More on the C.C. Scheduling

Daniel,
You were doing so well and then came the dreaded addendum! I don't disagree with anything you are saying here. There has to be a way to pump up the interest.
Mike

1938 SS Jaguar 1.5 Litre Saloon
More affectionately known as PEACHES

Just as an addendum to that previous posting: that vision is really pie in the sky, it will never happen.

But it's nice to dream.

Daniel T.

I like to refer to it as the "5 percent rule" and the "15 per cent rule". In almost every volunteer organization I've ever been in or analyzed, it is quite common to see 15% of the membership participating in activities on a regular basis and 5% of the membership actually physically busting their butt to do the work required to make things happen. This is true of a club with 65 members (like mine), a club with 400 members (like JANE) or a "club" like JCNA with 6,000 members. In my club it is the same 3 or 4 people that do all the heavy lifting. I understand in JANE it is the same 20 people who do all the hard work.

Now to say that we have a "club" with 6,000 members and 5% or 300 of them are willing to step up to the plate is not such a bad thing. With 300 volunteers who are willing to work in the pipeline JCNA would have a wealth of energy and enthusiasm to draw on. Here's the catch: JCNA is NOT a club! It is a collection of clubs. Each individual club has its own little core (5%) of workers who write the articles, publish the newsletter, stuff the envelopes, make the bank deposits, produce the website, make the phone calls, organize the outings, draw the map of the fun rallies, balance the budget, photocopy the handouts, make the tea and cookies for the local garage visit, and so on.... and so on.... and so on.... and so on.....

After having given a high proportion of their energy, enthusiasm and free time at the local level, very few individuals are willing to sacrifice additional personal resources to the "national" level. Why should I organize a show at the national level when I have one at the local level? Why should I write an article for the national newsletter when I just finished writing one for the local newsletter? Why should I travel 1000 miles to see a hundred Jaguars sitting in a field when I can see that locally?

The current structure of JCNA (and the Challenge Championship) is "bass ackwards". As long as the national entity (JCNA) reamins a loose collection of local entities (the clubs), then we will forever be doomed to struggle with a lack of resources at the national level and poorly supported "national" endeavors like the Challenge Championship.

Scrap the current system and start again from the top down. Promote cooperation, not division.

One man's opinion.

Daniel T.

Mike,
I don't think Gary is trying to make you out as the 'bad guy' just saying that JCNA needs the cooperation and participation of every member to make these events a success!

Bob Jag of Mi.

Gary,
Your making me look like the bad guy here. Participation? Look at the events I have attended this year. Two of those events were our newer clubs, North Georgia and Smokey Mtn. I feel that it is important to support the other clubs events. We should be thriving off each other. Will I be at the CC in 2005? Of course I will. If it were possible, I would have been in Pheonix.
Cooperation? I really don't know where your coming from. I am not trying to undermine the event. My motivation as a proud member of JCNA is to improve the event. We have over six-thousand members and we can attract maybe three percent of our membership to our "Superbowl". That has to improve.
A Volunteer Club! We all know that there are probably only a small percentage of folks in each club that take an active roll. How do we get the membership more excited? I wish I only knew.
Mike

1938 SS Jaguar 1.5 Litre Saloon
More affectionately known as PEACHES