[SECC] SECC: Changes?

[Kent McCorkle]

Just a few words regarding the current controversy over what the SECC should or should not be.    

What is the real problem that the SECC is facing?  The only one that I've seen mentioned is lack of participation.  I'm a believer in identifying and then correcting the root causes of issues, rather than taking a shot-gun approach to problem solving.

I fail to see the linkage between rewriting by-laws and membership requirements and increasing levels of participation. 

While I'm confident that all of the well-known, well-established contest clubs are excellently run organizations, I don't believe that they were the model that the founders of the SECC had in mind when they created our club.  Personally, I don't see any compelling reason to attempt to re-create ourselves in their image.

Rather than attempting to rebuild the club from the ground up, I'd recommend leaving the current infrastructure in place and focusing on increasing participation in contests by all of the current membership.  We have a fairly large membership roster.  Unfortunately, I don't work or hear that many of those stations during contests.   

I'd recommend that we focus our attention on contacting and then encouraging increased levels of participation from the silent majority on our membership roster.

I love contesting.  I'm never going to win one, but I just can't resist jumping in and making a couple of hundred contacts when one is on.  I've always thought that it would be great to be associated with a contest club so that I could combine my scores with those of others for the sake of club competition.  When I discovered the SECC, I joined immediately.  It was exactly what I was looking for.

If the by-laws of the SECC were to be modified requiring attendance at meetings, I would probably fail to qualify for continued membership.  It's not that I'm opposed to meetings or am anti-social, it's just that I (like many of you) have family, work, and other commitments that keep me very busy.  Shame on me, but I haven't been to a hamfest in years for this same reason.  

Regardless of where these discussions lead, I will continue to participate in contests.  I'd like very much to continue to do so as a member of the SECC as it existed when I joined. 


Kent, AE4Y