<VV> CORSA membership

[Vairtec Corporation]

(Some of you just KNEW that I'd have to weigh in on this one, didn't you?)

The discussion has to do with welcoming non-CORSA-members at the 
conventions.

When the NECC was planning the 2012 convention in Sturbridge, we 
proposed doing just that.  There were extensive discussions on the 
matter, but our recommendation boiled down to offering an economic 
benefit of membership:  If you were a member, registration would cost 
less than if you were not a member.  Non-members would pay a higher 
non-member rate.

Our thinking was, by opening registration and participation to all persons,

 > some non-members would register, resulting in income to the convention;

 > some non-members would choose to join on the spot, to gain the 
benefit of member rates, resulting in income to the convention and to CORSA;

 > some non-members would enjoy themselves and decide subsequently to 
join, resulting in income to CORSA.

We knew that there would still be people who would attend the convention 
without registering (as has been pointed out, by doing such things as 
visiting the vendors and seeing the car show).  But we thought that by 
offering a non-member registration opportunity we might lure some of 
those folks in.

The CORSA Board, to its credit, considered our proposal.  But the Board 
rejected our proposal, among the stated reasons being that the 
convention is a convention for CORSA members, not a convention for 
Corvair owners.

The Board did, however, offer a counter-proposal, which would waive the 
basic registration fee for non-members who joined on the spot.  This 
counter-proposal was put into effect for the Sturbridge convention.  Did 
it work?  To a degree.  The new-member numbers from Sturbridge were 
good, but not to any significant extent better than any previous convention.

Personally, I was not entirely happy with this counter-proposal since it 
took income away from the convention, whereas our original proposal was 
revenue-positive for all parties.  In addition I felt that this 
counter-proposal offered non-members an economic benefit unavailable to 
existing and loyal members.  I felt also that it was still too much of a 
closed-door policy, i.e., we'll let you in but only if you join first.

So I still believe that what would be best for CORSA and its conventions 
would be for all persons to be able to register and participate, by 
means of member rates and non-member rates.

--Bob Marlow