciousness - lot of people would feel more comfortable in a time trial versus a more competitive environment. If it is seen as more a regular part of what clubs do rather than something that some people in the club do outside of the club, more people would be more likely to participate. You could also tie it into things like the checkoff challenge and it could give some focus to workouts. My expectation would be that this would lead to greater participation in meets rather than less, the idea is not to replace meets but to offer another venue that is more convenient for members. This would be particularly good in rural areas where meets are few and far between.
One of the benefits of membership growth is revenue growth without raising fees, a lot of costs don't scale up as fast as revenue so membership growth means you can offer better services to each member. Of course you have to have improved programs that you want to offer for that rationale to work.
But more fundamentally, I think it is the basic mission of USMS to increase the number of adults achieving benefit in wellness, health, fitness, and competition through aquatics. Membership growth is the natural measure of success in that mission.
One of the things I would be very interested in seeing is an analysis of the factors that lead some clubs to be wildly successful while others simply survive (or don't). Are there things that lead to success that can be replicated? Some sort of systematic survey of members that don't renew and why would also be very interesting.
Finally, I wonder if some sort of initiative to "take competition to the swimmers" on top of swimmers going to the competitions is something that might increase the proportion of swimmers that are engaged in the competition area and therefore motivated to maintain membership. By this I mean that a lot of swimmers don't go to meets not because they aren't competitive but because they don't have the time. Why not promote time trials that are held in a couple lanes in regular workout time slots? That would significantly reduce the barriers to participation, both in terms of time commitment and intimidation/self consciousness - lot of people would feel more comfortable in a time trial versus a more competitive environment. If it is seen as more a regular part of what clubs do rather than something that some people in the club do outside of the club, more people would be more likely to participate. You could also tie it into things like the checkoff challenge and it could give some focus to workouts. My expectation would be that this would lead to greater participation in meets rather than less, the idea is not to replace meets but to offer another venue that is more convenient for members. This would be particularly good in rural areas where meets are few and far between.
