How to increase membership in ACF ?

[Alex_Moiseyev]

Today ACF has 250 active members who pays dues and play in tournaments. 20-25 years ago this number was 10 times higher, approximately 2,500. If we follow this progression, we should expect 25 ACF members left in the next 20-25 years. Is there any way we can stop this process and increase membership, or we should agree that tempo already lost forever and the situation is unrecoverable ?

[George Hay]

Mr. Alex, I would drop the pay-pall surcharge for membership. Mr. Holmes has suggested a $10 youth membership. I think it is wise to look at what other mind-sports federations are doing, as no one has a monopoly on good ideas. Well, that's the perspective of one duffer!
--George Hay

[steve]

the majority of people who take on a sport or hobby want to be good at it- from playing checkers,golf or growing roses- under two move the average player with a little study could play a decent game with a expert at times- three move made it more difficult-with the addition of 19 new openings since I started to play the amount of time to study and memorize these one sided openings Is unreasonable[12-16,24-20,10-15] both Alex and Ron lost in their 2009 world title match-I think in my humble opinion that young players don't think it's worthwhile and give up the game-this also accounts for the increased interest in gayp -at our national tourney class c could play gayp-class b two -move or three-move and the few masters in class a could use the hard deck-this does not answer Alex question but along with the computer which kill mail play is my reason why membership is down.

[George Hay]

JohnAcker, the ACF could absorb the Pay-Pall fee, and that is up to the ACF Board. IMHO, that would overcome an objection to joining the ACF.... I like GAYP, and I do not see 3-move as something to "graduate" to....Will the ACF Board make the Youth Membership only Ten Dollars a year? Do you agree with Mr. Holmes on this point?
--George Hay

[rich beckwith]

Youth (and associate) members already have a reduced membership cost -- although it is $15 rather than $10 -- (unless we are debating 5 bucks here)?

Mark Rosenberg has commented to me that he likes 11-man ballot for the beginner, as it takes away the daunting task off a newcomer trying to keep up with a veteran book-player, nor does it have the repetitiveness & narrower scope of GAYP. But, like John's point, the GAYP and 11-man ballot Nationals don't seem to be any more well-attended than the 3-move Nationals on average, so I don't think style of play is our biggest challenge when it comes to recruitment.

[George Hay]

JohnAcker, I never suggested online payments as the only way to join the ACF....But anyway, that was a really nice Youth Tournament; the ACF must be doing something right!
--George Hay

P.S....O.K., so you never said that I said that!

[Alex_Moiseyev]

I would like to stick into topic: "How to increase membership ?" From several posts accumulated during the day, I see 2 main ideas (so far)

1) Change style preferences ... run more GAYP and 11 man ballot events.

2) Adjust / improve membership payment method and make it more flexible and affordable.

I am neutral at the moment, because I don't know the right answer yet.

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From Russian kindergarten ...

http://www.youtube.com/embed/8iNsHL-t8wE

[Chexhero]

As ACF Marketing Director, I should probably give my advice. I agree with Rich that style of play is going to have little effect when it comes to recruitment of new players. New players do not really have a preference of which style they like best because they haven't played them all. I also think membership rates along with a small surcharge paypal fee for online payment is not the problem. I think the biggest problem is that the ACF has just not done enough marketing in the past to draw in new players.

I have some ideas of some things we can do to increase membership. To start off, I have made a brochure for the ACF and 1,000 have been ordered. Once I get them, I will send them to all ACF officials and district managers who are interested in helping distribute them to the public. I feel the brochure is good enough to at least get 1 new member per every 100 brochures looked at. That is 10 new members right there considering the brochures are distributed in the right areas at the right times, which I have spoke to the ACF leaders about. I am also going to speak to some potential sponsors and put together some press kits, which I will act upon a little later on. Lets also remember that we still await the completion of Eric's new playsite, which will attempt to attract actual checker players from the net. Membership is currently low, but as long as we put forth a greater effort in marketing the ACF, and trust and believe in each other, I promise we will begin to see an increase in membership.

[Chexhero]

Brochures are coming to me very soon and it looks like we may have extra to spare. If anyone is interested in helping distribute them in their areas, please send me an email to chexnchips@yahoo.com and we can discuss all the details from there.

[Michael Holmes]

Please send some brochures to me:
michaelholmes@insightbb.com
10106 Wingfield Lane
Louisville KY 40291


Since the associate membership does not qualify for a paper bulletin I have to ask where the 15.00 (at this time) is going? Why is it needed? For those who can pay 5 or 10 is it not just additional money rather than just trying to cover any costs? And I really should add that my first thought when John said the funds are not kept in a separate account I would hope in the future we can change it. John has done a great thing with posting the funds and expenses. Now we need to separate the youth. There needs to be a separate account and any executive costs that the youth fund should incur (estimates based on events and approved miscellaneous events) should be agreed upon before it happens.

Just some food for thought. I have to go for now but I have more I would like to add.
Michael

[Chexhero]

Michael, please see private message I sent you. Thanks.

[Michael Holmes]

Youth membership fees should not be used to pay a youth director, for equipment that has already been proovided, for bulletins they don't get, for clocks they don't use, or for many other causes you listed in your last few posts John.

[Michael Holmes]

Hello All. John, I never said that that youth should not contribute to the welfare of the ACF. It is members like you that make a big difference. Please continue to do what you are doing.

I think for the game to increase the membership there should be some ideas from the chess community used. I am in the process of finishing a draft proposal to submit to the committee.

[Eric Strange]

I think that many pick this game up because of their experience playing as a very small child, I know I did. GAYP is what I remembered and that is what I expected when I decided to play it years later. If I was thrown a curve ball like 3-move or something else, I probably would not have continued to play. Online players, even very skilled ones play GAYP for a very long time before switching to 3-move. You could even say that they become proficient enough in GAYP to compete at the master level before switching, which takes most players 2-3 years of 1 minute games. I think that beginners should always be well versed in GAYP before tossed into any other type of variation.

[Jay H]

Greetings....
I have always believed that this game needs some serious "corporate" sponsorship.
And I have also always believed that this game needs some celebrity endorsement.
With that,,,,has anybody seen this.....

http://www.dailynews.com/media/ci_22383 ... ishes-role


Wahlberg is one of the hottest Hollywood celebrities in the industry.
Perhaps an ACF executive should reach out to him........could you imagine all of the people that would show up at any tourney (mostly women probably...!!!) looking for a chance to play him ? I am sure that at least one would get bitten by the bug.
My wife saw him on GMA, and he talked quite a bit about how much he plays the game on the movie set. I do not know if he can actually compete with real players, but his interest just might be piqued enough if he was personally invited to a National tournament....he just might bite !!!! And what better NT than a Freestyle National....???

Worth a shot..........


Jay H