Archives for September 2012
Octoberfest Picnic, October 18
Posted September 29, 2012 at 8:22 AMTHE BRANDERMILL REGION MEN'S CLUB WILL CELEBRATE THE FALL WITH AN OCTOBERFEST THEME PICNIC
The date is Thursday, October 18,with a rain date of October 25.
Location: The Sunday Park Picnic Pavilion
The time: 3:30 p.m.
Our ladies can relax and enjoy the event this time around in that they will not be asked to provide anything, ONLY their presence.
The Club will provide and serve everything
We start the social hour with Cheese trays, Veggie trays, Dip with crackers & chips, pretzels. Octoberfest Beer, red and white wines, lemonade and soft drinks.
THIS IS AN ALL YOU CARE TO CONSUME EVENT
The meal includes Beer Bratwursts with a Kaiser roll, with Sauerkraut, German potato salad. Plus Steak Burgers and Cheese Burgers with a Steak roll, and all the Burger fixins' -
AND German style Desserts !!
The all-inclusive cost for this event is just $15.00 per person.
To assure ample food and drink, pre-paid reservations are essential.
Please complete the following reservation form and mail it with your check
to: Bal Dighe 6112 Duck Cove Road, Midlothian, VA 23112
PAID RESERVATIONS MUST BE RECEIVED BY MONDAY, OCTOBER 10.
--------------------------Clip, Complete & Mail----------------------------------
Count me/us in for this fun Octoberfestl Enclosed is my check, payable to
BRMC, for ___ persons at $15.00 each, for a total of $ _____ .
My name ____________________________ Phone : ______________
Name: __________________________________________________
Name: __________________________________________________
Name: __________________________________________________
November 1, 2012 Meeting
Posted September 14, 2012 at 3:50 PM
Jon Hatfield, the Executive Director of the Virginia War Memorial, will be the special guest speaker at the November 1st meeting.
November 4 Guided Tour of the Virginia War Memorial
Posted September 14, 2012 at 3:50 PM
The BRMC has arranged a guided tour of the Virginia War Memorial. Our guide will be BRMC member J. Walter Shugart, Colonel, U S Army (Ret.). Walt is a Vietnam combat veteran. The tour is set for Sunday, November 4, 2012. All those interested in participating will meet at 1:30 p.m. in Brandermill’s Market Square parking lot to form car pools.
Survey Results
Posted September 2, 2012 at 10:15 AMREPORT AND RECOMMENDATIONS
BASED ON MEMBER SURVEY
SUBMITTED BY
FIRST VICE PRESIDENT DON E. BLOM
AUGUST 30, 2012
Overview
In May of 2012 a membership survey was mailed to the 147 active members of the Brandermill Region Men’s Club. A total of 80 members, or 54% of the membership, eventually returned completed surveys. This should easily be a sufficient return rate to provide the Executive Board with insight into the attitudes of our members on the topics surveyed.
Demographic Information
Even though we dropped the word “retired” from our club’s name recently, we definitely are a retired men’s club with a membership that for the most part is will into retirement. In terms of age 65 of the 80 respondents, or 81%, are age 70 or more years of age (and 33, or 41% are at least age 80). Only one of the 80 respondents was under 60 years of age and only 14, or 17.5% were in their 60’s.
65 of the 80 respondents, or 81%, are fully retired. An additional 13, or 16%, are working part time, and only 2, or 2.5%, are working fulltime. The majority of the respondents (50, or 62.5%) have been in the club five years or more. 22, or 27.5% have been in the club between two and five years and only 8, or 10%, have been members for less than two years.
Observations: These demographics point to a club that is quite successful in retaining our membership, but it also points up the need to recruit additional members, especially members between the ages of 55 and 70 in order to create a new core of members who can be counted on to be a part of the membership for many years to come.
Where We Live
The majority of the respondents still live in Brandermill (48, or 60%). Woodlake is a strong second with 13 of the respondents, or 16%. The remaining 19 respondents (or 24%) live in 13 other developments (Summerford (3), the Highlands, Queensmill, Dogwood, Midlothian proper, Cambria Cove, Surrywood, the Terraces (2), Edgewater, Foxcroft, Bel Air, Deer Run, and Richmond. This diversity, with 40% of the membership living outside of Brandermill suggests a good deal of opportunity for recruiting additional members from the various communities represented (more on this in the membership development section).
Reasons for Belonging
As might be expected, the monthly club meetings scored highest in terms of activities of interest to the members. 67 of the 80 respondents, or 84%, indicated that the club meetings are of interest. Finishing a strong second were the club’s various tours, with 57 members, or 71% citing these as of interest. These were followed by charitable activities (52%), romeo and epicurean dinners (29%) bowling (27%), golf (22%), the “lunch bunch” (15%), and the bridge group (11%).
There are a number of additional activities that were suggested and these are listed on the survey results sheet.
Observations: High quality speakers at the monthly meetings that meet the members interests are clearly key to generating attendance at the meetings and maintaining membership. In this regard, the role of the second vice president is key to the club’s success. The interest in our various social activities ranked surprisingly high, and it would probably be in our best interests to think about scheduling an entire year’s tours in advance. The various specialized activities (bowling, golf and bridge) also are of interest to many members and we should consider the additional activities that were suggested by the respondents.
Monthly Meeting Attendance
Two thirds of the respondents (53 of the 80) stated that they attend at least half the monthly meeting (37% always attend if they are in town). 17 additional respondents sometimes attend but attend fewer than 50% of the meetings and only 9 respondents (11%) rarely or never attend.
Among the 53 members who reported attending at least half the meetings, nearly all of them (51 or 96%) cited interest in the month’s speaker as important to their decision as to whether or not to attend. However, the other elements of the meeting were seen as important as well with 43 (81%) citing the social hour prior to the meeting, 33 (62%) citing the Brandermill and Woodlake community reports, and 23 (43%) mentioning the member care reports.
Of the 26 respondents who do not attend meetings regularly, nearly half (10 or 43%) cited schedule conflicts that precluded monthly meeting attendance. However, 50% (or 13 respondents) did indicate they would attend more meetings if the speakers were more relevant to them.
A number of members suggested possible speakers or topics for future meetings and those are listed on the survey.
Observations: Here again, the quality of our speakers and their “match” with our members interests appear to be the biggest key to maintaining good attendance at our meetings. It is also, clear, however, that all the elements of our monthly meetings are important to many of our members so there is no need to fix something that is not broken.
Communications
There appears to be a high degree of satisfaction with the club’s communications. 71 respondents (89%) are happy to get there club news via email (63) or the U.S. Postal Service (8) and do not see a need for additional communication. Only 5 members indicated they would like to have additional postcards or telephone calls regarding the monthly meetings.
Our website does not currently get as much traffic as we’d like, but 34 respondents (42%) do visit the site at on occasion.
Observations: I was surprised that the number of members who wanted additional reminders of meetings was so minimal as I suspect that some members do just lose track of the meeting date each month, but I can’t argue with the survey results. We certainly need to keep pushing as much traffic as possible to our website.
Charitable Giving
56 members (a full 70%) indicate that our charitable giving is either “very important” or “important” to them. Another 21% (17 respondents) rate it as “somewhat important” and only 6 (7.5%) consider our charitable activities “unimportant” .
The overwhelming majority (71, or 89%) agree that our current mode of raising funds for charity, our annual concert, is an effective means of supporting our charitable activities.
One of the most interesting questions on the survey was whether the club should offer more opportunities for hands on charitable work, similar to our bell ringing for the Salvation Army. 30 respondents (42%) replied in the affirmative and 39 (49%) replied in the negative.
Observations: It appears that we have a winning formula in our annual concert featuring Clover Hill and other area high school musical groups and we should maintain that event and look for ways to raise the gross receipts of that event in the future.
With regard to hands on charitable activities, even though more replied in the negative than the affirmative there is no reason that we should not seek out additional opportunities for hands on activities for the strong minority who indicate that they would welcome such opportunities.
Membership Development
The overwhelming majority of our members (59 or 74%) joined the club after being invited by a friend or neighbor. 11 (14%) attended a meeting on their own after learning of the club through the Brandermill newspaper or elsewhere and 9 (11%) learned about the club in some other manner (from a spouse, a friend who was not a member, by presenting at the club, at the bowling alley or country club, etc.)
Although the majority say they would not be more likely to seek out new members if more incentives were offered (50, or 62%), 22 other members (27%) indicate they would respond to such incentives.
The survey asked whether we should create a membership recruitment committee. 33 (37%) said yes, only 8 (10%) said no, and a whopping 39 (49%) had no opinion or did not respond to this question.
Observations: Personal recruitment is how we’ve reached our current level of membership and that is presumably the key to any future growth. Even though the majority of respondents stated that they would not be more prone to recruit if more incentives were offered, some of those respondents also stated that they are already heavily engaged in recruitment. For the minority who say they would respond to incentives it very well might be worthwhile to consider offering some attractive incentives.
With regard to a membership development committee, a sizable minority (41%) did indicate they favor creating such a committee and I’d recommend that we move in that direction.
Overall Satisfaction
37% of the respondents (30 respondents) indicate they are “very satisfied” with the overall programs and operations of the club and an additional 59% (41 respondents) are “satisfied” for a combined total of 96% Only one member reported being dissatisfied.
53 respondents (66%) report that the club is “very important” or “important” to them and 22 (27%) report that it is “somewhat important.” Only 3 respondents judged the club “unimportant” to them.
The final question asked if the club offers sufficient opportunities for members to participate on the board or on committees. 65 (81%) answered “yes,” and only 6 (7%) answered “no” (9 did not respond to this question.
Observations: These results are about what I would have expected and indicate a healthy club that is reasonably important to its members and one that enjoys good satisfaction with the current leadership.
Recommendations
Based on these results I would offer the following recommendations for the Executive Board’s consideration:
- We need to aggressively pursue membership development and specifically to encourage members to recruit additional members. I would recommend finding ways to incentivize members to actively recruit from among their friends and neighbors.
- I would recommend setting up a small membership development committee to assist with membership development efforts.
- Membership development should be specifically discussed at each regular monthly meeting keeping the members informed as to how we stand in our recruitment efforts (this presupposes setting some specific recruitment goals for the year).
- Monthly program topics are of high interest to the members. The further in advance we can set programs and inform the membership about future programs the better off we will be. We should consider whether there are programs for which a fee or honorarium would be required that would be attractive to the members.
- Social activities (tours) and the romeo and epicurean dinners are also of interest to the members. Here again, planning the full year’s schedule at the outset of our meeting year in the fall and announcing that schedule would probably be popular with the membership.
- We should review the suggestions for additional “special interest groups” to determine whether any of them can and should be initiated.
- The annual fundraising concert is a winner and should be maintained in its present form.
- The charity committee should look for additional opportunities for hands on charity work and offer those opportunities to the minority of the members who have indicated they would be interested in such opportunities.