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
Lindsay - if three out of four elements are wellness, health and fitness, perhaps USMS needs to provide more communication, tools and personal or team testimonials/stories about the successes USMS-registered people have had through their endeavors.
I agree membership growth is a base metric, but how can we measure the wellness improvement aspects and use that in marketing?
Here's an experiment you can try: go to the USMS home page and time how many clicks and how long it takes you to navigate to a page that explains the wellness, health and fitness benefits of masters swimming.
There is a question in my mind whether the problem is marketing or programs. I don't know whether a 30% non-renewal is good or bad. I would guess that the renewal rate at your typical gym/fitness center is lower. Perhaps Jim can check the numbers for some of the top programs to see whether the rate is universal or varies from club to club. It would be interesting to get a list of the ten clubs (of some minimum size) with the highest renewal rate and the ten clubs with the lowest and then see what the gap in rates is and if there is anything identifiable that differentiates them.
I think you should always go to the data first if you've got it, and in this case I think you do, the answer should only be a few queries on your registration database away.
If the problem is you don't have enough people coming in the answer might be marketing, if the problem is you have too many people leaving, the answer might be improved programs. Right now we're kind of flailing around in the dark trying to figure out the problem and guessing at what the solution might be.
Jim?
Lindsay - if three out of four elements are wellness, health and fitness, perhaps USMS needs to provide more communication, tools and personal or team testimonials/stories about the successes USMS-registered people have had through their endeavors.
I agree membership growth is a base metric, but how can we measure the wellness improvement aspects and use that in marketing?
Here's an experiment you can try: go to the USMS home page and time how many clicks and how long it takes you to navigate to a page that explains the wellness, health and fitness benefits of masters swimming.
There is a question in my mind whether the problem is marketing or programs. I don't know whether a 30% non-renewal is good or bad. I would guess that the renewal rate at your typical gym/fitness center is lower. Perhaps Jim can check the numbers for some of the top programs to see whether the rate is universal or varies from club to club. It would be interesting to get a list of the ten clubs (of some minimum size) with the highest renewal rate and the ten clubs with the lowest and then see what the gap in rates is and if there is anything identifiable that differentiates them.
I think you should always go to the data first if you've got it, and in this case I think you do, the answer should only be a few queries on your registration database away.
If the problem is you don't have enough people coming in the answer might be marketing, if the problem is you have too many people leaving, the answer might be improved programs. Right now we're kind of flailing around in the dark trying to figure out the problem and guessing at what the solution might be.
Jim?
