Corrado club [Now with Poll!!]

[VR6 0]

It wouldn't be a case of closing the doors and you only re-gain entry when you put your hand in your pocket.

 

I would imagine that things stay pretty much as they are at the minute but we create a lot more perks for paid-up 'members'.

 

One of the largest perks that would seem pretty obvious (to me at least) would be getting an official membership number and then belonging to an actual club ... can you see where this is leading?

 

The UK has a well-recognised club already, that (in my opinion) struggles for web presence and all round co-ordination and support.

 

I could see great benefits for both as a result.

[Yandards 0]

One of the largest perks that would seem pretty obvious (to me at least) would be getting an official membership number and then belonging to an actual club ... can you see where this is leading?

 

The UK has a well-recognised club already, that (in my opinion) struggles for web presence and all round co-ordination and support.

 

I could see great benefits for both as a result.

 

Indeedy.

 

I think the sense of community between the CF and CCGB (E38 last year for example) would suffer if it forced members/users to choose between one or the other; if the forum started offering a club style service.

 

Maybe not a merger between the two but much closer official ties would be of great benefit to everyone. I would be happier seeing some of my subs that have paid for a Sprinter I didn't get going to Andi to run the forum instead.

[ardandy 0]

The Peugeot GTI Autosport Club (of which I use to be a member) has a free forum.

 

If your not a member then you were allowed to post in some parts of the site but only read others. For sale and a members only part for example.

 

Take a peak

 

http://www.peugeot-gti.net/new_layout/l ... e=homepage

 

At the mo, they're offering free entry to The French Car Show 2006 (pretty big) if you become a member. As well as getting a metal keyfob with the club logo on and a mag. I'm sure free entry or discounted tickets could be arranged through the organisers of such events?

 

One other thought.

 

http://www.newzbin.com are a site that indexes newsgroups (for downloading). It's worth joining for various benefits but not essential and its 25p a week. £1 a month I think is nothing!

 

One thing worth noting though is that although people will feel its a good price, not everyone trusts putting details over the web (even paypal), and because of that won't sign up.

 

My 3p! :)

[A1 VR6 0]

Having witnessed the joint attendance at events of both CCGB and Forum members I have to say that you really wouldn't know who belonged to which one. I think I speak for everyone in that no one asks whether you are a CCGB or forum member because it really isn't that important The problem doesn't seem to be with these committed individuals but with pre-conceived ideas, rumour, misguided uninformed opinion and hearsay. I for one would still support the club with a membership in single figures as the club for me is the people involved and not what I get for my money. VR6 has some really good ideas and I think if the right people got round the table both groups could have what they want and co-exist. I suggest we throw an open invite to the CCGB AGM and provide the solution that will satisfy everyone (well almost - there's always one isn't there Lol!). If we're really serious about walking the talk then let's get down to business.

 

Bill

CCGB#1286

[veeDuB_Rado 0]

What would the biggest benefit of joining them?

[ReekieVR 0]

Might be usefull:

 

Reading TVRCC mag last night. This years club financial report is available for download from the password protected part of the club site. If you havent got access to the internet, then you just telephone the club office and they will send you a print.

This suggests that TVRCC have decided that as most people have internet access, they can save money by publishing the accounts online, rather than sending them in the post to all members. I bet the age profile for TVRCC members is older than the CCGB if only due to the age of the marque and the time / money required to maintain a Tiv.

 

I wonder if the CCGB has ever done any research to find out what its subscriber profile is ? Maybe 95% of us have internet access and would prefer an on-line newsletter !

[ardandy 0]

According to the BBC, surfing the net has overtaken TV as the nations biggest past time for hours spent doing it.

 

If your not online now, then your in the dark ages. I don't think I know of one person who isn't?

 

For the few that don't, it's their own choice and probably mistrust of the internet that causes them not to go online.

[ReekieVR 0]

Instead of more commenting, I thought I'd try and come up with an idea about how the forum and club could coexist:

 

Aim: Andy needs funds to run the forum. The club is in a bit of a rut and communication seems to be a problem.

 

ReekieVRs plan:

 

Andy introduces 3 levels of forum membership:

 

1. Guest: can search and post in all forums except ( new )CCGB Forum for 30 days. No repeat guests.

2. Standard Member: can search and post in all forums except CCGB Forum for annual forum fee.

3. Club Member: can search, post and access all forums for annual club fee. Access to protected CCGB forum.

 

If you don't register you cant search or post, only view - same as now.

 

Notes:

 

The CCGB has to encourage standard and guest members to join. This is its target audience! This means having a

membership fee which is close enough to the standard fee, as to make it a no-brainer ( " only x quid extra and I

get all this !" ). I suggest £10 pa for the standard membership & £15 year for Club.

 

Now, Andy and the club have to sweeten the initial change for their current members and have a business model to deal with new members 50% discount for existing members should do it:

 

There are 4 types of people they need to plan for:

1. Current forum members. They get 50% introductory offer for switching to 1 year standard membership ( £5 ) or club membership for ( £7 ). Dormant accounts revert to guest after 4 months grace period.

2. Current club members. They get free access to all parts of the forum and password protected club area. New CCGB forum password is published in Sprinter mag.

3.New forum members. Can be standard ( £10 )or club ( £15 ) membership.

4.New club members. Join through the forum and get it @ £15 or direct through club for £20.

 

Issues:

 

Q: How are funds shared between club and forum?

A: Andy gets all funds from those who wish to use the forum, but not join the club. For every new club member who joins through the forum, the club gives £5 back to Andy. This appears to be a reduction in incoming funds, but the hit is covered by the increase in membership fee for those who are not interested in the forum and join directly for £20 ( which is still not particularly expensive for an improved club and mag ).

 

Q: Logos, names and branding ?

A: Seems too delicate for me to comment on. That's one for the club and Andy to sort.

 

Q: Control and influence. Andy must be allowed to run the forum as he wishes - he seems to be doing a bloody good job so far ! The club should have much more say in how the CCGB part of it works. This means appointing a CCGB committee member who can work with Andy, for the benefit of both forum and club. This person is crucial to the plan working. After that the club runs itself as usual.

 

Thoughts:

I think lots of people who are already forum members would pay 5 quid a year to continue being a 'standard member'. The club has to prove itself and has had some time to change in the last year. If only 10% of the people registered here join the club ( for half price ), that's an extra £3k in the club pot, and 1k in the forum pot. The forum will take a membership hit if it charges, but that should be offset by the new club members.

 

The increase in club members and potential for more submitted material for the Sprinter would make it much more likely to be full of content. Don't over-stretch the mag, but to start - guarantee 1 edition every 2 months. Have 1 article from each edition of the mag available for all forum members to view and comment on, in its own thread. This should encourage club membership and interest in the Sprinter.

 

Summary: the club is now encouraging new joiners to use the forum. The forum is encouraging new members to join the club. Both make money to run and increase their membership.

 

 

I am sure i have missed some massive problem, but its a start. Any thoughts on this as a business plan?

 

BTW: i pointed CCGB users to this thread.

 

[Charleyvr6 0]

Hi, this is my first post on the forum, so apologies if I get it wrong. Very interesting thread an lots of good points, so here's my 2p.

I've been a member of the ccgb for 4 years and whilst I have to admit things have been a bit quite I'm not going to start criticising anyone, it must take a hell of a lot of time and effort for no financial reward to organise the club, I for one would never have the time to do it so hats off to anyone who steps forward to the breech. My other point is that amazingly not every member of the ccgb logs on to this forum, I asked for a show of hands at the last AGM and was surprised to see that 50% of the attendees NEVER logged on to either this forum or the Yahoo site, which means that if you make it an exclusively web based club then you potentially alienate half of the existing members. I know most of you will be saying tough, keep up with the times or lose out, but I for one struggle with understanding the way the forum works (even now I'm wondering whether this missive is going to the correct thread or just lost in cyberspace) I regularly use the yahoo site because it's easy, I guess what I'm trying to say is I'm on the edge of being an old Git. I'm not against amalgamation but I think a lot of people would miss out if it was only E- based and I would miss the now only Bi annual sprinter magazine.

Ker..ching

Charley

[Walesy 0]

I guess what I'm trying to say is I'm on the edge of being an old Git

 

:lol:

 

 

Thanks for your input Charleyvr6, some well made points and it's interesting to hear the views of non forum using CCGB members.

 

 

 

but I for one struggle with understanding the way the forum works (even now I'm wondering whether this missive is going to the correct thread or just lost in cyberspace) I regularly use the yahoo site because it's easy,

 

 

 

If you need any help in how to navigate the site, please don't hesitate to put a thread (( click on ' New Topic ' )) in the 'Site Comments and Questions' section with any questions or send a private message (( click on 'PM' on the bottom of the members post )) to any member or moderator here, i'm sure you'll find most of us helpfull. Click Here For Site Comments/Questions

[Stan 24v 0]

We difinitely need to keep some form of paperbased magazine, as has been mentioned a few times now.

 

But welcome Charley anyway ;)

[timg60 0]

I wholeheartedly agree. I for one would love a REGULAR magazine to read and keep. But some people are not too bothered and would be happy for a e based document. You could ask people to specify at the time of joining.

[Walesy 0]

I think the fact that there are a few people that would like a hard copy magazine has been established, the problem lies with who will give their time/knowledge/skills to producing one.

[dinkus 10]

As Walesy says, it's the compiling of the magazine that's the expensive part because people need to put the time and effort in to make it happen.

 

Having an e-version only saves you the relatively cheap and easy part of getting it physically printed and posted, so you might as well print it anyway.

[VR6 0]

I don't think anyone has said that the paper form Sprinter should be binned.

 

What I think would work best is:

 

E-version of Sprinter for those that want it OR

 

Paper form Sprinter (perhaps a very slight premium to the membership that gets you the e-version).

 

Might create another response when I've had my tea :)

[A1 VR6 0]

I'm seeing lots of good positive ideas and as I said the other day it needs the necessary people to get together on this and see if it's viable. Any chance on some response (PM if you don't want to go public) as I'm sure the individuals required are watching this thread with interest.

 

Bill

CCGB#1286

[dazzyvr6 0]

who is the ccgb chairperson now?

[A1 VR6 0]

Joint Chairpersons are Jamie Hooper and Mike Edwards

[ReekieVR 0]

oops - just realised i spelt Andi's name with a y in my prev post. Sorry Andi !

[biggerbigben 0]

Quite honestly I can't imagine anyone here is going to really want to volunteer to try and take over and reinvigorate the Corrado Club.

 

Besides, we have to dodge more than enough bullets just being moderators here let alone taking on additional responsibilites in the CCGB. My time is stretched enough here so - count me out.

 

No disrespect Jim, but in one short post you have completely encapsulated the problem the Corrado Club currently faces IMHO.

 

There are loads of people out there (and on here) willing to take a pop at the CCGB (and I know you aren't one of those, but bear with me) but nobody has the initiative / guts / time / interest / stamina / intelligence or balls to actually take the thing on and pick it back up. I tried to have a go, but despite being pretty well known on the scene found the overall lack of support (with one or two exceptions) pretty bloody demotivating after a while. That combined with the continuing antics of a few time consuming difficult members meant what free time I had to spend on it at the time simply disappeared.

 

I have observed over the years on here that for every supporter of the CCGB, there are also plenty of "knockers" - many of whom have never been members, or if they were never active in the sense that they never tried to contribute anything to the Club. This is not a problem restricted to the CCGB, as Club GTi, Club Scirocco and Club Polo have all suffered similarly in recent years.

 

Since 1998 I have watch the internet grab the UK's VW scene and simply transform it. On the positive side there are now active, realtime discussion forums between enthusiasts. Communication is rampant and active, new people find it easy and free to join in, and help is available.

 

However (in my view) there have also been some unwelcome downsides; people now just expect everything to be provided free of charge and without any personal effort being required on thier part. Suddenly the world is full of armchair experts who armed with an anonymous internet ID slag off the "do-ers" without ever once having to take the responsibility of ever being put to the test of making it happen themselves. Suddenly how passionate you are about the VW scene or Corrado scene is measured not in terms of how much you actually travel and contribute to it, but instead is measured purely in terms of how much time you can waste at work racking up posts on a forum saying sh1te like "wow" and "kool innit" with a poncy graphic attached to every single one.

 

In addition, I would have to say that the proliferation of forums (and I'm not singling out the Corrado forum specifically in this respect) has in my view fragmented, rather than strengthened the scene. Everywhere you look at shows now there are almost hundreds of little splinter groups, all forum based, consisting of 1 bloke and his 4 mates who have a "forum". However every time a group falls out, the splinters simply go and set up new forums. The result overall is fragmentation, with legions of disparate groups who often exist for no other reason than to arguing the toss with each other over who is 'better' or 'cooler', who has better cars, or how much they hate the wnakers in the other forum they just left last week. Personally I simply can't stand all that bollox and that is why for the large part I've said "fuggit" to the whole thing.

 

Now set against those comments the Corrado Forum has actually been lucky enough to attain a critical mass of active members, and that is a significant achievement. However the challenge which even the forum will eventually face is the one of coming up with new ideas, innovations, keeping interest high and preventing it becoming a stale experience. A further challenge for both the Corrado Forum and the CCGB would be to see if perhaps both groups could be united into one group with better resources and with a higher profile than currently exists. The problem is - no bu99er seems to want to organise any of it.

 

I still love my 'rado, will still occasionally organise odd meets & events, and will continue to publicise them through this place and the Yahoo! group, and will really enjoy doing those things with my Corrado loving friends. The time we all had at E38 and Stoner last year was simply fantastic. However I for one am completely disinterested in trying to satisfy the apathetic masses, the non-doers and the armchair critics who proliferate the internet, but fail to make the effort to even get off thier arses and drive more than 5 miles from home to a meet.

 

If this all sounds bitter then it probably is. Anyone who knows me more than casually will tell you I am a pretty positive person, but 7 years of being ground down by some oft he stuff I've described above would take it's toll on anyone.

 

There was a time a few years ago when the possibility existed that the Corrado forum and the CCGB could have combined forces. However neither group probably realised at the time what each could offer the other. I have to say for my part that I contributed in part to that opportunity being missed, but at the same time I think Andi was as against it as I was. Perhaps the right person can be found to see if a way forward can be found to unite it all over again? With the benefit of hindsight I would certainly support anyone who tried to make the Corrado scene even stronger, as the car is so great it's worth fighting for IMHO.

 

So - the challenge is there for everyone... anyone... is there a single person on here willing to try and put themselves up for the challenge of reaching out to all the UK's Corrado owners (not just those on this forum) and taking it somewhere new? Or are you all just going to argue on the internet about it forever?

 

Please feel free to continue the debate...

 

 

John

[dons flame retardent coat]

 

here here !! Well said John Munyard !!

[CazzaVR 0]

Have a look here http://www.hondarevolutions.com/ for a very well run club + internet forum.

[corozin 0]

Point taken AndyvRS, but having a look at another Club/forum, whilst good for ideas is one thing.... the problem that Eric, I and a number of others have raised is that there is a shortage of people willing to get off thier arses and make it happen. The Honda guys have a pretty good thing happening at the moment, but bear in mind that you only "see what you can see" - behind the scenes there is a lot of brain-racking, late nights, phone calls, arguments and personal stress involved involed in putting it together which we can't see.

 

Trust me, the work is involved, hard, costly and unpaid. You will also frequently have to deal with people acting like arseholes either at the events you organise, or afterwards on the forums. However the feeling you get when it comes together and people are enjoying themselves at something you've set up is amazing... I certainly won't forget the 2003 Woburn event for a long time (132 Corrados).

 

My problem was that work increased & increased & so I couldn't give it the time it needed anymore. That & getting worn down by legions of armchair critics I'd never even met but who seemed to know me well enough to comment. That was why I ran out of energy for it all after 6 years of "doing my bit"

 

No disrespect to you, but looking at other clubs and commenting is one thing, doing is quite another... there is too much of the former going on in the Corrado scene right now, and not enough of the latter by enough people IMHO.

 

BTW if you think the Honda revolutions people are well organised I should tell you that you ain't seen nothing until you've come across the Porsche & Jaguar owners clubs. They are on a different level to ANY Volkswagen group I know, and one of the keys to it (dare I say it) is that as owners they aren't afraid to fund it properly...

 

 

John

[Stan 24v 0]

BTW if you think the Honda revolutions people are well organised I should tell you that you ain't seen nothing until you've come across the Porsche & Jaguar owners clubs. They are on a different level to ANY Volkswagen group I know, and one of the keys to it (dare I say it) is that as owners they aren't afraid to fund it properly...

 

 

John

 

Thats cos they dont have to pay to keep a Corrado on the road :lol:

 

Some good points though John ;)

[CazzaVR 0]

John,

 

Totally agree with you, mate. Was just posting that to show that a thriving club + forum is achievable, but at what cost to the organisers, I'm not totally sure.

 

And yes, Woburn was fantastic 8)

[stevemac 0]

I have read this thread, with interest - many good suggestions & ideas.