How far do club members travel for meetings!!

[ducklabdad]

Well it came up recently that it would be interesting to see how far away everyone lived if all our members were posted on a map and they were marked.

Well It has taken a while to do but I have done just that and everyone may be interested to see just what the figures come out to be.

Since tonight is a night for tabulations and staying up late I figure this would give everyone some data to "mull over"

I did this from the information "prior to the frag swap", so some of the data will have changed "slightly" but I do not think significantly.

Here goes!!

61% of the club members reside within Shelby County, Tennessee.

17 % reside in Desoto County Mississippi.

75% reside within 30 miles of Memphis.

12% further than 30 miles from Memphis but in Tennessee.

10% further than 30 miles from Memphis but in Mississippi.

3 % further than 30 miles from Memphis but in Arkansas.

Several of our "Regular Members that attend meetings" reside outside that 30 mile circle, and I think that we should give an award to the person that travels the farthest total to our club meetings for the year!!

If we can compile the attendance information it would be interesting.

My first thought on that would that it would be Del, but guess what?? That might not be the case, we have "several" Regulars at the club meetings that travel as far "or farther" to attend meetings that are in Memphis than Del does, including our president.!!! To those that travel those miles, I say thank you and take my hat off to you, It shows how much this Hobby and club mean to you!

Just thought this would be some interesting data to mull over tonight while you are all mulling over the election results.!!!

 

[MrRyanT]

Re: How far do club members travel for meetings!!

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=13682012#post13682012 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by ducklabdad
My first thought on that would that it would be Del, but guess what?? That might not be the case, we have "several" Regulars at the club meetings that travel as far "or farther" to attend meetings that are in Memphis than Del does, including our president.!!! To those that travel those miles, I say thank you and take my hat off to you, It shows how much this Hobby and club mean to you!

Hmmmmm.....I would've thought either Del or Vickie, but this is pretty interesting. Still wishing I could attend more meetings, but I'm sure glad to have a job.

 

[alkamar]

It would be interesting to see the stats on what percent of the Shelby people make meetings within 30 miles of their location vs non -Shelby members that drive that or more. Seeing that many got the membership for a discount, active members would give better stats.

 

[ducklabdad]

?? What Discount??

I am confused, (not hard to do) these are the stats available on membership that has been "active" meaning paying membership.

I did not compile from the ones that attended the meetings, as those are not the only "active" club members, many have no desire to attend meetings, or are not able due to work.

Best turn out I have seen since I have been in the club was the meeting at Oxford. But I have not been in long enough to know, and have not been to every meeting. Not trying to turn this into anything just posting the data from the membership.

 

[alkamar]

"I am confused, (not hard to do) these are the stats available on membership that has been "active" meaning paying membership."

I don't see paying 30 bucks as being an active member. It is like church, there is a very large number of "members", but only a small fraction participate and are truely "active" members. That's all I was saying. Depending on how stats are compiled, they can be misleading. I've been wrong before, just putting in my thoughts.

 

[ducklabdad]

True Data does not mis-lead.

Data can be presented to be mislead only if it is manipulated or used in exclusion of fact. Not done here. I laid out that this was "membership" which was paid membership, as per our By-laws.

Who would determine as active membership? That would make the data misleading as it would enter variables, not data.

Still very curious about the "discount memberships" that were alluded to.

And many churches run on the tithe's that are paid by many members that can not be present at the service, does that mean they are not "active". Would the church exclude them and chastise them as not active and not give them a voice because they must work on sunday!!

I think not.

It would be really good if we had all the information to compile all the possible usable data,

Members who attend meetings.
Members who pay and do not attend meetings.
Members who only attend meetings within 20 miles of there home.
Members who participate on this forum.
Members who "cruise" this forum but never participate.
People who participate on this forum but are not members.

I would be good to see all of that data, but like a lot of the Data I see at work every day it is only good data if it is used.

 

[alkamar]

"Still very curious about the "discount memberships" that were alluded to."

As in getting a membership to get a discount at Kermit's or even out of town shops. I didn't mean that to be so confusing. Sorry for not clarifying.

I'm also sorry if me posting my views upsets you so much. I need to get some things done around the house, so I'll let you take it from here.

 

[ducklabdad]

Once again I guess I stirred up some! Did not mean to upset or offend anyone. Just thought I was posting some Statistical figures that several people had expressed an interest in.

 

[ducklabdad]

And Just for the Record, as several have asked it does appear that the person that actually travels the farthest and attends the meeting's regulary does appear to be ......."Snakemanvet" Dave Hensley our President, closely followed by several more that live more than 80 miles from Memphis and still "actively support this club" including our webmaster D Zones and Alkamar, and of course Del, from Arkansas and Vicki -Reefdiver77. These as I have said before deserve that we all take our hats off to them for how they support the club.

 

[crpeck]

As in every club, there are those who join and those who join AND participate. You are working from a membership list, Bill, but what really counts is who participates.

Our Jackson area members make a great effort to participate and the % of participation per membership from them is as great, and proportionately maybe even greater, than our Memphis area members.

The key is that we need to be inclusive of ALL areas in the West TN region because that is who we serve.

"True data does not mislead" but incomplete data does. There is no reason to focus on differences among our club population because what joins us is our interest in the hobby. Discussions such as this divide for no reason.

What is your purpose for posting this, Bill? What is it we are supposed to "mull"? What is it that you suggest?

Our mission and intention is to serve this region from Memphis to Jackson to northwest Mississippi to northeast Arkansas who are closer to us than their Little Rock area clubs. In order to do that, we must be inclusive and be willing to accommodate all areas with meetings that are convenient at least on a rotating basis.

Who is serving as our president now? A Jackson area member

Who just revamped our website at great time and effort? A Jackson area member.

Where was this club founded? In Jackson.

There is a disturbing inference in this post to try and minimize the contribution by and the need to include areas outside of Memphis.

I can put together the stats on participation by region or whatever anyone wants to look at. But I think the analysis is counter-productive to the cohesiveness of the group and I would like to take this discussion off of the RC forum now.

 

[crpeck]

I was typing my response as you posted a more inclusive perspective. Thank you.

 

[ducklabdad]

I do apologize that my posting of this data, did offend anyone, that was not the intention, and it was in no way done to divide, only to answer some questions that had been asked on this forum.

I truly wish that the "entire initial post had been read for what the intention was", certainly not to offend or alienate anyone.

Bill Hampton

 

[crpeck]

No offense, Bill ... sorry if my answer seemed that way.

I appreciate you going to the trouble to calculate the stats.
You have a lot of great ideas and input!

 

[Goibot]

Statistics are like bikinis. What they reveal is suggestive, but what they conceal is vital. ~Aaron Levenstein

 

[sperry]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=13683789#post13683789 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by ducklabdad
I do apologize that my posting of this data, did offend anyone, that was not the intention, and it was in no way done to divide, only to answer some questions that had been asked on this forum.

I truly wish that the "entire initial post had been read for what the intention was", certainly not to offend or alienate anyone.

Bill Hampton

I understood the original post to just be a bit of interesting trivia.

 

[Reefdiver77]

I travel and hour and a half to East Memphis and Collierville. To Olive Branch about 2+ hours. To Oxford, maybe 3-4 hours. I usually make all the meetings unless I am on vacation in July or have a bum shoulder! I am an empty nester and have the time to travel to the meetings, since I have very few responsibilities to keep me home. I do not think I could have been as involved with my tanks when Nick and Bethanie were little. What makes it easy for me is both my kids, dad and sister live in Memphis.

 

[luckyarbuc]

I am a little hesitant to post here because my participation level has not been great; however, I thought I should post to give an added perspective from one that does not frequent meetings.

Members that browse our forum that are not heavily involved, might be developing a guilt complex as they read through several recent threads. It seems as though active club members are publicly analyzing why we do not attend, when the reasons people don't attend varies greatly and are sometimes personal. Some reasons are simple to explain and some are not, but public banter within an impersonal forum such as this might make some members uncomfortable about attending future meetings. Assuming lower attendance in the future is not a goal we might want to tone things down a little. Newer members as well as older members that have drifted might be a little intimidated to jump into a thread like this and the the original intent of greater participation is never realized. Maybe a different approach is needed.

I would suggest polling nonparticipating members privately via e-mail or PM's to find out what they would like to gain from the club. Develop some strategies to encourage attendance; welcome wagon gift kits for new members, contest for attendance as mentioned above would be great, Just make it fun.

Here are my comments on why my attendance has not been great.

1. Time - Working too many hours and sometimes it gets in the way. When deciding on my priorities sometime the club wins sometime the club loses; it's just a fact of life.
2. The intimidation factor - Most new members are new to the hobby and know very little compared to long time members; this can be a little intimidating especially at meetings. Sometimes people don't feel like they fit in because of the knowledge gap.
3. I am a bit of a slow starter when I get involved in something new, and I believe most people are slow starters. Some will develop into dynamic active participants and some may not. I don't want this to sound too flowery, but newer members should be welcomed and nurtured too help them grow within the club.

Final thought
Over analyzing other members publicly might have the opposite effect than what you are hoping for. I would limit these types of discussions to have only at meetings, and always make them positive and productive.

Thanks,
Robert

 

[crpeck]

Thanks, Robert! That's great input and I agree all the way around. I too have been concerned that we're doing too much on RC that ought to be done at meetings and yes, any tension is a turn off. What's weird is that in person, we all get along great. I've never seen a group more willing to help each other. I enjoy the meetings a lot. I think these message boards, in general, have a tendency to get out of hand and focus on the negative.

You make the very good point that we all need to lighten up. Sounds good to me.

I sure do hope that no one would stay away though because they visualize some group of know a lots discussing advanced topics and leaving average hobbyists behind. The whole point is for us to learn from each other. I have always found people gracious and willing to share whenever they can.

I have a great idea for a meeting. How about we all come over here and scrape coralline and then buff scratches out of my acrylic? Now THAT would be helpful ... and SO educational!

 

[MrRyanT]

Cathy

Cathy

This will help get you started on those scratches.
http://www.reefspecialty.com/p336/Algae-Free-Acrylic-Scratch-Removal-Magnet-Kit/product_info.html

 

[crpeck]

Hey - that looks good. THANKS!