Do you remember the scene in Monty Python’s Holy Grail when the dead collector is calling in the street to “Bring out the dead” and the old man says, “I’m not dead yet” as the big man is paying ninepence to put him in the dead cart?
That’s where membership is, NCRA — We’re not dead yet.
It’s time for the board of directors and staff of NCRA to stop thinking about the perpetuation of the association and totally concentrate on perpetuating the profession of verbatim stenographic reporters. Without your members, the association does not exist. Your membership has, once again, sent you a resounding message that it wants you to focus on verbatim stenographic reporters exclusively.
Not too long ago, NCRA was an organization of around 35,000 members. It now hovers in the 18,000-member range. Where did 17,000 members go? Why did they go? What will it take to get them back?
We used to hear that they’re retiring out. But the number of retired members is in the 1,000-member range. Plus, as the 1,000 members retired out, there are new reporters being minted.
The board has the ability to figure out why members dropped out. Do a graph and find out the years where there were big drop-offs of membership and research what was going on during those golden years.
We need LEADERSHIP!!!
How about doing a survey of past members to find out why they left NCRA? Better yet, ask what NCRA can do to get them back. Have a “We Need You” campaign. Have phone-a-thons. Offer drawings for iPads or the president’s suite and dues at the next convention in Chicago if they commit to join. Does the president really need that suite?
And after the membership numbers are up again, stop doing things like selling our building and being coy about it. Let us know the details of what happened with the Nominating Committee that was so hinky this year. (Should the board go back and have a do-over? Tell the Nominating Committee to appoint from the nominees that MEMBERSHIP nominated! LEADERSHIP takes a stand and does the right thing!!!) Don’t try to change the bylaws without first shouting it from the rooftops!!! Stream the Annual Business Meeting so you have accountability to the entire membership, not just the 60 members who attended in person! You see, these are the types of things that irk your members, causing them to jump ship! Open the windows and the doors and let the sun shine in on what’s going on in OUR association. The answer to all things is not a dues increase or tapping into the rainy-day fund that is now full of the profits from a paid-in-full building. Most of the time the answer is just good ol’ LEADERSHIP!
We’re not ready to be hit over the head with a wooden mallet and thrown into the dead cart!
Wake up, NCRA! We’re not dead yet!
Frank N. Sense*
*We are frank, and we make sense.