Club Organizational Meeting needed
 

After talking with the other members that attended the March Dyno Day/Silver Dollar Races, we came to the conclusion that we need to hold a meeting with all club members that can attend. We need to get our club back on track. We have not had a news letter in quite some time, most of us are out of date on our dues, there has been little to no communication to members via email or our forum and it seems that the club is driffting apart.
We need to elect officers (At least 3-4 so no one person has to do too much). Open a club account for our funds (what little we have), Kick the news letter back off so floks will get something for the membership. This will have to include news from all of our membership as to what is happening in their respective area (cruises, shows, tech, etc). We also need to help our freinds in UK get their chapter going and include them in our news letter, ect.
I have been as guilty as anyone for the lack of communication on the forum. My life has been very busy and I know the same can be said for many of you.
We has a communication problem at our last event and tho it wasn't a major problem, we didn't wold up our end with regard to some raffle merchandise. While we did gather lots of nice stuff to give out thanks to Jake (our club sponsor who came up with a Type 1 DTM shroud, vidios, etc.), Herrell's Bug Parts, and the SEVWA (Thanks Kathy), and the raffle went well, we could have and should have had more stuff.
We can leave things as they are. Or we can get things back on track. I would like to see things back on track myself, but that is only one vote.
Please indicate what date/time is good for you and lets see if we can get a good meeting organized. :agree:

Amen brother! ;)

Any Wednesday night is good for me. I think all of us that discussed it at Dyno Day are in total agreement, we just need to elect some officers and set it all in motion!

Are we talking about in-person or on-line?

This will be an online meeting. I am off Wed., Thur, Fri. this week. I still don't know about next week as we are have to bid our off days at my work this week due to the layoffs that happen at the end of the month.

I'll be around...

This has been on my mind since late 2004. Quite frankly, I'm loosing interest in being a member of the gruppe.

Geographical distance between members, being 300+ miles from the nearest get-together, and trying to complete a teidious, and expensive project by myself, all after 50+ hours of repairs in a normal work week have really curbed my enthusiasm considerably.

This doesn't mean I've given up on the Poorsche project, and of course Sue will never give up her Bug. $$-wise, I'm in way too deep to shelve the whole thing, or part it out, and sell it off for less than half of my investment. That happens too often in the car hobby. I'll finish it as soon as I can, and will get some enjoyment out of driving it, most likely as primary transportation, along with the Toytruck.



I can plan on meeting any evening this week.

Yes Joe it is folks like you that have been excluded. We can get input from you on what you are doing in your area or on your car(lots of good tech stuff going on there) and put it in the newsletter to share with the other members. It is not like being together but it will go far to bridge the gap and make people feel like they are included.

Well, I'll keep the updates on the car comming as they happen. As far as the gruppe goes, I believe when my dues are up again, I'll let it lapse this time.

There are other reasons besides distance from 'Gruppe Central', club outings, and burning both ends of the candle on my Bug vs. work, but those three are what hold the most weight.

I'm for getting the club on track. I'm more than ready to re-up my dues. I don't make many shows and even less meetings. Bettween school and work I have little time during the week.

As far as the distance goes, I have a gf in Canada and we've been together for almost 2 and a half years. The distance of the club doesn't bother me. I'd like to be at more shows and have more get togethers. But I'm on a VERY tight budget with my project. I'll have more money flowing in once I get out of school and get a real job welding. But then again, more money in my hand means more money for the project.

My thoughts on the situation...

I have a lot going on but I have not been neglecting the Shantung Cruiser. There are a few things I would like to do when the weather improves. I have been neglecting posting my car here and at VKG. Work has been intense. Remodeling the house Phase II is about to commence. We are selling Westy, our EuroVan, and have been getting calls and e-mails from as far away as Winnipeg, Portland (OR), and Honolulu.

On top of that and other things, I have been nursing an injury that I believe came about from trying to return from an injury too fast. Wednesday and Thursday may not work so well for me. The final fourth quarter GDP figures get released on Thursday morning and that could mean staying at my office late Wednesday. I'm supposed to play tennis that evening if I am healthy enough. I guess if I am not, I would be available. :(

I would like to keep up with everyone. It may be tough to make a time suitable for all. Generally speaking, Tuesdays and Thursdays are out for me.

Also, I was a bit later than most in joining so I have a lesser sense about when dues are due. I'm definitely in. I am planning a few shows this summer including a return to BugJam. The better weather will aid my other bug plans as well. I just need to get through this patch.

I need to relax, laugh and smile more ... again. :)

I agree with Dave that things need to be addressed. I for one
have not given the club the attention that it deserves due to
many factors going on in my life.

First off, I would like to appologize for not making it to Dyno Day.
I had full intention of making it there (even had my room reserved),
but at the last minute I dropped a bolt into my intake and was not
able to bring my car. At the very last minute I decided not to go to
dyno day (and almost didnt come up to Georgia at all) because I had
worked for a week straight to get my car up there that weekend. This
threw me into a tail spin and to say the least, I was dissappointed and
upset about it and it clouded my judgement. The other thing that
happened to me that weekend was my cellphone blacked out. I had
no screen whatsoever, so I was not able to call anyone from my phone
book, nor was I able to see who was calling me. I have all my numbers
for club members on there and couldnt call anyone to let them know
that I wasnt coming. Im not trying to make excuses, but I wanted
everyone to know what occurred and why I was missing in action!

One of the problems with the club is that other then the 3 founding
members (Zen, Dave & Myself), no one ever stepped up and offered
assistance to help with writing news letters, organizing club events,
and keeping the club on track. This left most of the work to a couple
of people. In the beginning we were all much better at keeping up
on things, but as time went on and the club grew, life got in the way
for most of us. In recent times we tried to elect club officials, but I dont
think that anyone stepped up for the other positions besides president.

In regards to club funds, which Dave mentioned in his post, we do
still have club funds from our very own Dyno Day that we organized
in Tampa. I still have this money in an envelope and never got around
to opening a Club bank account.

In regards to the Uk members that want to start a chapter, I have
been in contact with bug-er (Adam) from the UK and we have emailed
back and forth on several occassions. At this point he told me that
most of the potentional UK members were attending a big car show
and they were going to try and meet to discuss the future of a UK Chapter.

I am more then willing to make the needed adjustments to the club to
get it back on track, whatever actions that may mean.

I am available any night this week as well. :agree:

so....somebody wanna pick a night???

Tomorrow night will work for me after all. How about Wed @ 9?

(And if a time is agreed upon, I will need a refresher on how to connect. My technoklutziness extends beyond fool-injected cars. :rolleyes: )

I think Zen is sending out and email to all the members so we can get as many folks as we can together at one time.

"True leaders, don't make excuses"
General George Patton

Honestly the lack of organization has kept me from being more of a sponsor to the club than I have been.

Glad to see someone showing some leadership initiative to square the club away.

Thats because most leaders are dishonest and dont give two ****s
for those that they are leading! They dont make excuses so they
never get caught in a lie.

In addition, I was only letting the members know why I didnt make it to
Dyno Day. Its not an excuse. Its my reason in case anyone wanted to know.

And as far as organization goes, no ones besides myself, Zen or Dave
ever stepped up to help with organizational stuff. Either Zen or myself
did the news letters, and Dave always helped out where he could. When
Zen tried to elect new leaders a while back, no one stepped up for any
of the other duties besides the president. If others had volunteered for
the other positions, maybe there would have been more organization.
One person cant do everything.


I have to agree with you there... (Cant believe I actually just said that) :shrug:

sorry for my slow reply on this. i will send out an email to all members. i recommend two sessions (will make it Wednesday and Friday at 9:00PM ET) to try to accomodate differing schedules by all. UK guys are of course welcome and encouraged to attend (although i guess that time doesn't work real great) and shape the future of the club.

the gruppe has floundered and the reasons and excuses are many including in my camp. this thread is not intended to air any dirty laundry though and we should just consider this a "reboot" of sorts. i have enough politics at work and don't need more in my hobby.

so clear the minds, make one or both of the meetings and state not only what you want to see the gruppe become, but what you are going to do to make that happen.

the meeting will be on the VKG site chat board. test in advance if you have not been on it and email me if you need any assistance.

type with you soon.

Exactly what I was thinking. I don't really care at this point who did or did not do anything...or why for that matter. I joined the VKG because it seemed like a fun group of like-minded people that could share a common hobby...not to be a part of a pissing match about who didn't do what they were supposed to do and then hearing a million and one excuses why.

Several members, me included, were not around when the Gruppe was formed and I think we all just kinda fell into the mix. I'm willing to step up and really be a part of the actual functions of the club....hope to talk to you all Wednesday! :)

Wed. is good for me. I will be there. That is tomorrow right?

I'll drop in at 9. I'm not a VKG member, but i would like to hear/see what your thoughts are. It seems our BAG Club here in the GTA needs a "reboot" too!

yes. tomorrow and this friday. email just sent to the mailing list. i expect many bouncebacks from old addresses though. also fixed the issue with the "join us" on the VKG site. not sure how, but it had been unpublished.

of course. you and all non-VKGers are welcome any time. nothing secret going on here. feel free to throw us some thoughts as well. we are obviously a little stuck at the moment. need a spark.

First off, my post was very general and did not specifically point out any issues with a single club member or officer. If clarity is needed I will take the situation off line and it will be squared away, there will then be no doubt- nuff said.

The actions of certain individuals could be considered admission of guilt to those that can read between the lines.

Obviously you have never been privelaged enough to serve under or be a leader in a situation that could get your a round in the back. Those of us that have certainly seen leaders, respect their positions and their abilities. Some of us were busy being formed into leaders while others were at their Senior trip-

A group is only as strong as it's leader- A tribe only as strong as it's Chief-

What is an excuse or what is an explanation is more times than not, up to the reader- some are more gullible than others, some more tenderfooted than others and some just plain don't give a damn.

Okay.... Now we know. Next time remember to shove a rag down that intake.

Okay...

You might need to think about why they did not. I'll give you two guesses.

.Yep.

I continue my monetary support for the VKG because I consider most of the members my best friends. To date I have ONE engine and a few parts running around in the vehicles of VKG members, so it's not like I have gained any huge amounts of business by supporting this group of great people. I have continued my support because I wanted to, not necessarily because the bottom line said it was a smart thing to do.

The DTM I coughed up for the Dyno day raffle didn't grow on a tree out back, that was an inventory item that I sacrificed for the good of the club, just like the other things I have given the organization since it was formed.

Let me make something painfully clear to everyone:
Either things change or my support that guys like Zen and Dave worked hard to both attain and retain will be lost forever with no possible hope for revitalization.

Im know this post is not about dirty laundry and I have always respected the morale this group has had while other groups are constantly bickering about internal issues. I am merely stating my current issues with the club organization so those that intend to keep the club on it's feet can recognize them and work them out.

The only way around trouble is straight through the damn middle.

Thats all I have to say on the topic. If the organization comes back to the group you can count on my check. Make it happen.

BTW- I'll be sitting in the corner during the meeting quiet as a mouse and I hope to see some enthusiasm!

...if I was at all undecided before, that just drove home my decision.

You gents have fun with the gruppe.

Maybe I'm a bit naive by being relatively new. What I see is strong-minded, strong-willed people ... some I have had the pleasure of meeting, some I look forward to meeting. While I don't know of any of the who-struck-john of the past, I do know I would rather be a part of a group of strong-minded, strong-willed folk than be part of a Gumby convention.

I will be there tonight and hope to be there Friday night and hope there will be a way I can contribute.

I won't be able to attend tonight's meeting. I'll be working, but I will be attending Friday night's meeting.

I hope to contribute what I can.

Nobody in chat?? :(

The chat link is located on the mainpage- www.germanlook.com -in the resources section on the left side, option #2.

Go to the chatbox in the VKG site http://www.volksport.net

Hopefully i can get in there. Need to register.

sorry guys, went to the wrong chat room (GL.com) :shrug: :confused:
I dont know what I was thinking...

I just read up on everything that was discussed.

Congrats to Dave (noh2o) on being the new VKG prez.
And to everyone else that was nominated as well.

Wow! I don't check in for a couple days and look what happens. :eek:
I'm not much of a club person. Not even part of the local club in my own city (they don't quite know what to make of my choices anyway). I joined up strictly to be a part of some like minded friends doing similar projects and to support them what little I could. I knew from the begining the club and the shows were long distance and I wouldn't be able to make much of a physical presence. I post more in the other sections than on the club forum because It's not usually about club business.
I stay pretty busy, we all say that. I don't work on my bus for weeks/months at a time, sometimes I go a week or so without even looking at the GL... but I guess if Jake can find time to post here and keep track of us, we really don't have any decent excuses.
I hope you guys can work out the details and keep the club together. I don't see where I could be much help as a club officer, I'm not much of a writer, not very tech savvy, but I will continue support if welcomed and hope for a strong resurgence this summer.


Jeff-

Panel,,,, you not tech savy? Look at your ride. You are a high tech dude. This is not ment to MAKE every member do stuff they can't or don't want to do. I think if we all do what we are comfortable to do, between all of us, we can have a cool club of like minded folks that can get together either online or at an event or two and have fun. :agree: We needed to get the organization back together and start the newsletter back up so the people outside the ATL area can hve onput to the newsletter and feel that they are included in the club and are getting something for their membership.

I was pleased to see the evolution of the club take some big steps last night during the meeting.

"A new broom sweeps clean"..

I look forward to being a club sponsor!

I will be doing a newsletter. I have some ideas. Some good ones were presented in the short time the newsletter was addressed.

My experience with writing is varied even if not extensive. Doing an electronic newsletter will be a first for me. Is there a copy or somewhere I can be directed to seeing a past one?

Panelfantastic, your post said a lot. To Panel and everyone else: I can edit, embellish, or anything else if anyone wants to make a contribution but doesn't feel they have savvy in the writing area. This will be important because of my lack of savvy when it comes to technical stuff.

I want to organize interviews with some of you as well.

Finally, if there is HTML stuff required, I may need some help there. I have some experience with editing it, but it is quite limited.

I thought the meeting was quite useful. I will be late for the Friday night's get-together. If there are shows being targeted by even just one person, that should be made known -- whether a club presence at that show exists or not.

I think the meeting was very productive as well. I'm excited about getting things back on track too. :D

a very good and overdue meeting. oasis, previous newsletters are on the VKG site. no HTML needed for the basic work. you can use those newsletters as an example. i need to elevate your rights on the site to do moderation of pages and such. will do right after this post. i am happy to help with site questions on "how to". it is mostly obvious but a few tips help.

I agree with Panel... Miss a few days and WOW what happens around here!

My short take is that the club is a great bunch of people and it is a pleasure to be associated with them and the gruppe. One of the best memories from last year was just sitting down to dinner at Bug Jam at Outback with all the VKG guys. And I look forward to more similar experiences in the future.

This may sound silly but I think if more people (myself included) just posted to this forum on what is going on it would make a big difference in cohesiveness. You learn about people by what they choose to share. So I think more sharing will lead to a more open and spirited gruppe. Historically most all VKG members shared ongoing life events and/or project updates as they happened which was awesome. I know people (and myself) are working on thier ridez, but just being too lazy to open up about it.

I will put more effort in being an active poster and overall just let me know what is needed to help out on the higher levels.

Sometimes a good kick in the butt is needed to reinvigirate the soul. Especially with Spring kicking in more VWs will see sunshine again :)

Frankly we do not fit the mold of "normal" Dubers. Not many people modify cars like we do and it makes it hard to relate to more standard "Looks" in the VW scene. GL is still a minority interest with many variations/interpretations and is a movement still on the rise, so lets ride the wave strong for the future.

FWIW I am running some Raby breathed on items and they are awesome. We should be thankful that we are associated with a top notch organization like RAT and build a mutually beneficial relationship so each party sees it as a value.

Congrats Dave!

GLF,

agree with everything Pillow says. let's get on it. now is the time. we have Hot VW's coverage over the next few weeks.

Double Ditto.
I have been working on so many projects from my car to Ryan's Red GL jr. Joel's GL bus and Jordan's 66 Resto/Cal look Bug. Let alone some great customer cars like the Herbie X project. I havn't shared enough of that here. But you can see some of it at my website (Thanks to Zen).

I couldn't make the Friday night portion of the meetings after all. My father-in-law was already here to knock down some walls. I couldn't exactly excuse myself from that so I could "chat."

What did I miss?

i was only on for an hour or so. we set some events to hook up at and decided how membership coordination would be done. events are posted on the site already. probably more to come. beth will be handling the membership dues, reminders, etc. wrenchride (new member) is going to handle email responses, etc.

that is all i was there for.