CFC - Membership Drive?

[Garland Best]

I talked to Ottawa Governor Garland Best the other day. He still felt random mailing was worse than mailing ex-members. When I re-interated some of my latest points online, which he may have missed, he commented that if the CFC thought to random mail, it may as well spam people.

I need to better indicate when I'm being ironic.

[Kevin Pacey]

I guess we need to spell out what we really mean by membership drive

1) more members under the current rate structure - I assume this is what Bob G is referring to

2) more members by bringing in CMA players at a really low rate in order to swell our numbers for publicity purposes

What if all contestants in the CMA Nationals were to receive a free one year CFC membership ? I would guess that would cost us about $24 x 40 in lost revenue, but gain 80 new members. We could have a special package made up for all of these players. smaller provinces, especially, could try and put on events to get them "hooked", etc.

It seems the cold war is over with Strategy Games stores taking entries for the Canadian Open, Larry giving it a strong endorsement, and CCN having an article on the CMA Nationals.

Fred, do you still think this idea of yours from 2010 may be feasible, say within the 2012-13 term? If so, how close might you be to knowing the answer nowadays to what Ken asked next?:

What is the cost of servicing a CFC membership these days?

[Kevin Pacey]

Perhaps the Public Relations Officer (or someone else within the CFC if deemed more appropriate) might place special emphasis on increasing knowledge within clubs and the public of the CFC's national programs, as spelled out in the Handbook (in section 21), most especially (perhaps) the affiliate program (2106. in section 21) which clubs can take advantage of. I believe the affiliate program was asked about by John Coleman some time ago, and I believe the answer was that the affiliate program still is in effect:

http://chess.ca/handbook#section-21

If the Public Relations Officer has in practice not as yet had much contact with clubs, perhaps due to lack of time or too many obsolete club exec email addresses, maybe the possiblity of creating the position of club liason officer should be looked at more seriously.

I am also wondering how the behind the scenes project of updating club exec email address info nationally, which John Brown was involved with, is going.

[Kevin Pacey]

Incidentally, I do not remember CFC offering multiple-year memberships at a reduced rate. What I do remember is that, when there was a membership fee rise (remember the inflation of the 1970s?), the CFC would honour 2- or 3- year membership renewals submitted at the old rate.

Perhaps it's time for the CFC to give multiple-year memberships at a reduced rate a try. Alternatively, think about putting up membership fees and honouring 2- or 3- year membership renewals submitted, at the old rate, once again.

[Vladimir Drkulec]

I don't think that increasing membership fees by more than a nominal amount to account for inflation is sensible at this point in time nor do I think that forcing people to renew for longer periods of time is a good idea as this increases barriers and costs of entry into the world of CFC chess. Any increase is going to be perceived as further evidence that the CFC is out of touch.

There are many layers to the chess experience whether you look at it from the perspective of a game, a tournament or a campaign to qualify for a particular tournament. In the long run it is a heroic journey where we seize new capabilities in order to win larger and more significant battles later. We look for metaphors to describe the psychological hurdles that we must overcome on our journey as an aid to our understanding.

The typical chess player’s story can be examined and understood by applying the writings of Joseph Campbell who wrote extensively on myth and the Hero’s Journey a repeating motif in myths and stories told across cultures and across the ages and which is echoed even today in just about every Hollywood blockbuster and most bestselling books.

In the parlance of Joseph Campbell the CFC needs to stop functioning as if our role is to be a threshold guardian to keep people out of chess and start functioning as the supernatural aid that facilitates the hero's or heroine's journey by providing the story's protagonist (the CFC member) with counsel and help on the glory road of the hero's journey. In terms of the Star Wars saga we need to be like Obiwan Kenobi and Yoda, guiding, teaching and advising young Skywalker instead of Uncle Ben [Edit: Oops Uncle Ben was in Spiderman, I meant Owen Lars] blocking the aspiring young Jedi master from achieving his destiny.

In a word: the first work of the hero is to retreat from the world scene of secondary effects to those causal zones of the psyche where the difficulties really reside and there to clarify the difficulties, to eradicate them in his own case and to break through to the undistorted, direct experience and assimilation of what C. G. Jung has called the archetypal images.
- Joseph Campbell, “The Hero With A Thousand Faces”

Most chess players start as recreational players learning from childhood friends or from parents or family members. Some come to love the game and soon find that they are winning all of their games against those who first taught them the game. Chess becomes too easy and for the first time they experience dissatisfaction and look for some greater challenges.

In the mythic tradition they are caught in the Ordinary World. They learn of a chess club from their friends. This is the first Call to Adventure. They go forth and reach the first Threshold of a New World. To continue their journey they must pass their first test with the Threshold Guardians that they find there. In most cases they are the gruff players that they may encounter who may beat them mercilessly while heaping scorn upon them. This experience is often a literal one in my experience. You have to absorb those first beatings and continue to come back for more, at which point you slowly start to earn the respect of those denizens of this new world.

With the personifications of his destiny to guide and aid him, the hero goes forward in his adventure until he comes to the "threshold guardian" at the entrance to the zone of magnified power. Such custodians bound the world in the four directions — also up and down—standing for the limits of the hero's present sphere, or life horizon. Beyond them is darkness, the unknown, and danger; just as beyond the parental watch is danger to the infant and beyond the protection of his society danger to the member of the tribe. The usual person is more than content, he is even proud, to remain within the indicated bounds, and popular belief gives him every reason to fear so much as the first step into the unexplored. - Joseph Campbell, “The Hero With A Thousand Faces”

The first shock that many experience when starting on their journey is the discovery that they are not the strongest chess player in the room in this new world. In fact, often they are the worst chess player in the room. Many chess players are shocked and never recover from this experience and they return to their Ordinary World of recreational chess and are never heard from again. This is the Refusal of the Call.

Often in actual life, and not infrequently in the myths and popular tales, we encounter the dull case of the call unanswered : for it is always possible to turn the ear to other interests. Refusal of the call turns the adventure into its negative. Walled in boredom, hard work, or “culture”, the subject loses the power of significant affirmative action and becomes a victim to be saved. His flowering world becomes a wasteland of dry stones and his life feels meaningless – even though, like King Midas, he may through titanic effort succeed in building an empire of renown. - Joseph Campbell, “The Hero With A Thousand Faces”

For those who have not refused the call, the first encounter of the hero-journey is with a protective figure (often a little old crone or old man) who provides the adventurer with amulets against the dragon forces he is about to pass.
- Joseph Campbell, “The Hero With A Thousand Faces”

Destiny favours the bold and to aid our hero in his journeys he is likely to encounter the wise old man or woman who provides him with supernatural aid. In my own personal journey there have been several such mentors: Milan Vukadinov, Ray Stone and recently Viktor Gavrikov. But we shouldn’t neglect the appearance through the printed word of such luminaries as Alexander Kotov, Jonathan Tisdall, Mark Dvoretsky and others who can help us on our journey.

In the rich tapestry of life we often fulfill different roles and in some ways we are the hero undertaking the journey and in other cases we are the supernatural aid who speeds some other hero or heroine on their way in their own heroic quest.

What such a figure represents is the benign, protecting power of destiny. The fantasy is a reassurance—a promise that the peace of Paradise, which was known first within the mother womb, is not to be lost; that it supports the present and stands in the future as well as in the past (is omega as well as alpha); that though omnipotence may seem to be endangered by the threshold passages and life awakenings, protective power is always and ever present within the sanctuary of the heart and even immanent within, or just behind, the unfamiliar features of the world. One has only to know and trust, and the ageless guardians will appear. Having responded to his own call, and continuing to follow courageously as the consequences unfold, the hero finds all the forces of the unconscious at his side. - Joseph Campbell, “The Hero With A Thousand Faces”

[Fred McKim]

Fred, do you still think this idea of yours from 2010 may be feasible, say within the 2012-13 term? If so, how close might you be to knowing the answer nowadays to what Ken asked next?:

The Fiscal records show how much we pay for administrative services (ca$45k). I suppose you could say 40% of that is for membership admin, 40% for rating services, and the other 20% for other (ie National/ International/Govrernance stuff) ..... Divide that by the number of members and you might get a rough estimate.

So this is roughly $45,000x0.40/1800 = approx $10 ... if we only include paying members this is more like $13

Because of the nature of our contract with the administrator, we might actually have to owe them 50% of any memberships given away if we exceed our contracted number of members, unless we had a special agreement.

[Vladimir Drkulec]

One of the vision statements coming out of the face to face meeting of the long term planning committee which will probably make it into the final report was a ten year goal of 10,000 CFC members. Some of the naysayers will say that this is a ridiculously large number given the current realities but I believe that this is a conservative number relative to what is possible and achievable.

Windsor and area's share of this number would be about 100 members. I am fairly certain that if we keep doing what we are doing now we can comfortably exceed this number.

Every year Windsor holds a scholastic tournament over two days (once over three days) where 1400 children in grades 1 through 8 come together for a one day tournament (approximately 700 each day). If the same tournament were set up across Canada and achieved similar numbers based on population you would have 160,000 children participating in chess.

The key point about the Windsor tournament is that the numbers are throttled back to keep the event manageable. If you stopped throttling the accelerator the number could easily exceed 1600 children and would probably creep up year after year.

I think that the current approach of contacting lapsed members and calling them back is not the best use of volunteer time. I was a lapsed member for long periods of time at least twice in my life and there is little that could have been done to bring me back though I do look on those lost years in terms of chess with a touch of regret. I recall a chance meeting with John Coleman at Chapters in the mall during my hiatus where I asserted that I would probably never play chess again other than perhaps the odd recreational game. He reminds me of that meeting on a fairly regular basis.

Part of the reason for the hiatus was that I became involved in chess organizing and was simply burned out dealing with the people that you encounter as a chess organizer. It is a fairly low payoff to begin with and it doesn't take much to tip someone over into the giving up in disgust camp. John Coleman had similar experience when dealing with adults and retreated into the world of children's chess with occasional forays into adult tournaments which remind him again of the reason that he decided to focus on children's chess.

Children love to play chess. They are grateful for the chance to learn and play and actually thank you on a fairly regular basis for your efforts. There is also the payoff in watching them improve and grow. There is a huge hunger for chess and desire for chess improvement among children and their parents. It is not unusual for children and their parents to drive in from distant parts of the county to join a children's chess club. If you want to develop a thriving chess scene start some children's chess clubs, preferably under the tutelage of some experienced players. More than one is better. There are five in Windsor that I am aware of, spread across the city, not counting the ones in the schools and I am involved in three of them.

[Vladimir Drkulec]

Because of the nature of our contract with the administrator, we might actually have to owe them 50% of any memberships given away if we exceed our contracted number of members, unless we had a special agreement.

That can be a problem if the contract can become such a constraint on adding members.

[Kevin Pacey]

One of the vision statements coming out of the face to face meeting of the long term planning committee which will probably make it into the final report was a ten year goal of 10,000 CFC members. Some of the naysayers will say that this is a ridiculously large number given the current realities but I believe that this is a conservative number relative to what is possible and achievable.

Windsor and area's share of this number would be about 100 members. I am fairly certain that if we keep doing what we are doing now we can comfortably exceed this number.

Every year Windsor holds a scholastic tournament over two days (once over three days) where 1400 children in grades 1 through 8 come together for a one day tournament (approximately 700 each day). If the same tournament were set up across Canada and achieved similar numbers based on population you would have 160,000 children participating in chess.

The key point about the Windsor tournament is that the numbers are throttled back to keep the event manageable. If you stopped throttling the accelerator the number could easily exceed 1600 children and would probably creep up year after year.

I think that the current approach of contacting lapsed members and calling them back is not the best use of volunteer time. I was a lapsed member for long periods of time at least twice in my life and there is little that could have been done to bring me back though I do look on those lost years in terms of chess with a touch of regret. I recall a chance meeting with John Coleman at Chapters in the mall during my hiatus where I asserted that I would probably never play chess again other than perhaps the odd recreational game. He reminds me of that meeting on a fairly regular basis.

Part of the reason for the hiatus was that I became involved in chess organizing and was simply burned out dealing with the people that you encounter as a chess organizer. It is a fairly low payoff to begin with and it doesn't take much to tip someone over into the giving up in disgust camp. John Coleman had similar experience when dealing with adults and retreated into the world of children's chess with occasional forays into adult tournaments which remind him again of the reason that he decided to focus on children's chess.

Children love to play chess. They are grateful for the chance to learn and play and actually thank you on a fairly regular basis for your efforts. There is also the payoff in watching them improve and grow. There is a huge hunger for chess and desire for chess improvement among children and their parents. It is not unusual for children and their parents to drive in from distant parts of the county to join a children's chess club. If you want to develop a thriving chess scene start some children's chess clubs, preferably under the tutelage of some experienced players. More than one is better. There are five in Windsor that I am aware of, spread across the city, not counting the ones in the schools and I am involved in three of them.

Wow. I can hardly wait to read the long-term planning committee's report.

[Kevin Pacey]

Perhaps it's time for the CFC to give multiple-year memberships at a reduced rate a try. Alternatively, think about putting up membership fees and honouring 2- or 3- year membership renewals submitted, at the old rate, once again.

My own preference is to try out a reduced rate multiple-year membership scheme. I don't wish the CFC to act like any sort of a gatekeeping troll, but I suspect many Governors would rather not try out my (potentially risky?) idea, but might instead prefer putting membership fees up slightly (when due to inflation?) and have the CFC offer to honour 2- or 3- year membership renewals at the old rate.

Failing any other agreement on a promising strategy to increase membership levels, we need to aim for a better cash flow situation somehow, regardless.