AMA News Executive Vice President - 2009/03

Executive Vice President
Mark Smith; [email protected]
153 MODEL AVIATION
HI FOLKS! December was a busy month
for the Smiths. We attended numerous
holiday parties around District IX. Holiday
parties are a wonderful time for club
members to gather with their families to
eat, drink, and be merry!
A common theme I’ve noted throughout
these evenings is that there are many
smiles and much reminiscing. Sometimes,
an energetic club member will assemble a
PowerPoint presentation of club activities,
which always brings comments from the
audience. Annual club awards are usually
presented along with some good humored
poking fun at ourselves!
Again, camaraderie is what this great
hobby is all about and our holiday parties
exemplify this! My point is that these
gatherings are a wonderful way to
strengthen your club and I would hope that
if you did hold a holiday party, you invited
critical stakeholders to enjoy the fun.
What critical stakeholders, you ask?
Well, if your club leases your land, be sure
to invite the folks you lease from. Are
there dignitaries in the community or
leaders from the charitable organizations
you held fundraisers for who are available
to attend the festivities? These are all ways
to help spread the news that the model
aviation club is an integral and vital asset
in the community.
I met with the Marketing Committee in
Champaign, Illinois. While I have weekly
correspondence with the committee, we try
to have face-to-face meetings at least twice
per year. AMA’s new Marketing Director,
Jeff Nance, gave the committee an
overview of what he had accomplished in
six short months and his plans for future
marketing activities.
Topics addressed included the sales
channel for the Park Pilot Program,
partnering opportunities with vendors/
manufacturers, and our Web site.
One of my flying buds, Don Oppliger, and
I drove to Wichita, Kansas, to participate
in the first E-Spectacular indoor event on
December 13. The first annual Central
Plains E-Fly Spectacular was hosted by
Ken Stitt of Clearview Field.
It was dark, windy, and very cold when
I was helping Don load-up several of his
choppers, chargers, spare batteries, and
transmitters. Oh no! Next stop was back to
my home to pick up my transmitter!
Don was quick to thank me for taking
him on a tour of Kansas City at o-dark
thirty! We finally arrived at the indoor
event at approximately 9 a.m., which was
located at the Century II Expo Hall in
downtown Wichita.
A picture is worth a thousand words
(below) and Don had his share of
“challenges” that day.
This is a wonderful, spacious facility
that contributed to a successful event for
the first year; however, Ken is quick to
give much credit to Kim Walker who was
unable to attend because of family matters.
The weekend included a ton of open
flying, noon flying demos, Pylon racing,
combat, and nighttime flying! There was
also competition for some beautiful
trophies, which drew top name competitors
including Andrew Jesky, Jason Noll, Mark
Leseburg, Curtis Youngblood, and Nick
Maxwell.
Ken made sure the audience was part of
the fun by bringing in the talented emcee
Greg Poppel. Ken had the support of many
local club members, thus we were treated
to some outstanding hospitality from the
folks in Wichita. As I hope you can tell,
this was a first-class event and I’m
confident it will grow in the future.
If you recall, last month I urged all clubs
to become Leader Clubs. This program is
another way to help secure your flying site.
Information about the Leader Club
program is available on the AMA Web site
at www.modelaircraft.org/files/708.pdf.
Feel free to contact me if you have
questions.
That’s it for this month. Please keep in
touch and have fun! Mark.
Mark Smith
Executive Vice
President
314632 W. 50th St.,
Shawnee KS 66216
Tel.: (913) 248-9191
Don Oppliger conducting a “chopperlectomy.”
The Central Plains E-Fly Spectacular.
Emcee Greg Poppel and event orgaizer
Ken Stitt with Mr. Claus.
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