This event is postponed to a later date, not decided yet.
The next membership drive will be our biggest since 2005. A few hundred thousand people will be attending the Life Matters Expo at Suntec Sat/Sun 26/ & 27 July 2013. We hope to draw in at least a few thousand new members.
We hope to organise a big “Welcome New Members” event on Sun 25 Aug 2013. The exact venue has not been identified yet. This is the planning stage. If you can help to organise in the event planning, please let me know. Do let me have your name yet.
Terence Seah
A poll has been conducted. The feedback as follows:
I like to encourage all of you to take the vote, so that we can get an understanding of your thoughts on our membership drive. If you vote, you can see what are the different choices made by members so far.
Terence Seah
Interesting to know that “No reason, the Club does not benefit me” was also voted by member/s. Hmmm….
If you have not cast your vote as to how you see the next membership, please note the voting system does not require you to give any contact data. Just one vote per computer.
Terence Seah
I support this membership drive. Wish to know where can I help in this matter.
Jenny Lee
Listen to philosophy from the IT experts:
WHO: Michael Dell
WHERE/WHEN: University of Texas, 2003
“Try never to be the smartest person in the room. And if you are, invite smarter people or find a different room. In professional circles, it’s called networking. In organizations, it’s called team building. And in life it’s called family; friends and community. We are all gifts to each other, and my own growth as a leader has shown me again and again that the most REWARDING experiences come from my relationships.”
WHO: Steve Job
WHERE/WHEN: Stanford University, 2005
WHAT: “Your time is limited, so don’t waste it living someone else’s life. Don’t be trapped by dogma – which is living with the results of other people’s thinking. Don’t let the noise of others’ opinions drown out your own inner voice. And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. Stay hungry; Stay foolish.”
WHO: Bill Gates
WHERE/WHEN: Havard University, 2007
WHAT: “Humanity’s greatest advances are not in its discoveries. But in how those discoveries are applied to reduce inequity. Whether through democracy, strong public education, quality healthcare or broad economic opportunity, reducing inequity is the HIGHEST human achievement.”
(The ALUM NUS, jul-sep 2013)
We close the poll today to get an understanding of how members respond to our planned membership drive.
Thank you for putting in your vote and feedback.
How would you analyse this feedback?
Terence Seah
Bottomline, the winner still membership paying club…. But if membership paying club, how many current members will stay on… I supposed nobody know the answer to this. But I know myself that I wont… Cheers.. Dolly
If we were to simplify the pie chart, the results would be,
Do you support this membership drive?
YES – 12 out of 71 or 17%
NO — 59 out of 71 or 83%
After acknowledging this, we shall then analyse the 83% “why not?”
IF the membership drive is to be conducted anyway, the outcome of this survey has neither significance nor purpose.
Dolly,
I am with you. If I have to pay, I am out too!
Cheers
Carly
In doing a poll, and like in all surveys, the likely and probably most sensible approach is to analyse what the majority of the voters are thinking about.
Only 17% of the voters support this membership drive. Does this mean that we abandon this membership drive? If I were to follow what the 83% are saying, I should make a last ninute decision to cancel this membership drive. The poll is giving us a signal. Therefore, my initial response is why waste my money and that of the sponsors on a project not supported by 83% of our membership.
Daniel, what do you prefer? Scrap the membership drive idea?
WE can still change this decision.
Terence Seah
Terence,
Because of the multiple choices given to select instead of a straight Yes or No for main purpose, ie. in this case, membership drive, it will be hard to say that ratio is accurate lah.. I believed if the survey is a straight Yes or No answer, the message sent across will be sharp enough lor.. tio bo.. Anyway, decision is still yours… Cheers.. Dolly
Hi Dolly,
The results are overwelmingly not supportive of this membership drive at Suntec “Life Matters”. I guess I have misinterpreted the majority of the membership after these many years. More than 3/4 of the projected numbers voted against the membership drive.
The drive at Suntec does cost money, and we ask members to contribute to the share of this cost. While the final decision is still mine, the poll results leave me with a lot to consider.
Terence Seah
Hi Dolly, Caroline,
Both of you are senior members in SHC, and have been with the Club for many years. You obviously represent similar thinking with many other members, go out together and share your inner thoughts together. Tell me as I too find this interesting. You indicated that if SHC becomes a membership paying Club, you would withdraw from SHC as a member. And that many other current members may also withdraw as a member.
In your case, why would you feel this way, and take this position? SHC is very varied, and groups have their own views and reasons. Please share the thoughts.
Terence Seah
I agree fully with Dolly & Caroline.
If we change this to a paying club, alot of existing members will quit. For sure!
Also, would we be attracting the correct type of crowd to join SHC, during a public event in Suntec City? We may not! I think the best way is still to organise more interesting events, and then pull in new members from there. Open these events to non members, and get them to join during the event itself. I think this will be a more effective way of attracting new members. Eg, members can bring in friends to attend the SHC meetings, and during each meeting, it would be a mini-recruitment drive. And this is free! During the walks, dance & karaoke outings, or theme parties… men’s nights, or we can even start a ladies’ night… these are all excellent events to attract new members. Frens bring frens… that’s the best way to spread the word.
Another idea is to do an on-line recruitment.. and get all those who submitted their on-line request, to come for a new members night. And we entertain them. Maybe have a welcome drama skit.. complete with song & dance….
Just my 2 cents worth.
Cheers, LydiaC.
Well…if we can wind back to year 2006, 2007 and 2008 in the time tunnel. Things shall be much better today. More fun and harmony.
Cheers
LydiaC, your “2 cents worth” is priceless. While we may discuss the finer details of the contents therein, your contribution certainly adds life to a forum that is otherwise so dearth of ideas and opinions. Wish there are more.
Terence. I appreciate that you always accept and welcome feedbacks, albeit the fact that they are not as forthcoming as you would wish. Appreciate MORE that you always keep your cool despite unceremonious, even provocative, feedbacks at times.
BACK to this pressing issue – 71 members “voting” here do not in any way represent the Club. Knowing the size of our membership, we do not even have a quorum to start with. And I must admit that I voted twice – once from home and another in my working place. This survey therefore has no bearing whatsoever on what you choose to do.
The main concern should be COST. Spending $5000 or more to get members, who eventually do not any pay membership fee, makes no sense.
If the objective is to get as many members as possible, in view of recovering the cost by “eye-ball” charge on advertisement, or sell the Club at a later date priced by membership strength, then this move is justified.
If the objective is to publicise our Club, highlight our activities and perform a “national service” for the sake of senior citizens at large, then our approach needs to be different. We can invite sponsors, collect contributions from existing members or perhaps even ask for a Government grant. It is with this in mind that I accepted the role of “press-relations officer”.
Unless the objective is explicit, we cannot blame members for being lacklustre in their support. Personally, I will support you in whatever decision, provided you give clear directions on how I may be of help. If the project is abandoned, we shall return to Lydia’s proposal and see what can be done. I believe many members will think likewise. After getting so much out of practically nothing, it is payback time.
See you at the Men’s Night tomorrow.
Terence,
I am not in favor of spending so much on a membership drive. Like what Lydia said membership drive can happen whenever we have any activity on. Whether it is walking, cycling or any major event. What we can do is wear tee-shirt with Silverhairs logo to generate interest. Putting an advertisement in the local newspaper may be a more effective and less expensive mean to attract new members.
So far you are the person behind putting forth ideas about various events to be held. What about having a core group to come together and suggest various ways to add vibrancy to the Club.
As the sole financial support for keeping the Club alive, imposing a nominal fee is justifiable. Why must we as member get a free ride and not able to contribute to the Club. We should express some gratitude to the Club for bringing us together, and to be able to create new and lasting friendship.
Some of us may be wondering whether the single event will get off the ground?
MIA Dan
as I mentioned in the earlier post, spending about $5000 just to recruit members without being able to sell anything to get back the money is a lot of investment.
if manage to recruit 500 members the cost is$10 per member if only manage to get 100 it will be $50 per member. BUT the most important thing is will the new members actively taking part in our activities? if not will their names be deleted by admin in the later stage like the past exercise?
SHC has been free for many years. If now it wants to collect token fees for this and that, it’s fine with me. If the Club’s kitty grows heavy at year end, we can perhaps have a free party. lol!
yes I agree with some of lydia suggestions. as for the t.shirt as mentioned by Dan I have suggested it many years back. hopefully we can wear them during walk, group travelling and any SHC outdoor activities, its a cheap and effective way of advertisement
Like the overwhelming majority says, spending $5k for a Sunday’s publicity to get new members is not an effective nor efficient way. Only for a few hours, competing with other booths and interests, more so when some of these booths are commercially minded, ie they will sell something, or scam something and all you need is a couple of like-minded suckers and their booths will be paid for.
Since your SHC objectives are altruistic, your $5k outlay is a dead loss. Any benefits will be intangible and stream in the future if at all.
But since you have so much money, of course you don’t feel the pinch, more like an ant-bite, which you just shrug off.
Hi Terence
Membership drive via public event have not been tested out by SHC. It can be fruitful and productive if done well. A while ago, your interviewed articles that appeared in the Sunday Times have proven to draw some publicity for the club with increased reader/viewership as well as membership no?
However, having a booth alone is not enough. What will people see at your booth? You will need more than just a SHC banner and some members hanging around chit chatting. The booth needs to be decorated with signage and display panels. Flyers with sign-up sheets need to be printed for distribution. Digital video/photo album showcasing SHC activities prominently displayed. Laptops for immediate online sign-ups, and souvenir give-aways, etc.
Members manning the booth need to be properly briefed because they have to be knowledgeable with club history, activities, who’s who (regular EOs, etc.) and able to assist in online signing up. $5K is not the only amount you have to fork out. The logistic, manpower and human hours involved in organising a membership drive at any trade fair is substantial. Just look through the Participant List – you will find that most if not all are either govt sponsored or commercial marketing strategy by private companies and corporations. I doubt you will find any self-sustaining clubs like SHC in the list.
If you can spare the money and manpower, go for it. Afterall, the club with high memberships will be lucrative should you later on decide to sell out or commercialised it to attract advertisers. If not, try and get yourself interviewed again. It’s a lot cheaper.
On the issue of membership fee – I personally see no harm in contributing a token sum annually to help defray cost and do not expect more than what the club is already offering. But I can only speak for myself.
Human nature is such….. when given free, expectation is lower and if not satisfied, they can only grumble. Once payment is required, expectation will be high and grumble becomes demand.
Is it worth the headaches? You decide. I can also contribute panadols.
Hi Lily, and members who have been suggesting the direction of membership fee,
When we started in 2005, the founders felt that a free membership to the SilverHairsClub is the direction we would want to take. There are also a lot of headaches in implementing a paying membership program. Over the foreseeable future, and I have mentioned it numerous times, that SHC will continue to be a free membership Club, and that members contribute by organising at least one activity during the lifetime of his/her membership.
This said, I am still open to the idea if someone, a member or a group of members, is/are prepared to take the lead in setting up a paying membership at SilverHairsClub. So, I repeat, take the lead, and it is likely I will say yes.
Terence Seah
Hi Charles,
Yes, if we spend $5,000 for a membership drive, we are not going to get anything monetary back. Meantime, we wont profit from it. What we could benefit is the advantage of quickly increasing our membership by leaps and bounds. Like in any membership drive, it depends on how pro-active we are on that two days. It depends on how we push and explain the benefits of joining SHC. If a return on the investment is what we expect, we can drop the idea.
But, if the return is a new batch of members, which the Suntec event “Life matters” organised by SPH will likely attract at least a few hundred thousand members, many members and activities will benefit from the increased membership.
If we go back into recent years, look at how many of our current members bring in new members? 5, 10, 20? Take a count, and ask the member friends around us. You will be surprised.
Let’s look at how difficult it is to get members to be EOs or ECs. How many events were cancelled due to lack of numbers? Any EO who has organised an event will know how heartbreaking tracking the response. Should the event be cancelled due to lack of response? Who is going to guarantee the min pax? Let’s be honest with ourselves. All events are published in the Club. Are we going to prod on and persuade our existing members to organise more activities?
In many events, our guys and gals complain that there are always numerous ladies and very few men in our social gatherings. Are we going to stick to the current membership? It would be nice if we can hear from someone or some member who has done something about this. Many members are not in the Paper Clips program, but do members know how many members have expressed a desire to see the Paper Clips program succeed?
I have always felt the need for a huge membership program for SilverHairs. We all do. In less than two days, we have to decide if we will commit to taking up a booth at Suntec, so that we can push our membership to the thousands of seniors who are coming to visit the Life Matters Expo. Do we go to the many community Clubs in Singapore and get them to be members? Would you? Or the void decks? Let’s face the facts. Our members have excellent ideas and suggestions. But who is going to do the job? Who is going to make the T-shirts and make sure that the right size gets made and delivered to the right person?
Surely, we wont know how many members we can recruit at the expo. I do not know who will join and apply to be a member. We have never checked whether the new member is a professional manager, an administration accounts executive, a taxi driver or even whether the new member speaks English, Mandarin, Tamil or Malay. We say we should check, but who is going to check? Me, you or ……
There is a lot of truth, and rightly Dolly has pointed out. Caroline has also pointed out. There is no plan for a membership paying program. However, if there is, both Dolly and Caroline will withdraw as a member. I can only guess they see no benefits in SHC objective.
We have received an invitation to participate in the expo. It will cost us $5000 for the two days. Because this is a huge amount, I had asked for members to share the cost of the booth. This is not mandatory and it is only optional. I truly believe that if members see the benefits of the SilverHairsClub, they would contribute to this share. Yew Kwong and many others have taken the lead, because they see its objective and the advantages of having a renewed and larger membership. There is no requirement for all members to do so. This is strictly towards paying for the booth. I truly appreciate all contributions, especially the contribution from Alice.
Over the years, we have taken up advertisements to drive our membership. As some would know, a reasonable size advertisement in the papers would cost no less than $1,000 pert insertion per day. We have done many.
I still encourage feedback, although I have so far read two comments supporting this membership drive. Please continue putting up ideas and feedback.
I shall make the decision to participate on this coming Wednesday. We may go ahead or we may withdraw.
Terence Seah
cabaret night is an example of events we can advertise (online, via cc Rc bulletins board or cheaper publication) to let public know what a fun bunch of silverhair we are. once they see our show surely many will be interested to become members hence kill 2 birds with 1 stone – sell ticket and recruit members
Terence
Your paragraph 6 says it all, so nothing is going to stop you from going ahead with this drive; whatever that means.
Your paragraph 5’s issue is in-house, AS IN, there are very scary members who love nothing but to criticize, shoot down an idea or an activity and thus scaring the fook out of enthusiastic want to be/would be EOs/ECs, which is why many very good members fade away and we don’t hear from them anymore. Ever. Thanks to your leadership or should I say, lack of?
You keep asking for opinions, yada, yada, but at the end of it all, you will follow your dick so in that sense, stop wasting our time; do what you feel since it’s your club and whether or not we support this drive is totally ‘irrelevant’ cuz you will not listen; just giving us the roundabout which is very yawning, indeed, darling.
See you in Taipei.
Hi Geraldine, I am glad you are back at home in Singapore. I like, and I am sure, many members like your challenging and straight forward style. Welcome home.
Membership drive is important to the Club. Although the polls show little support for this membership drive, it also indicates that there are other issues and suggestions that needs pursuing. Especially the factor that says “I do not benefit from being a member”. All this, we can pursue in the coming months. But going ahead with this drive does not mean I ignore all the other 83%. Many members support a membership drive of this nature; and I feel strongly about it. That’s why we will go ahead.
As a member, you are welcome to take the lead in help increase our membership. I look forward to organising such membership drives. You can EO an event which you feel strongly will work.
It is important that we listen to members and polls. If we can pick up some of the suggestions, we do it quickly. If we cannot, we can do so at a later day. I am sure you have note that many events and policies have been modified, following suggestions from members. If I don’t do, you can pick it up and push for it.
Welcome back, and I look forward to your added vibrance.
Terence Seah
I am curious: members not willing to join/choose to quit if this club starts collecting “membership fees” ? Why?
Staying in HDB flats – pay S&C charges;
Staying in Condos – pay quarterly maintenance fees (whether or not you swim in the pool, book BBQ pits etc);
Car can’t start/flat tyres – call AA, pay membership before you revive it again;
Go for health talks/seminars/ – pay admission fees
Go SHC walking/cycling/events – FREE
Can we be gracious to pay the EOs for their generous efforts to – post on the web, register the participants, ensure safety, everyone have a nice time… (try out the route/preparation etc before the event).
Yes, EOs enjoy organising activities for various reasons – but I think participants can be gracious to “donate” some form of “membership” tokens after the event to defray the “shoe leather/tyre” costs of the EOs.
EOs can “pass the hat” around after the event to “reimburse” some of their expenses and the remainder can be used to defray the costs of maintaining the website, contribute to a charitable cause etc?
It is optional for the participants to contribute into the “hat” and/or the EOs to pass the bag/dig into the bag for reimbursements..
(Members who do not participate in the events/activities would not encounter the “hat”, and so need not pay la..)
Do we have to be so tight-fisted and calculative to show our appreciation ?
Hi Inez Lim,
I have one explanation to your question “why”.
Allow me to explain my personal experience in running the ITIG (IT Interest Group) within SHC as my vision to promote active ageing for SHCians or any senior above 45 years of age. This IT for Seniors (http://itforseniors.wordpress.com) has been in existence, in SHC, for more than 18 months. My objective and challenge in taking up this EC duty in organizing and conducting this IT discussion/learning is no cost to the participants.
As you know, the main cost in organizing any event is the rental of venue and logistics for the event. Initially we started our ITIG discussion in the food court (Plaza Singapura). Some SHCians’ feedback is – the place is noisy, so with the help of fellow SHCians, we went to function room in condominium (participants share the nominal rental fee).
One day, a fellow SHCian suggested I should try Leng Kee Community Club and arrange for me to meet up with the chief of the CC there. In my discussion with him, he said he has to charge me for the rental of the classroom. I told him if you have to charge me then I have to charge the participants and that is not the objective of me coming to you. After some further discussion, he said he would bring up my request for committee approval. Some time later, he informed me I could use the classroom free of charge. The CC even loan me the digital projector and projector screen without charge (no Wi-Fi yet).
To sum up, I believe there are two groups of thought among fellow SHCians. One is whether SHC is operating, like the CC, organizing events free of charge or at a controlled cost and the other is going fully commercial like any registered private clubs. There is no such thing as no cost to the chief of SHC and his group of EOs or ECs. As long as every one of us, the chief, EO or EC, is happy to incur these nominal organizing costs and fellow SHCians appreciated it, it is enough. That’s the uniqueness of SHC. Once this image is changed, then it is no different from any other private club. The consideration will then be – is it worth my time and money to get involved in either becoming a member or organizing an event.
hewlee
Hi Hew Lee
Thank you for the enlightening reply to my “why” – the uniqueness of SHC – a club that operates FOC, unlike commercial set-ups.
I agree that the chief, EOs, ECs incur costs while organising events – it is the perogative of the individuals – I felt that we have taken the generosity of these people for granted.
(I felt that SHC members could shift from being “takers” to be “givers” in our latter years..)
thanks again for your insights
inez
Hi Inez, Hew Lee,
You hve raised an issue which I think deserve some answers. I was thinking of pursuing the same topic, after the membership drive. This issue of members leaving SilverHairsClub if the Club introduces a membership fee can be due to many reasons. Both Dolly and Caroline would also leave SilverHairsClub if a membership fee is introduced. Both are senior members in the Club, and they sure have their reasons.
Dolly and Caroline, would you like to share your thoughts. I am sure this will help us adjust our future strategy in SilverHairsClub.
Terence Seah
Hi Inez, I share your concern regarding EOs/ECs/asst. EOs etc who have to contribute energy, time, and sometimes money to see that an event is properly organised. While participants only see the fruit when everything is already in place, they do not see the interractions, conception and finally the deliverly. “Abortion” is not uncommon.
The most ironical thing is that EOs/ECs still have to pay the same amount for the event. This may sound petty but I feel at least, as a token of appreciation, they do not have to pay anything.
In fact, I am more concern of how Terence runs this forum site. Apparently, he is happily absorbing the cost but everything has its limit. So, folks, enjoy while it lasts !
As I will be travelling for another 3 weeks, from this weekend, the “Welcome New Members” will be replanned and the dates postponed. We shouldd have a well organised event.
So, postponed for now.
Terence Seah