News from the CCA Membership Growth & Engagement Committee

[Doug “Cigarman” Smith LM-3209-147]

I would like to share some exciting news and information about the CCA Membership Growth & Engagement Committee

This committee was created with the approval of the CCA BOD approximately 8 months ago in August 2023.

While the initial purpose of the committee was to be focused solely on CCA membership recruitment and retention of
existing members, we quickly realized that there were many issues we wanted to look into that wouldn't be considered
traditional recruitment topics. For that reason we expanded our scope to look at opportunities to add value for our
members, better engage with the membership and modernize processes.

The committee consists of 10 members and chaired by myself and includes:

Allan Anderson
Doug Balduni
Len Cipkins
Ed Hertel
Bob Miksztal
Roy Nelson
Paul Schaffer
Brad Smith
Doug Smith
Rick Timmins

Barry Sherwood has also recently be added to the committee.

I would like to offer a HUGE thanks to all the committee members and especially Bob Miksztal who has done a LOT of work
helping us organize our ideas and use the tools necessary to manage them efficiently.

Since organizing, the committee has met 10 times in 2 hour meetings as well as worked individually on a number of topics all
aimed at improving the club for both current and potential new members.

As a result, we have come up with over 90 topics we wanted to address and look into further and have organized these in
a way that we can actively discuss and plan for successful improvement of each.

All ideas discussed were focused on either increasing benefits to CCA membership or making improvements to the club for
both its current members and potential future members.

The committee met with the CCA BOD a few weeks ago to discuss the first 15-20 topics and now have their approval to
do what it takes to make them happen. The CCA BOD is 100% behind what we are trying to accomplish in an attempt to
grow both the hobby and the club.

While some of these issues are quick fixes and no brainers, others will require more discussions and planning before going
back to the CCA BOD with a final proposal.

With all that going on we will definitely be looking for volunteers to help with many of the specific issues that the committee
will be working thru. We are currently looking to formalize a procedure for adding volunteers to help so if you're interested
please keep a lookout for future announcements.

While I don't want to get into a lot of specifics in this first announcement, the plan is to communicate the progress of the
committee in posts such as this as well as the newsletter and Magazine.

While some of the items have already been completed and several others are just about to be, we will continue to work
thru our list as well as add new items where needed.

Here are some items that have already been completed and implemented

1) MOGH Page for current exhibits - http://museumofgaminghistory.org/mogh.php?p=exhibits
2) Club library search - https://www.ccgtcc.com/education/library.aspx

This is a list of items we are currently working on and approved by the CCA BOD to develop:

1) Have ongoing committees (working groups)
2) Increase board communications with members
3) Have a new, specific page for newbie chippers
4) Schedule Quarterly Zoom CCA Business meetings with a Q&A
5) Formal efforts to recruit from outside sources
6) Have a formal exit survey when members don't renew
7) Rationalize the CCA website, MoGH website, CCA Message Board
8 ) Solicit and implement ideas from members
9) Member Directory available on website with members collecting interests
10) Automatic renewal of memberships
11) Instant membership
12) Tearsheet for advertising the club
13) Revisit of goals and execution of newsletter
14) Single Point of Communication from the CCA BOD
15) Make some of the Club Web site be members-only
16) Build a Promotional Database from show attendees
17) Central Volunteer need list
18) Increase member only benefits to Chipguide

Among the other 70+ items already on our list to explore, most fall into these general topics:

1) Improvements to CCA Message Boards
2) Improvements to CCA Website
3) Improvements to Magazine
4) Improvements to membership system
5) Additional features and usage of the Chipguide
6) Additional Educational efforts
7) Additional Convention offerings
8 ) Additional benefits to membership
9) Additional programs to keep new members engaged
10) Making the club a more welcoming place

What's Next?
As we work thru plans to tackle each of our topics we will be looking for volunteers to help us accomplish them.

We are in the process of establishing 4 permanent committees to take on these topics
1) Membership Growth & Engagement Committee - The one I am talking about in this post
2) Social Media Committee - Currently exists and is chaired by Paul Schaffer
3) Technology Committee - To handle web site, message board and other technical improvements
4) Education Committee - Develop more educational tasks and events

We will continue to develop needs for additional volunteers as we work thru our list

If you would like to be a part of these exciting new improvements to the CCA and are willing to volunteer, please send
an email to Allan Anderson @ adesign@sbcglobal.net

Keep a lookout for more updates and information as we continue to move forward.

[Bob Miksztal R-8909]

If you haven't see it yet, we have published an article in the latest CCA Newsletter on the background of the Membership Growth and Outreach Committee.

If you missed Doug's announcement, see it here:
http://www.thechipboard.com/index.cgi/md/read/id/1742527/sbj/ex-exciting-news-from-our-committee/

If you would like to read it for yourself, it is posted on the club's web site here.
https://www.ccgtcc.com/documents/1327/Volume-6-Number-2---March-2024

If you would like to subscribe to the newsletter, please send an email request to: Richard Huber, CCA Newsletter Email Wrangler at: burbankchipper@aol.com (Newsletter self-serve sign-up coming soon!)