Internet/Public Event Membership

We are now offering USPS membership on the internet.  Visitors to our web site click on the “Join Us” button and can join by completing an application and paying with their credit card.  These new members will have unattached status and will be placed into the Cyber Squadron (6404).  This same process can be used for public events such as boat shows.

 

Internet Membership Charges	Individual	Family
Initiation Fee	$ 25.00	$  25.00
National Dues	$ 37.20	$  55.80
District Assessment	$   5.00	$    7.50
Squadron Assessment	$ 27.80	$  41.70
Total	$ 95.00	$130.00

 

The district and squadron assessments will be credited to the district and squadron when the new member transfers from the Cyber Squadron to a real squadron.  To aid in this process, the new member will be advised of the four closest squadrons and these squadrons will be asked to make contact and tell the new member about their squadron.  The message will look like the following:

 

Public Contact Paul Carter,

 

Bob Boater is a new unattached member and will be looking for a squadron to join. Podunk Squadron is 8 miles from the new members zip code. Contact information for the new member is:

 

Name: Bob Boater

Email: BBoat@aol.com

Phone: (234)567-8901

Contact Time: ASAP

Location: Anytown, FL 32958

 

Please make contact and answer any questions about your squadron. Let us know that you have made contact by clicking on the following:

http://www.usps.org/php/DHinders/membership/cl.php?ID=NEWMEM4a9ece3ab9994

 

Thanks,

 

Dave Hinders

National Secretary

 

If your squadron receives such a message, please be sure to introduce your squadron to the new member.

 

USPS / SailAngle Project Off to a Good Start

Beginning August 1^st, USPS kicked off a campaign to encourage members to sign up for free at SailAngle.com. By now you should have received a copy of a message sent by the Chief regarding this project. A copy of the message can be found at http://www.usps.org/php/DHinders/SailAngle/chiefmsg.pdf .

Working with USPS, SailAngle set up special Private Groups for every Squadron, District, and National committee. This provides a very effective communication platform for USPS. In addition, our members receive free access to all the other features on SailAngle.com.

If you haven’t signed up yet, please do so by clicking on the “Access SailAngle.com” button on the http://www.usps.org/ home page. Follow the steps and the website will automatically place you in the proper District and Squadron and any Departments and Committees in which you are currently a member. If you should have a problem, there is slideshow to take you thru the process.

http://www.usps.org/php/DHinders/SailAngle/Accessing%20SailAngle.pps

This new website is not meant to replace www.usps.org, or any local squadron website. However, the features on the website are numerous and beneficial, and the special features in Groups are very powerful tools. For example, there are two types of Group Messages:

1. With just a click of the mouse, a group member can send a notice, message or invitation to everyone in that group; or

2. A member can send a Group Forum Message where all responses are posted in the Group Forum for all members to see.

It’s important that you sign up as we intend to begin using these features to communicate with the membership.

If you are concerned about security of your information, SailAngle.com has taken extraordinary steps to maintain confidentiality of your private information and they contract with a well-known security contractor to continually monitor security. Additionally, SailAngle.com agreed to the same terms of service that USPS provides to our members, namely that email addresses are never shared with, or sold to any third parties.

I’m pleased to announce that we are off to a good start. So far the feedback has been very positive. Comments like these (listed below) seem to show that the majority of those who have signed up like the new website.

“WOW! WOW! WOW! Great Website! Congratulations. It is beautiful, functional and informative. What is even more impressive is you were able to work with USPS and get their endorsement! I was referred to Sailangle by an email from the San Diego Sail and Power Squadron. This partnership is beneficial to both organizations. The whole package is so informative to the boating community as a whole. It is "win-win" for everyone. “

“This is a pretty neat web site. Our squadron has begun the process of signing on. Thanks a lot.”

“Justin, the forum posting changes are fantastic. Many thanks. Also, thanks for clarifying the difference between the types of messaging. Really appreciate your responsiveness!”

“Everybody I invited to be a friend accepted, what a friendly group.”

Any time you bring a new system online you learn from the users. One of the things which we’ve learned is that the users want more control of the notification emails which are sent. The SailAngle team was quick to respond and we now have “Email Notification Preferences”.

We also plan to offer on-line courses through SailAngle.com and other public websites, but access to America’s Boating Course and Seamanship are now available through SailAngle.com with more to come.

We expect our exposure on SailAngle.com will help us increase our awareness in the general community, increase membership, increase revenue, and generally help us achieve our mission of community service and safe boating education.

You can help by signing up and encouraging the members of your squadron to do the same. The sooner we get everyone on board, the sooner we will start reaping the benefits.

Dave Hinders

National Secretary

Where's My Order III

As reported in a prior posting, the board established a study group to investigate our order processing system. V/C Hinders, V/C Sweet, V/C Alter, P/V/C Robert Baldridge, SN, and Mary Catherine Berube met at headquarters in May 2009 to document how the current system works, establish benchmarks, define methods to achieve a range of shipment goals, and establish the cost required to implement these methods. Enhancements have been made including backlog visibility, visibility of the types of orders received, i.e., educational, Ship’s Store, exams, visibility on the number of days to ship an order, and e-mail notifications to members when an order is entered and shipped. The goal is to ship orders in five days from receipt. To meet the shipping goal will require improvements to the current system such as pre-kitting items prior to pulling an order, allowing headquarters staff to work overtime to meet order peaks, authorizing headquarters to reorder most inventory items, enhancing management and inventory management systems, and developing an online order processing and inventory system.

The order backlog has stabilized, but we will be facing another “spike” as we approach the Fall Governing Board.

We are definitely making progress and plan to continue doing so.

Dave Hinders

National Secretary

REACH2O

The REACH2O program is not a USPS program but it may be of interest to those squadrons which have regular youth programs or are aware of such programs in their area.

 

REACH2O, is one of the most ambitious projects ever undertaken to harness the power of the youth community and it will need your help and participation. If you manufacture or sell products, conduct programs or provide services, educational training, need to deliver a message to the youth community, or operate a local youth program, then  REACH2O is a project you need to embrace.  You are a prime stakeholder in the outcome of the  REACH2O project.

 

The National Youth Marine Alliance will dedicate the next 18-24 months in an intensive research project to collect, categorize and prepare for public access a comprehensive database of all youth water based programs in this country.  All of the programs identified will be invited to receive a designation as a Goblue4kids network program.  This effectively creates a communication vehicle to an estimated 7-10,000 youth programs at the local level.

 

 REACH2O has been designed to offer a high return on investment through the employment of methods that will utilize the resources of the Allied Organizations, partners and related organizations.  This essential infrastructure project would be cost prohibitive for any of the single participating organizations to undertake.  It is labor intensive, requires an extensive network of partners which represent programs across a broad spectrum of water based activities and an investment of human resources that few individual organizations are prepared to commit.  The NYMA is in a unique position to bring this project to a successful conclusion.  REACH2O will significantly improve the interactions of national organizations with grass roots programs; will create a peer to peer network, and an access directory for the general public.

 

The process of data collection will be conducted in two phases.  The first phase will call upon all Allied Organizations, Partners and interested parties to put forth any and all data which they have regarding the location, contact information, nature of program, and web addresses as applicable with respect to appropriate grass roots entities.  Many organizations have this information readily available,  however it is specific to their own area of influence and interest  (i.e. BASS has a listing of youth fishing programs, US Sailing has a listing of community boating programs, American Canoe Assn has a listing of local youth paddle clubs, United States Power Squadrons have a list of all of their squadrons where youth can get education about boating, and so on).  Once the initial phase of data collection is completed the programs will be entered in to a central database for sorting by geographic location.

 

The second phase of data collection is very labor intensive and may require personal contact with each entity to verify data, obtain narrative text, and properly classify the scope of services for youth. Once this data is successfully compiled it will be entered into a national relational database which may be accessed by the general public through an NYMA maintained web site. One very important point to note with the  REACH2O project is the belief that water based programs should not be considered mutually exclusive in terms of motivating our youth to get involved with the various water based activities as a lifestyle.   REACH2O is comprehensive in nature and seeks to identify all of the access routes whereby youth can be led to the water, such as fishing, water conservation programs, swimming, diving, water sports and community boating programs. 

 

 

 

 

 REACH2O Project Outcomes:

 

 It is conservatively estimated that 7-10,000 water based programs with youth directed components exist across the nation.  The direct result of  REACH2O will be the successful identification, classification and establishment of each such program in the national database. The short and long term benefits of such a data resource will benefit a broad constituency.  The following describes some benefit statements for various constituent groups:

 

The General Public:  An on-line searchable database will aid parents, adult guardians and youth by providing accurate information on access points to water based recreation and education programs.

 

National Water Based Program & Service Providers:  The NYMA, as an umbrella organization, will provide the necessary infrastructure to increase the capacity of member organizations, endorsing associations, and project partners.  The successful completion of the  REACH2O infrastructure project will offer these stakeholders a new resource to effectively reach the youth population and those that serve youth at the grass roots level.

Peer to Peer Relationship Building With Grass Roots Programs:  The extraordinary value of identifying, classifying and maintaining accurate contact data for youth water based programs will be further realized through peer to peer networking. Current communications between program providers is ad hoc and benefits are limited.   REACH2O effectively creates a network to increase the capacity of organizations by providing a shared platform for knowledge. This aspect of the  REACH2O project will utilize state of the art web technology to create a functional social networking platform for the accessing of an on-line library of best practices, resources and a forum for direct dialogue between grass roots program providers as well as national organizations and agencies.

Marine Industry and Accessory Manufacturing Sector: 

The development and implementation of the  REACH2O project provides an extensive network for the marine industry and accessory manufacturing sector. Access to the youth market can have many benefits for the industry in terms of accurate and real-time research and development opportunities. Along with the Grow Boating national campaign to promote boating to the general public as a fun family lifestyle choice, manufacturers will increase their capacity to grow awareness through the  REACH2O network. Understanding trends in the youth market as to “What’s Hot and What’s Not” can make all of the difference in appealing to this segment.  Industry surveys, product testing , and consumer awareness will prove to be useful tools in the development of products and services to build upon the theme that boating is a fun family lifestyle choice.

 

Boating Safety Community:

 

How, where and when we introduce our nation’s youth to safety issues in and around boats and the water can have a lifetime of consequences.  Cultivating good habits and safe practices will save lives in both the short and long terms.  

 

 

 

What You Can Do To Help

               

1.      Begin a dialogue within your organization and discuss how you may contribute source information on grass roots youth programs.  The first project of the task force is to determine the best possible data collection methods.

2.      Offer the names of other organizations that you feel could contribute data and would benefit from the overall implementation of  REACH2O.

3.      Share this information with any party you feel may have an interest.

4.      If you have information on where kids can get connected then we need it. You may enter individual site or program information by visiting this page of our web site. http://www.goblue4kids.org/program_directorsForm.html   If you have multiple sites we ask that you contact us directly so we can arrange a file import. (401) 935-6248

 

Membership News

Commanders:

If you’ll look at the attached graphs you’ll see a disturbing trend. Membership losses, which have run at nearly 6% per year for the last few years are suddenly over 8% in 2009. What’s going on here? Our losses due to non-renewals are running about the same as previous years. What’s causing the problem is that were not recruiting new members as successfully this year as in the past. The number of new members recruited this year is 968 members fewer than recruited the year before (2,816 vs. 3,784). Since those lost recruiting opportunities are history, it seems to me that we need to redouble our retention efforts. At this point you should be able to clearly identify those members who have not yet renewed in May which is our largest renewal month. Please put together a committee to personally call each of those members who’ve not yet renewed and make sure they know how important their membership is to your squadron and ask them to renew their membership. The sooner you do this, the more successful you’ll be.

This past weekend the Board authorized a plan that will provide new members a free copy of the USPS cookbook “By Land or By Sea”, which includes shipping, as an incentive to join USPS. Each new membership application will be eligible, with a limit of one per household. This offer will be in effect until the current inventory (969 copies) is depleted.

Thanks for all you do for USPS.

John Alter
National Administrative Officer

Click on graph to enlarge

Click on graph to enlarge

Marketing/PR Update

 

Two Marketing Seminar Sessions In Kansas City

USPS is offering two marketing seminars at the Kansas City Governing Board designed for squadron education leaders and all members who are trying to publicize USPS public courses and seminars.

"The Tools of Marketing Squadron and Courses", is a Thursday PM session presented by an MPRCom team who will help members develop squadron publicity programs and videos.

"Selling Public Courses" is the Friday AM session presented by HQ Marketing's, Tom Kemp. It will focus on the preparation of publicity materials and press releases. It is planned that there will be prizes for contest winning participants.

Get your squadron members to these two key programs.

 

PROLOG

PROLog, our “electronic marketing cookbook”, is online to help develop those squadron publicity programs. It makes fascinating use of the latest media devices. Learn to use it at www.usps.org

 

The National Ship’s Bell Award

The Ship’s Bell Award is open for nominations by any squadron, district, or national USPS leader. It is one of USPS’s key awards for individuals, groups, or even outside organizations that make significant contributions to USPS marketing. Past recipients have been: a national corporation, a tri-county newspaper, and a squadron assistant safety officer, who became a regional writer on boating safety.

If you have any candidates who are giving extraordinary marketing service contact R/C Greg Scotten at gscotten@comcast.net.

 

Calling all writers

The Marketing/ PR Committee is seeking to expand its writers team. Members who have experience in the writing of marketing releases for large organizations are needed as the Committee expands it work. Contact R/C Greg Scotten at gscotten@comcast.net.

 

 

 

 

 

 

How to Sell

 

Successfully Selling America’s Boating Course 3^rd Edition®—a 26 slide sales presentation that will convince boating course students to join your squadron.  A narrated presentation that will take you through all the benefits of the course, overcoming objections and making the sale.

 

http://www.usps.org/national/natsec/marketing/SellABC.htm

 

Successfully Selling the United States Power Squadrons—a carefully planned 56 slide presentation that will help you recruit new members to your squadron.  The narrated presentation covers the skills from Successfully Selling America’s Boating Course 3^rd Edition® and will give you the tools to “ask for the commitment” to join.

 

http://www.usps.org/national/natsec/marketing/SellUSPS.htm

 

Tom Kemp

Manager Marketing & Development Services

 

Note:  Both of these presentations are in QuickTime format and require a QuickTime Player.  If your system does not have the player, you should be prompted to download and install a free player.