What do you think of the new action plan?

30 % non-renewal rate is rather embarrassing. I truly believe if the new ED can get a true structure that reaches to both the needs of the club and the needs of the individual, who for some reason doesn't participate in a cub, he will have reached a great goal. A huge problem with USMC is that it is both an organization of clubs and of individuals. most nonprofit organizations aren't burdened with this structure. Individuals have such various and often opposing goals, even with in the same individual. Clubs succeed when all members are able to agree on why the club is there. Basic, core values push organizations forward. But we have so many avenues bringing core values. I think the internal belief that many people involved in the organization nationally are still working out what the organization is. I would like to know how the vision and mission of the organization are influencing the decisions that are the double sides of USMC. Were clubs seen as the way to achieve the stated goals or working to the individual. This really is a conflict in the idea that you can serve both on a national level and fulfill the needs of both. Also, it is no secret that I think doing a magazine by the organization directly takes us away from both what should be the vision and mission and our magazine continues this schizophrenic identity if we are to grow. The magazine was begun too early. USMC didn't through the baby out with the bathwater, it put a clean diaper on the baby before it had washed the baby's bottom. The magazine maybe should have been put off for a future when there would be a staff in a localized office. The magazine is an example of not understanding or looking at basic core values and not using them to create a vision and mission to guide us. I'm not sure anyone really understands the core values of the org., if there are any. Growth is good but is the growth spoken in the plan really the growht we need?

I like the plan overall.I have a problem about the direction of the magazine,although I really don't like where it is now. It said the magazine is taking a third of our budget.Why??? Did it cost this much when we were affiliated with Swimming World? It seems like Swimming World is pretty well doing what Swimmer does now and costs us nothing.That said,if we are going to keep Swimmer,making it more electronic doesn't seem to help grow anything,it only cuts cost.Is Swimmer on newsstands? What about having free copies sent to health clubs?What about giving them out at Tri events?What about sending them to all college swimmers,or at least coaches.I thought we went to publishing our own magazine to make money and increase public awareness.Has it done either? What about having a really slick pamphlet "Is Masters Swimming for YOU" that every USA-S swimmer gets at 18(also sent to health clubs,colleges,triathletes,etc.) i really think that Swimmer could be the item that kills USMS.

I like the plan overall. I have a problem about the direction of the magazine, although I really don't like where it is now. It said the magazine is taking a third of our budget. Why??? Did it cost this much when we were affiliated with Swimming World? It seems like Swimming World is pretty well doing what Swimmer does now and costs us nothing. That said, if we are going to keep Swimmer, making it more electronic doesn't seem to help grow anything, it only cuts cost. Is Swimmer on newsstands? What about having free copies sent to health clubs? What about giving them out at Tri events? What about sending them to all college swimmers,or at least coaches. I thought we went to publishing our own magazine to make money and increase public awareness. Has it done either? What about having a really slick pamphlet "Is Masters Swimming for YOU" that every USA-S swimmer gets at 18(also sent to health clubs,colleges,triathletes,etc.) On a lighter note, I got a mental picture of Swimmer magazine becoming the method by which age group swimmers are "put out to pasture". Picture a group of older age group swimmers huddled together having spotted the coach with a copy of USMS Swimmer wondering who he's going to give it to... But seriously, if you want to have a paper publication delivered to all your members. unless you can find serious advertisers it is going to cost money whether it is produced internally or you pay for subscriptions to an externally published magazine. And yes, USMS did pay big bucks for subscriptions to the old magazine before starting USMS Swimmer magazine. I don't foresee Swimmer magazine being the death of USMS but I think Craig's earlier post has some truth to it in that masters swimming everywhere has a bit of a dual identity between the competitive side and the non-competitive side. Added on to that is the fact that it is much easier for a national body to do things like arranging for a national championship than it is for it to make an impact in the day to day running of workouts which is what impacts on non-competitive swimmers. It might be interesting to imagine USMS being split into two separate entities, one that was exclusively a competition governing body and another that dealt exclusively with non-competitive swimming. The former would likely look a whole lot like USMS currently does, except a quarter to a third the size. It's a little harder to imagine what the latter organization would look like but probably not a whole lot like USMS does now. It is probably safe to say that the fitness committee in that organization would probably get a budget in excess of the $240 in the current USMS budget... :rolleyes: Another interesting exercise would be to look at creating a hypothetical club where none of the members would be going to meets, and ask what it would take for that club to be successful. What programs would you institute to motivate members if swim meets were out of the picture? That exercise might lead in the direction of how to focus on the needs of the large majority of USMS members.

But why do we need a magazine published? The magazine reminds f more of the AARP magazine than it does about an active organization moving forward to interest its many subgroups. It so quickly dismisses every group that has any interests outside of its constant self-praise.