President’s Perspective - 2009/08

he ability to communicate with its
members is key to the success of any
membership organization and AMA
is no different. During the past 18 months,
we have been working on enhancing our
communications network.
Electronic communications have
improved dramatically in the last several
years. The Internet has created the means by
which we can now exchange information in
a nearly instantaneous and extremely costeffective
manner.
In early June, AMA launched its new
Members Only online forum. It is not
intended to compete with the other popular,
more traditional model-aviation-related
forums. These play an important role in the
modeling community and are a good
resource for aeromodeling-related
information.
Our AMA forum will be dedicated to an
exchange of AMA-related information. It
will be another conduit that we can use to
share information with our members as well
as a place where questions relevant to AMA
can be asked and answered. Although
posting privileges are intended for our
members, the posts will be available for all
to read.
In addition to our new forum, we have
implemented an RSS feed in the AMA News
section of our Web site. When you subscribe
to this feed, you will automatically be
notified or, depending on your choice,
updates will automatically be downloaded to
your browser or e-mail program whenever
content on our page changes.
We expect that both of these new features
will help keep our members more informed
about important AMA issues as well as
update you about things that are happening
within your organization.
President’s Perspective
AMA President Dave Mathewson
T
Clubs can gain much by working with others ...
August 2009 5
Mission Statement
The Academy of Model Aeronautics is a world-class association of modelers organized for the purpose of
promotion, development, education, advancement, and safeguarding of modeling activities.
The Academy provides leadership, organization, competition, communication, protection, representation,
recognition, education and scientific/technical development to modelers.
Please take a moment to visit our Web
site where you will be able to subscribe to
our RSS feed from the AMA Community
page and register to participate in the new
forum.
Sometimes things work out as intended. I
recently received an e-mail from a
relatively new modeler. This individual
wrote about what prompted him to become
involved in aeromodeling.
While he was sitting in the waiting room
at his doctor’s office, he noticed a copy of
Model Aviation magazine on the table. With
some time to spare before his appointment,
he picked up the magazine and glanced
through some of the articles.
Although this person had always had a
casual interest in aviation, he never really
gave much thought to modeling. Before he
placed the magazine back on the table, he
took the time to note the address for AMA’s
Web site. During the next several days, he
visited our Web site as well as a number of
other modeling-related sites he found using
an Internet search engine.
Intrigued by what he had read, he sought
out a local AMA chartered club, which he
identified using the search feature on our
Web site, and paid the club a visit. The
warm reception he received from the club
members and the ability to participate in the
club’s training program sealed the deal.
By the following weekend this person
had visited his local hobby shop, bought a
trainer model recommended by the club
members, joined the club, and became a
member of AMA. All of this happened
because one of our members took the time
to bring his or her copy of MA to the
doctor’s office and leave it for someone
else to read.
It makes you wonder how many other
times this scenario has played out for
others. Next time you visit your doctor,
car-repair facility, or any other place that
has a waiting room, why not take a copy
or two of past issues of MA with you to
leave?
A number of years ago, the local model
aircraft club that I belong to was part of an
association of clubs. At one time roughly
18 clubs were part of this association.
There were a number of advantages to
all of us banding together. Strength in
numbers, of course, was near the top of
the list, and I can remember several times
when we came together as a group to
stand in support of one of our association
clubs.
The camaraderie built within this
group benefited all of the clubs since it
became the norm for each to support the
others’ events. As a result, our fly-ins,
rallies, and contests grew. The
communications network that developed
helped all of us in our yearly planning
and helped ensure that clubs didn’t
inadvertently schedule events that would
be in conflict with another.
Club meetings grew, especially when
this communications network was used
by a club playing host to a unique
program or presentation to invite
members from other clubs in the
association to attend.
I mention all of this because during
the last year or so I have seen a
resurgence in the association concept.
AMA refers to these associations as
chapters and has chartered a number of
them throughout the country. Clubs can
gain much by working with others that
share a common interest.
Your AMA district vice president or
associate vice president can provide you
with more information about the AMA
chapter concept. It might be worth taking
a look at to see how forming a chapter
can benefit your club and your
neighboring clubs. MA
See you next time …
Dave Mathewson
AMA president
[email protected]
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