President, Garth
O
Webber Atkins
ne of the things that the Club Executive try to “right size” is Club communications. Our standard operating procedure has been to put notice of upcoming events in Porscher, which is published at the beginning of the month and for the President to send out an e-mail midmonth to all Club members. The underlying principle is to keep communications efficient and not clutter up your inbox. Mostly we manage to plan events so that notice of them occurs in at least one of these modes of transmission. We also post reminders on Facebook, but haven’t so far relied on this as sole means of apprising members of events. Occasionally we have time-sensitive information, usually about registering for an event and I will send an extra or singlepurpose e-mail.
country, would love to be able to do this, but we’ve heard clearly and repeatedly from PCA National, that it is the planning and risk management up front, as well as our good safety record, that keep our insurance rates the lowest of any car club and without affordable insurance, we won’t have a Club. Stationary events, however, do not need insurance, so impromptu meet-ups are doable. I know that at least 60 people read the email, because they either let me know they regretted not being able to make it, or asked what time to meet, as I most unhelpfully neglected to include the time. The turnout was good – 20 Porsches and about 30 people showed up, so it seems this is something that at least some members would like to know about and we could consider offering up similar opportunities in the future. The question is – what’s the best way to let people know? An all-member e-mail? Our Facebook Group page? Something else? Sometime over the next couple of months, I will send out a questionnaire to get your thoughts on what would and wouldn’t work for you.
Late in March, Gary Glover, a Past President and active tour leader saw a nice day coming up and asked me to invite members to meet him for coffee in Bowser, a few days later. It wasn’t an event or communications scenario we have entertained in the four years I’ve been on the Executive and I was hesitant to contact 600 people when only a handful might be interested or available. However, we didn’t have much else on the May is Black Rock month and I am looking calendar and I felt it was a worthwhile ex- forward to seeing many of you there. Just periment. around the corner from that, we will have a I have to stress that I could only entertain busy June, with the Spring Rally on the 5th, this because it was a stationary event and the Shawnigan Lake Drive on the 11th and not a drive. We cannot conduct drives with- the VanIsle Adventure Tour on the 24th and out having obtained the mandatory PCA in- 25th. Please register soon for any of these surance in advance, so impromptu drives set events that you are interested in. See up through any VIR Club channel, by any- “Around the Bend” for registration links. one, are not something we can enable and have to actively discourage. Club executives Garth and members, probably throughout the VANCOUVER ISLAND — PORSCHER
May 2022 Page 5
