Slide deck from my talk on growing club membership for soaring clubs. Glider operations that are clubs or commercial can improve their membership, attrition and activity with some simple actions.

1. SOARING CLUB GROWTH
Morgan Hall
Central California Soaring Club
Tuesday, November 12, 13

2. FLIGHT PLAN
Background and Introduction
Operations
Retention
Challenges
Recruiting
Tuesday, November 12, 13

3. MY BACKGROUND
Started flying ultralights in 1991, hang gliders in 1993
and sailplanes in 2008
~650 hours in sailplanes
400+ hours in the Duo, coaching.
Current President of the CCSC in Avenal
Tuesday, November 12, 13

4. CLUB HISTORY
2008
~35 Members
~15 Active
3 private ships used regularly
2013
~60 Members
~50 Active
11 private ships used regularly
2 glider hangars built
4 private glider partnerships
Tuesday, November 12, 13

5. C L O U D S M A R K I N G T H E R M A L S O N A S P R I N G D AY
Also indicative of a strong convergence line over the mountains
Tuesday, November 12, 13

6. IT’S A BUSINESS
Does the club make money?
Why Not?
CCSC has about $15k in fixed costs
32 members to break even @ $40/mnth
If you don’t have any unexpected expenses
You will have unexpected expenses
Recurring revenue is key
Tuesday, November 12, 13

7. CHURN
10-15% churn seems pretty normal
Lose a few long time members every year
Gain new blood, new energy
Lose a few trial members
Embrace churn, structure for it.
Collect dues up front
Tuesday, November 12, 13

8. MEETINGS
Don’t have them
OK, have the minimum required
Have BBQs
Have Beer
Have educational sessions with coffee when the
weather sucks
Have FUN!
Tuesday, November 12, 13

9. TRANSPARENCY
Kill the insider deals, everyone pays the same
Get everything out in the open
Eliminate opportunity for animosity
Everyone gets an opinion
Each opinion isn’t weighted the same
Someone has to own the decisions
Tuesday, November 12, 13

10. J E L LY F I S H C L O U D
Notice how low cloudbase is in the background on the west side of the convergence.
Tuesday, November 12, 13

11. CLUBS ARE SOCIAL
Embrace the social nature of clubs
It won’t always be about flying
Some people will rarely fly, keep it fun for them
Work days, training days, auto tows, winch launches,
water balloon drops
Have someone coordinate social activities
Tuesday, November 12, 13

12. SHARE THE LOAD
Many hands make small work
Clubs are volunteer, don’t expect commercial ops
Strive for Commercial Ops quality
This is the hardest part of a culture to shift
We are still working on this one.
Tuesday, November 12, 13

13. TECHNOLOGY
Digital Community - bring people together virtually
HGCGroup, Williams Today, Email lists
Publish Flight Reports, Weather Forecasts, Activities
Blog based website. Update it! Show activity.
Install webcams at the field
Leverage cloud tech like Google Docs to share and
collaborate.
Tuesday, November 12, 13

14. SHARE KNOWLEDGE
Everyone can be a teacher at some level
Use two-place ships to foster XC
Show people what they can look forward to
Reignite passions for experienced pilots
Weather education
XC Soaring
Checkride Preparation
Tuesday, November 12, 13

15. PROVIDE INSTRUCTION
Provide a path to a Certificate
Help your instructors be efficient
Mentor new club members
Offload non-CFIG tasks to other members
Keep instruction affordable
Offer scholarships
Tuesday, November 12, 13

16. O N O U R WAY T O 1 7 , 9 9 9
Pre-frontal wave out of Avenal, November 2010
Tuesday, November 12, 13

17. CHALLENGES
Change is painful
Volunteer orgs require a lot of work and energy
Negative people will try to drag you in to their world
Airplanes break, get damaged. Downtime sucks.
You may have to change directions multiple times
Always be looking for new members, new instructors
Tuesday, November 12, 13

18. ELIMINATE
Negativity. Naysaying
Waste and inefficiency, run it like a business
Sweating the small stuff
Commercial Expectations
Tuesday, November 12, 13

19. ITERATE AND IMPROVE
Resist the temptation to boil the ocean
Pick one thing to change. See that succeed
Change, Evaluate, Learn, repeat
Eliminate the drag around having fun
Tuesday, November 12, 13

20. LEADERSHIP
Takes a lot of energy, it will take all you can give
You will burn out, find people to help
Acknowledge contributions and contributors
Lead by example
Accept failures
Expect casualties - you will lose members due to
changes
Tuesday, November 12, 13

21. 20,000FT OVER MINDEN, NV
Sierra Wave day. Lift to 28,000+
Tuesday, November 12, 13

22. MYTHS
Youth Participation is Critical
Youth are a long game
Support youth programs, Treat it as a loss leader though
10-20 years before they are likely to be active members
Start with a kid, hook a parent
Soaring is Very Expensive
Nonsense, it’s just pretty damn expensive
Soaring is a cheap fix by general aviation standards
Soaring is in Decline
Not at Avenal or Santa Ynez
Lot’s of power pilots looking to keep flying or have more fun flying.
Tuesday, November 12, 13

23. CONVERSION RATE
# people who look versus join your club
5% is awesome, it feels terrible though
Reset your frame of reference
Set low expectations for events like “airport days” or
airshows. You’ll feel better and have more fun.
Tuesday, November 12, 13

24. FINDING NEW MEMBERS
Find people already passionate about flying
Power, Paraglider, Hang Glider, Model Airplane pilots
Make it easy to get a demo
Be available, priced reasonable, welcoming
Find people with disposable income
Give talks at groups not associated with aviation
4H, Scout, Rotary and Service Clubs
Tuesday, November 12, 13

25. HARD ACTIONS
Buy a towplane
Buy a Duo/Arcus/DG1000/ASH25
Get your power license and learn to tow
Really Hard Action: Give up a day of soaring to tow
Get your instructor rating and teach people to fly
Drive change in your club to promote growth
Tuesday, November 12, 13

26. EASY ACTIONS
Club Business Cards - $5 for 250 cards
The Soaring Elevator Pitch.
Have your 30 second enthusiastic pitch about soaring.
Invite people to come out and fly with you.
Take a 2000ft morning tow before you go XC and
introduce a friend to a glider.
Tuesday, November 12, 13

27. Q&A
Thank You
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28. K A R L K U N Z F I N A L 1 3 AT AV E N A L
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29. CENTRAL CALIFORNIA
SOARING CLUB
Private Airfield dedicated to soaring in Avenal, CA
~60 Members $40/monthly dues
Volunteer tow pilot corps using a Cessna 150/150
Instructions, demo flights, tow pilot checkouts
Year round soaring, great atmosphere, inexpensive
membership
Aerotow, Auto-tow and (soon) Winch Launches
Tuesday, November 12, 13

30. 8 0 0 0 O V E R T H E PA C I F I C F R O M S A N TA Y N E Z
Tuesday, November 12, 13

31. SANTA YNEZ
SBSoaring.com
New Operation replacing Windhaven
Rides and private Tows
2 pawnees, 1 L23 and 1 2-32
Winter thermals, summer convergence, Wave, get
your diamond below 18000!
Currently Operating Weekends
Tuesday, November 12, 13