SailAngle Update

After just over one year of operations, we have 7200 members or 19% of our membership on SailAngle.com. The following graph shows that some districts have had some success in the sign-up process while others have not really started. To reap the benefits of this system, we need more participation.

As might be expected, this is a topic of discussion at district conferences. One of the more common objections is "it's different". Of course it's different. You cannot add capabilities without introducing change. The objection might have merit if no instructional information had been provided. That has not been the case. The folks at SailAngle have given seminars at district conferences, provided online webinars, distributed instructional DVD's as well as generating tutorial videos. There are over 60 videos on how to effectively use SailAngle.

(http://www.sailangle.com/index/help-tutorial-videos ) .

Another objection is "trust". I was under the impression that this issue had been put to bed sometime ago. A number of our more skeptical members put the system to the test early on and found that our data is protected. However, at a recent district conference, I learned that an incident which occured last year was being attributed to SailAngle. The incident in question concerned unsolicited emails advertisements from a company selling USPS compliant websites. Since this incident occured after the introduction of SailAngle, some jumped to the conclusion that email addresses were obtained from SailAngle. This conclusion is totally in error. SailAngle has gone to great lengths to protect our data.

I would encourage all squadrons which have not already done so to try the bulk enrollment option. Members who are not satisfied can always opt out.

Dave Hinders

National Secretary