Here is my draft announcement. Let me know what you think.
North Carolina Woodworker Fall Update
Well, Fall has arrived and there is a lot going on. The BoD thought it would be a good idea and decided to post this update.
1. The Klingspor event
The Klingspor Woodworking Shop Extravaganza is happening on October 30 and 31 in Hickory NC. We will have a booth at this event and will be doing demonstrations. Admission is free and we encourage all of you to come out. Lurkers are of course welcome and perhaps this will embolden you to come out into the light and join us. If you would like to participate in the demonstration please contact Scott Miller (ScottM) or Rob Payne (McRabbet). We will also be selling North Carolina Woodworker calendars at this event.
2. 2009 NC Woodturning Symposium
We will have an information booth at the 2009 NC Woodturning Symposium Oct 23rd- 25th. Volunteers will be appreciated.
3. Fall Raffle
There will be a Fall raffle. AS with the raffle we ran at the picnic, the prizes will be good (understatement!) The BoD and primarily Rob have worked very hard at obtaining these awesome prizes that virtually everyone would be thrilled to own. Our supporting businesses have really done right by us! There will be announcements on the raffle, e.g. how it will be run, the prizes, etc. in a separate post coming in a few weeks. One final note, the members of the BoD have decided that we will be ineligible for the raffle.
4. The crawls
A second Charlotte crawl was just completed. My hat is off the crawl committee and Jim and Jeremy especially. I am sorry I could not make it. This was the first crawl I missed, but family obligations took priority. However, if I had known about the goody bag… Anyway, I think that the committee has taken the crawl concept further than I did and they are to be commended! The next crawl I believe is the Durham, Orange Alamance crawl. The date has not been determined yet. Please go to the crawl forum if you want to host and/or participate.
5. Non-profit status
After some delay, Scott Smith, Travis Porter and I are working towards completing the needed steps to achieve non-profit status. Why is this important? For many reasons. For you the members, your donations will be tax deductable. Also if your employer matches your charitable donations, then we stand to improve our ability to promote woodworking in North Carolina and the surrounding states!
6. Group Production-line get togethers
Recently, Scott Smith proposed a group production line get-together to make wooden screw clamps. The response has been terrific! Scott is working out the details and this looks to be a wonderful new North Carolina Woodworker project concept. If it works out we hope this will become a repeating program in the future, obviously with the group making different things. (Maybe toys for needy children).
7. “In-active” members
The BoD recently discussed reaching out to our in-active members. Our membership roll is closing in on 3,500. This is good news. At the same time, however, there are many formerly active members who have not posted in some time. Some of these members we know are still around. We think it is worth the effort to reach out to these members to try to reconnect with them and encourage them to give us another look and get re-engaged. Anyone interested in getting involved with this effort should drop one of the BoD a PM.
8. Encourage lurkers to join by stating the benefits
In a similar vein, we are going to make an effort to encourage more lurkers to apply for membership. One way to do this is to explicitly set forth the benefits of membership, and as nice as the discounts we get at some supporting businesses is, I do not mean just that. This will probably be in the form of a sticky thread and members are encouraged to contribute with their own anecdotal benefits.
9. On-going site tweaks
As you may have noticed, the administrators, and especially Froglips (Jim Campbell), have been VERY busy making upgrades to the website and soliciting your feedback regarding existing changes and proposed future changes. I can not say enough how grateful we as the BoD are to the many hands doing this work! Please let us know if there are things you like and don’t like about the site and features you would like to see in the future.
10. Staffing additions/changes
I am pleased to state that a number of people have volunteered to help, as they wanted to give back to North Carolina Woodworker, Inc. This included people, such as Glennbear, who became moderators, to others with programming skills, who have come forward to offer assistance. Everything that is done to keep North Carolina Woodworker, Inc. a thriving entity is done on a volunteer basis. Consequently these offers of assistance are greatly appreciated. If you are so inclined please step up. For example, a committee is in the early stages of forming for next year’s picnic. In years past a few members worked so hard and so long that they did not get to mingle with the rest of the members. We hope to do everything we can to see that these people do not have to do such yeoman’s work again.
11. Encourage further member involvement
The previous item leads right into this one. We can always use help. Whether it be official of informal, helping with a crawl, on a committee, doing a demonstrating, etc. Please do not wait to be asked! I would feel lousy if I started every conversation with any/all of you with “Please help” or “What are doing for us?” There is no obligation that everyone do something, but all help is appreciated.
12. Calendar sales
After a few fits and starts, the calendar contest was a success. Congrats to all the winners! Sales of calendars are expected shortly and will continue. We expect to be selling them at the Klingspor Extravaganza!
13. Future events
As the year progresses Scott Miller as the Events Director will be announcing future activities. Other members, such as Mike Davis with his BBQ, are organizing get together with other North Carolina Woodworker members. Look for more posts on these.
Finally, I want to say that I am thrilled with the cooperation and cohesiveness shown by the present BoD! Thank you Rob, Travis, Tracy, ScottM, Stuart and Scott S.
Douglas Robinson
