SHC has grown significantly over the years; and I have to admit that I am not able to consistently keep the club excited or even maintain it at the current level. A lot of feedback has been received in this forum over the years; but unfortunately, we have few volunteers to carry out the ideas and suggestions.
On this coming Sunday and Monday, I shall be gathering together a group of SHC for a meeting to consolidate the ideas, and see how we can take SHC to the next level.
One objective is to have lesser participation and direction from myself. I am prepared for radical ideas; although I am not likely to lift the taboos on politics, race, religion and sex, direct selling and MLM.
Meantime, if you have an opinion, or suggestions or ideas, feel free to drop them here, on this Post.
Terence Seah
Here’s a thought.
Something which SHC has not or can focus on. An idea cropped up to develop a Civic club.
What is a Civic club? A civic club is a club that is interested in the affairs of citizens and try to help redress abuse etc by eg writing to the press to raise awareness of some unfair practices eg. schools make students buy books in the booklists, but some of the books are NOT used by the teachers.
If there is social injustice, we can voice our opinion etc… We can also play detectives and be whistle blowers …
A few days ago in the Straits Times, there was an article about a civic-minded group of retirees in China going round ‘spying’ and trying to stop unfair practices. The retirees are all in their 80s… now this ‘grandpa’ squad has become quite famous and are now attracting younger members. …
This was addressed to me; and I thought it was interesting to chat on it.
Terence Seah
It’s not easy doing this kind of work…. can meet nasty ppl..
Maybe something new or something left behand for sometime. A thinking which reached my email box yesterday.
There are a view viewpoints. SHC can:
1. To reach out to the silent majority, we can have a meeting for the silent members. But we have to email them to inform them about a meeting specially planned for them as they may not be reading the SHC forum regularly. But first you need to have some members who are interested in this task to form a team.
2. Promote weekday (working hours) activities for members who are on flexi hours or retired. Have more ‘thinking’ activities. eg discuss issues and current affairs and their implications for/impact on S’pore as a nation and on the individual…
3. Allow the dissemination of useful info about good deals…including sale of stuff and info beneficial to other members.
4. Encourage activities that serve outsiders (the public) . SHC is very successful in serving the social needs of MEMBERS. It’s time to think about serving the community…
Terence Seah
Here’s also my thought. :) If my thought appear offensive to any one, please accept my apology.
In order to recruit and increase the current membership we need to ensure our iconic clubhouse – http://www.siverhairclub.com to be user friendly and provide timely information targeting at members whenever they pay a visit to the clubhouse. However there are times our clubhouse was in a messy situation such as the painting are all in bright red, green or whatever and sometime the doors were shut for a few days.
Human being reacts to things or events when they see it frequently. In order to encourage interaction or participation in events, information must be flashed on to their eyeball regularly. First time they are shy, second time they maybe self-conscious third time they may start to think whether they should join the event. Forth time they may…….
To enhance membership experience my suggestion — there is a need to change the web platform of our clubhouse. Using wordpress blog would be good for marketing of services but it would be a bit clumsy for a forum-based type of club like us. You would have noticed it is difficult to search for archives of past activities. Not only that any posting of new event or views would push any current featured events further down the eyeballs of members. As a comparison the NTUC-linked social club for senior citizens — http://www.ulive.com.sg use Joomla CMS as they are able to piggy back or leverage on their big brother (NTUC). They are not worry about resources as they can depend on their big brother for membership recruitments, provision of event venues etc. They can even afford to charge members an annual membership fees.
Maybe we can consider building our clubhouse based on Vbulletin – such as http://www.warriorforum.com, Simple Machines Forum – such as http://www.phpfreaks.com/forums/ platform etc. Provision of information fast and efficient is the foremost task any Club manager or owner must do to build a vibrant community that will cater to the varied interest of its members.
Hi StevenN #3,
The current website is not the most ideal for our needs. Like you have mentioned, one area mentioned to me frequently is that new Posts push old Post down the ladder. As a result, it is difficult to find important ongoing Posts.
Yes, I agree that the clubhouse http://www.SilverHairsClub.com is important, and that we can have a new clubhouse.
I was thinking, that perhaps, we can ask you to volunteer to set up a new clubhouse for SHCians. We can start this project in 2011 or asap. After you have set it up, and if it meets our needs, then we can point the domain http://www.SilverHairsclub.com to the new clubhouse.
Depending on how fast you can get it done, we should be able to see a new clubhouse in mid 2011 or early 2012. I believe there will be additional costs and time, which you need to advise. Testing is also required, to ensure that the new clubhouse meets our needs.
Would you consider taking the lead? Let’s talk tomorrow or Monday.
Terence Seah
Depending on the customisation and security required it can even be set up within a day. We are not building a physical club. :)
I would prefer to have a committee to decide on the layout and design of the clubhouse so that it will able to meet the needs of the members in the long run.
There are free and paid version.
Hi StevenN,
Great. Let’s discuss with YK when we next meet.
Terence Seah
Terence/Steven,
I can help out… Cheers.. Dolly
I summarised the points, opinions, suggestions and comments raised by a group of 10 active SHC members. You are encouraged to add to the list, while at the same time, you are encouraged to take the lead.
1. Membership should continue to be free, and the age group >45 should maintain.
2. Steven Ng has offered to take the lead to propose a new website. Will look at easier ways to find Posts and write comments.
3. Our website will not be linked to external websites.
4. Existing taboos to be maintained.
5. Publishing of tel contacts will continue not tbe allowed.
6. All activities will only be opened to members. Non-members, spouses and children will not be allowed to participate; except and unless they meet the club’s membership criteria.
7. Suggestion to make more attempts to balance the club’s sexes.
8. Suggestion to allow for interaction, competitions with external social clubs.
9. Suggestion to look for convenors specially in Basketball, volleyball and swimming.
10. Suggestion to allow for paid advertising.
11. Suggestion to have a regular OPEN House gathering and meeting for new and quieter members.
12. Suggestion to allow for club’s namecards.
13. Suggestion to have an annual plan for events.
14. Suggestion to have a convenor for each type of activity; without having to organise that activity personally. EOs can continue to organise the activities.
15. Suggestion to have more no-eating events, or less expensive eating events. Also, to consider more standing type events.
16. Suggestion that we should regularly remind members not to thumb down other members’ opinion and suggestions or make fun of their comments.
17. Suggestion to have more charity events.
18. Suggestion to have a picture face besides the EO, so that members can recognise the EO.
Terence Seah
Hi everybody
I was an early member of SHC. But I was away of and on for some years. Now I am back. I am glad to be able to read the comments on the activities of SHC again.
First my comments by Terence to upgrade SHC to be a CIVIC Club. Will this mean making some changes to the original objectives of the Club. While SHC may raise instances of unfair practices etc i.e. buying school books not being used in schools for example – one will have to tread carefully if it is against official policy.
From my observation, I see that SHC tends to be activities based. The Club is then divided into two components – i.e. those between 50s and 60s of age and those between 70s and 80s of age roughly. But I believe this is not the intention.
For those in the 50s and 60s, they may continue to enjoy taking part in the various activities organised by SHC. However, for those in the 70s and 80s, they may like to meet, discuss and exchange information on health, humour, philosophy, grand parenting etc for a longer life.
Incidentally on this issue, it is said that to live longer irrespective of our current age, we must
1. walk faster – ie. walk briskly
2. have a sense of humour
3. exercise regularly
4. adopt a positive attitude in life – “can do” attitude
5. mixing with a person with a negative attitude will drag us down as well.
6. live and be thankful for today, not yesterday or tomorrow.
7. eat a healthy diet.
The other question then is when we should retire which a number of our members have ably discussed. I feel that we can retire when:
1. we are financially independent – we must be reasonable with ourselves.
2. we have roof over our head
3. our children have grown up and have a job or are successful in their careers.
At some point in life, we should retrieve our freedom – unless we have no choice but to work for a living.
After retirement, we can
1. learn a language or play a musical instrument
2. keep a pet
3. play a game or learn to play a game, Bridge, mahjong or sudoku
4. exercise such as swimming.
5. join SHC and have plently of friends of similar interest.
6. plan how we should manage our life post retirement – i.e. stay with children or employ a maid to look after us or check-into to a Nursing Home – any other options.
I welcome comments from our members on my observations. Some of these may have been considered by SHC before. My apologies !
I am happy to be back. I wish everyone a Very Happy and Prosperous Lunar New Year !!!
Dear Terence,
I LIKE point #16.
:p
Ros
Hi Kia Chew,
We are so happy to hear from you – a member from the silent majority that we are trying hard to reach out to this year. Hope other silent members also start to make their presence felt in the Club.
Thank you for your feedback and views. Welcome back to the gregarious SHC fold…. and do stay audible! lol :)
Cheers,
Hi Terence & fellow SHCians
Let’s all together make SHC a “So Happening Club” lah hehe.
Hi Terence
I can safely guess that Point 15 is your suggestion – ‘to consider more standing events’ (your favourite position, keke). Think you have forgotten about what you saw in Taipei that got you all psyched up to organize a standing-only event. Still waiting. Anyways, it’s doable.
Point 16 is utmost important as it is impolite to shoot others down unnecessarily. Sure, there may be some unsuitable ideas/suggestions from members; we just need to point out and move on without causing distress.
One point I wish to bring up is Transparency. I am glad you finally made this list for those who are not privy to your private discussions/meetings to know what is going on and of course to comment or suggest. Great.
As for Point 18, the EO reserves the right not to allow his/her photo be placed. EOs can easily introduce themselves and mingle so it should not be a fuss.
Don’t like the idea of paid advertising. Depending on the format, don’t wish to see interactive or still ads crowding the comments/posts page. Distracting and annoying.
Hi Geraldine Ting,
Since the idea of paid advertising was suggested by me, maybe it would be good for me to response.
The purpose of advertisement is to make reasonable amount of money (somewhere between $500 to $1000 annually) so that the club will be self-sustaining financially as far as operation of the website is concerned. We need money for the domain, web hosting, software upgrading and some other web-related tools. We don’t think it would be fair to ask the boss to finance the operation of the website since this is non-profitable venture.
You would not expect ads to be all over the place. It would not distract or be an annoyance to you. :) Ads (most probably banner) will be display discreetly.
Currently the website would have difficulty to attract advertisers as the traffic is not large enough. SEO (search engine optimization) would need to be done. This may take quite a while.
Hi Terence/YK,
Are we able to amend the registration procedures of new members? If an existing member would like to recommend a friend to join SHC, can the existing member send the registration email of his fren’s behalf? Sometimes, we have friends who would like to take part in certain activity, but because he’s not a member, he is unable to come. And to make it more difficult, that person does not even has a computer at home, esp for retirees and those who are not internet savy. He would then have difficulty to send the email by himself, even though he has an email account set up for him by friends.
Are we able to bend the rules, only for cases where the new member comes with a recommendation from an existing member.
Thanks!
Hi Lydia #15,
I appreciate your feedback. However, our registration procedures are very simple. Therefore for now, only registered members can attend SHC functions. The interested member must register himself/herself.
Maybe when we have a more elaborate or sophisticated system, we will consider.
Terence Seah
Hi StevenN #14,
I like to clarify the issue of advertising on the SHC forum and website.
First, we had not planned to have advertising on the SHC website and forum, when the concept started. But, since you have raised the possibility, we should at least have a look at it. Maybe advertising can be beneficial to our membership. Once in a while, we do have requests for advertising. For time being, advertising is NOT permitted.
Secondly, there is no need to raise funds to fund the domain name, hosting or maintenance. And, membership will continue to be free, subject to current registration procedures.
Thirdly, I like to thank you for taking the lead to propose a new website, with the aim of avoiding new Posts from being pushed down by new Posts, sudden colour changes and being more user friendly. SHC will absorb the costs of hosting and software, and once you have set up the website, and if we have general acceptance, I am prepared to point SilverHairsClub.com to the new format.
Terence Seah
Hi Steven
Thanks for explaining. Let’s see how it works out and hopefully it will not cause crowding. When that happens I will no longer want to log on to read/chat.
Proposed next level …
SHC takes an interest in domestic issues. If SHC has a ‘civic’ arm, this group could consider giving SM a list of the club’s suggestions on fostering the ‘vertical kampong’ spirit (ST. 26/1-pg A11) ….radical idea? :)
Cheers,
Hi JassmineT,
In many ways, Singaporeans are interested in domestic issues. I dont think this is a radical idea; but I guess that if we are not too extreme, ideas can generally be well accepted. Obviously, we dont want to step into the area of politics and religion. But, if SilverHairs needs and wishes can be met, why not?
This is not something easy. But, if we can have someone to lead the way on civic issues, it might be good to give it a start. Would you like to be our convenor on civic issues?
Terence Seah
Hi Terence
A civic group is usually non political and its goal is to improve the lives of ppl/citizens.
I can act as the convener (facilitator?) for about 6 months because i shall be very busy in the 2nd half of the year, but first we need to see if there are some members who are interested in doing this kind of non-profit, voluntary work. And you, Terence, will be in the group automatically as the civic group will operate in the name of the CLUB, so you’ll need to provide guidance and vet the group’s activities.
As SHC is a social club with a social objective, the civic group would become a special-interest group in SHC, comprising civic spirited members who would like to contribute towards a better society.
Shall we give it a try?
Hi Jassmine #21,
Yes, I am pleased to have you as the convenor for civic activities and events. Please take the lead, see and evaluate the degree of interest among members.
Terence Seah
Hi Jassmine
Hi Jassmine #11
Thank you for your message of welcome. I like your use of the word “gregarious” as SHC has been very active in organising many interesting activities for its members.
On the question of the proposed re-organised website #17, one possibility is for the messages to be grouped under particular topics. In this way, the messages will not be pushed under and be forgotten over time.
Phua Kia Chew
To Admin
I have problem writing a new post on civic activities. The words disappear! Help! TQ.
Hi Jassmine,
1 disappeared hor, hv 2 re-type again liao.. so I suggest dat u save every now and avoid MIA again.
Another pc of advice is dat dun try 2 cut and paste the whole write up from Word format as this could lead to missing words. This is general feedback from those who try to write a post previously.
Hope this info would be useful.
If not, send over ur draft to my email dlgummy@hotmail.com and I will see how I can help u on this.
Cheers… Dolly
Hi Dolly
I tried the save method, but still don’t see the text, so can’t continue typing. Hv sent you my draft – thanks vm :)
Hi Jass
This happens often. Let’s wait to hear from Dolly if she has successfully uploaded it.
YK
Hi Geraldine, Lydia and fellow members,
Thank you for your feedback. Re the summary discussed recently, I like to raise some points which had been considered worth looking at.
7. Making more attempts to balance the club’s sexes.
8. Allow for interaction, competitions with external social clubs.
9. A convenor for convenors in Basketball, volleyball and swimming.
10. Allow for paid advertising.
11. Have regular OPEN House gathering and meeting for new and quieter members.
12. Allow for club’s namecards.
14. Have a convenor for each type of activity; without having to organise that activity personally. EOs can continue to organise the activities.
15. Have more standing type events.
I have taken up Henry Yip’s suggestion for SHC to have a convenor system. You can read the latest update at http://silverhairsclub.com/?page_id=3379. Let’s hope to hear more from the convenors. StevenNg’s suggestion to look into a new website platform is in progress.
Meantime, can you share your ideas on the above points.
Terence Seah