I agree, been there, done that as a chapter president. We were fortunate to have a large chapter with many members who either could present something interesting or knew someone outside the chapter who would speak/demo etc.
If your chapter isn't filling your needs, chances are there are others who feel the same way. It may be time to inject some new blood into the leadership. This is your chance. It seems that if a new direction is begun, all kinds of things fall into place to support that direction. Maybe volunteer as a committee of one to provide some programs at meetings. When people find out you need a presenter, they seem to come out of nowhere to step up. You end up learning all kinds of useful things which may not be KR-specific, but still useful. Another option is to look at any nearby chapters. There may be a chapter or two within reasonable distance which would be a better fit. If not, this list may be your best option for the time being to connect with like-minded builders. Re: RV builders - that's what the majority of builders in my chapters were doing too. It's funny when they say things about the monotony of sanding a composite airframe, or endless rib stitches, etc. Personally, I can't think of anything that could possibly be more boring than drilling, deburring, and shooting rivets. I'm pretty sure that if you're a tube and fabric guy and you are evil, your fate in the eternal flames of Hell will be to build metal airplanes. Chris On 1/2/2014 5:53 PM, Jeff Scott wrote: > This is a theme that I have heard often and seen myself in my home chapter. > Almost always the cause is a lack of effective leadership, which is a chronic > problem in most EAA Chapters. > > As of the new year, I am no longer an EAA Chapter president. About 6 1/2 > years ago, our chapter had boiled down to a few guys left that would sit > around and tell stories and occasionally fly Young Eagles. I took over when > our previous president was killed in an automobile accident. I made a > commitment that every meeting would have a tech talk or demonstration and > that every meeting would be an opportunity to learn. We also implemented > occasional Saturday workshops when the EAA Chapter would tear down an engine > (under my supervision) or spend a day hands on learning the basics of > welding, or riveting, or fabric work, or composite work. While I was able to > get the chapter off it's deathbed, the largest criticism I received was > because the chapter was now catering to the homebuilders. Wow! You just > can't make everyone happy. > > I did find that it didn't take a lot of effort to find interesting speakers > or interesting topics. You don't have to be an officer of the chapter to do > that. I would bet that most EAA Chapters would love to have someone step up > to provide them with speakers or demonstrations for their meetings. You > don't have to be the speaker. On average, I was the guest speaker about once > a year. Our Tech Counselor usually did once a year. The rest were filled in > my simply asking people that were doing something interesting to come to the > meeting to talk about it. > > What I found is that if you make the meetings interesting, people will come. > Before long, the membership rolls are growing. > > Jeff Scott > Los Alamos, NM > former president of EAA Chapter 691 > > > >> ----- Original Message ----- >> From: Phillip Hill >> Sent: 01/02/14 05:17 PM >> To: KRnet >> Subject: Re: KR> I joined my local EAA chapter >> >> I used to belong to chapter 64 but didn't get anything out of it. All they >> seemed to do is promote young eagles, and other EAA programs. There's no >> time spent talking about building anything, no demos, no presentations from >> other builders, no KR builders and no one who had ever seen one, which is >> what I was most interested in, so I never went back. >> >> Phill >> Collinsville, IL >> > > _______________________________________________ > Search the KRnet Archives at http://tugantek.com/archmailv2-kr/search. > To UNsubscribe from KRnet, send a message to KRnet-leave at list.krnet.org > please see other KRnet info at http://www.krnet.org/info.html > see http://list.krnet.org/mailman/listinfo/krnet_list.krnet.org to change > options
