Roll Call!

[Vance]

This is a roll call to check and see who is checking the forum on a regular basis. we talked at the meeting about how low the use-age is on the website...and how this is the best tool for inter club communications. The traffic has fallen off in recent years so our idea last year was to push the info about rides and meetings to the club through the email list. While we certainly plan to continue that practice I personally feel this is a very useful (but currently under utilized) tool.

Of course we also have the club Facebook page as a communication tool as well. However that too seems to be under utilized as a communication tool.

So let's see who is looking and what tools you might prefer for communicating club happenings. Do you prefer the forum, the newsletter or FaceBook? Or maybe all of them??

Ready....GO!

[jdubeemer]

I check in here almost every day just HOPEING Paul and Gail have picked a good place to have lunch on the next Saturday. ;-))

[R90srider]

Hey Vance, I check the forum daily, sometime more, and look forward to the seeing new posts, especially the riding information. Do email and this forum for sure.

[Gator]

I check the forum nearly every day and think that the forum and the e-mails are the best way to get info out.

Gator

[BamaBiker]

Here's another one who prefers this forum plus the e-mail blast.

[jeanne z]

I check here several times a week usually. Also prefer the e-blast communiques. Not so much with facebook.

[delta61]

forums and emails for me as i do not do facebook. I generally check the website daily.

Jim

[xwingnut]

I've allowed myself to check the forum less and less as less and less is posted, so am back to checking at least once a week. For me, forum and email blast on rides is the best. What's Facebook?

[rockosmith]

Another vote for the forum and e-mails. I check the forum most days and e-mail several times a day.

[brianhinton]

Well....you said it Vance ... ready..GO! Believe it or not , there are more MOAL members on Facebook than on the forum (25 active members). There are more people who use the forum on the forum and more Facebook users on Facebook. All the members get the emails unless it goes to the Junk folder (��). So, logically, if the forum users are on the forum, and the Facebook users are on Facebook, and the members which include the forum users and the facebooks users, all get the emails, then damn, we should all have the same information! Amazing! It’s the potential members who we are not getting. Potentials as I will call them, aren’t on the forum, they are not looking at our Facebook page, and they aren’t being solicited through our website. Just my .02, but I know many fine people who really enjoy motorcycling and getting together for good times and unless we actively try to get them involved, we will have the same forum, the same Facebook, the same website, and the same decline in activity. Now don’t think I’m complaining, cause I’m not. I don’t think there’s anything better than a local motorcycle club that shares the common interest of motorcycling and fellowship. We have that here, we just need more of it and the amount of interesting people that are potential AlaBeemers are here .... in Alabama....riding a motorcycle......oblivious to this wonderful group.

[xwingnut]

Nothing stays the same...The world and its contents are in a constant state of change.....go back 15 years and Facebook didn't exist! Perhaps we should issue "selfie-sticks" with our logo on them to all the millennia's who ride in our 3-4 state area, and/or advertise on Facebook?
In the meantime I'm going riding!
jb

[jdubeemer]

Nothing stays the same...The world and its contents are in a constant state of change.....go back 15 years and Facebook didn't exist! Perhaps we should issue "selfie-sticks" with our logo on them to all the millennia's who ride in our 3-4 state area, and/or advertise on Facebook?
In the meantime I'm going riding!
jb

Twenty years ago there was no website either. If you wanted to know what everyone was up to you got on the bike and rode down to Jim & Nicks on Thursday night and cluttered the place with BMW bikes and ate outside on the front porch. In other words the club was very visible to anyone who rode by, like me, and I soon joined the fray.
You had to be a club member and pay dues to cover the postage for the news letter so there was a large membership. Now you can look at the website and not bother being a member and paying that membership fee. So why would anyone bother? On EVERY Saturday you rode over to Venture and had coffee and donuts and then decided where to ride for lunch. In other words we have all become disconnected by being attached to social media like all those millennials instead of just getting off the couch and go get together anywhere. It's raining here this morning so I think I'll just sit here and bitch.

[xwingnut]

Fond reminiscing is not bitching, Jim...and it was good to see you at Cullman RTE....5 of us met for lunch last Friday (I know...that's a workday for most), and that was good. I look forward to more of that kind of thing as the weather moderates. jb

[Vance]

Twenty years ago there was no website either. If you wanted to know what everyone was up to you got on the bike and rode down to Jim & Nicks on Thursday night and cluttered the place with BMW bikes and ate outside on the front porch. In other words the club was very visible to anyone who rode by, like me, and I soon joined the fray.
You had to be a club member and pay dues to cover the postage for the news letter so there was a large membership. Now you can look at the website and not bother being a member and paying that membership fee. So why would anyone bother? On EVERY Saturday you rode over to Venture and had coffee and donuts and then decided where to ride for lunch. In other words we have all become disconnected by being attached to social media like all those millennials instead of just getting off the couch and go get together anywhere. It's raining here this morning so I think I'll just sit here and bitch.

Well stated Jim, and the Jim & Nick's get together surely were a lot of fun. As our membership has dwindled so have the local weekly get togethers. Hats off to Jack Goertz for keeping the Birmingham meet up alive for so long. Of course in the winter or "off" riding season it is harder to get those going. It would be fun to start that up again especially when the weather breaks. You are correct, a bunch of bikes gathered at a local spot is high profile and garners the attention of all around.

Also I believe the Second Saturday and pop up rides are critical to our survival in today's club world. with good communication and use of these new social media tools it should be easier than ever to get the word out to all the members about upcoming events. I hope we can increase the number of those type events this year too!

Is that BBQ I smell????

[BamaBiker]

Yep, Thursday nights are practically non-existent these days. Too bad, as Baja makes a mean hamburger, likes us, and has a great patio that could be set aside for us most Thursdays. Of course, BBQ is not an option. We've tried a few other places, and would love to see the more riders/bikes show up somewhere, anywhere!