33 replies to this topic

[mobile]

David Ahrens, on 04 October 2011 - 19:18 PM, said:

I find it rather funny that the two people that have the most to say on this subject had no intention whatsever of going to the meeting.
Phil's main point was that people are always moaning about meetings being in the South. When you have a meeting north of the Waford Gap Services, hardly anyone turned up.

Those two people are trying to point out that the possible reason for people not attending was due to the lack of publicity of the event, not due to the change of location. Are you saying that the only people interested in such an event are in the south and so the lack of attendance was because they didn't want to travel, else where were all the people who normally attend?

[David Ahrens]

Unfortunately, this is you all the way Mobile. You sit there on your Scottish peninsular having a go at everything that everybody says.
Why don't you buy some shares in Shell and go to Oil Week ?  and do something constructive.

[mobile]

I was being constructive in offering a possible reason for people not attending. I have also offered assistance to the CPS on more than one occasion. I don't criticise everyone. Why would I wish to purchase shares in Shell and attend Oil Week, how would that be constructive to a subject about lack of attendance of a CPS event?

[manders]

David Ahrens, on 04 October 2011 - 19:18 PM, said:

I find it rather funny that the two people that have the most to say on this subject had no intention whatsever of going to the meeting.
Phil's main point was that people are always moaning about meetings being in the South. When you have a meeting north of the Waford Gap Services, hardly anyone turned up. I didn't go, I had the VAT to do and fuel is getting prohibitively expensive. Anyway, I don't moan about the meetings, I usually just go to them.
I had visions of there being a big motorway pile up near the meeting then being taken to Smethwick hospital. I could see me waking up in the hospital and saying
"Nurse, have I come here to die ?" and she replying
"No, you came here yesterdie"

Well, do you really want to know why i have a lot to say about it?  In 30 years ive had very little opportunity to attend anything arranged by the CPS as its allways been down south.  I regularly attend orchid society meetings in the northwest so why would I not attend a CPS meeting if the opportunity arose?  your assumption that i wouldn't attend given an opportuniy is rather presumptive and simply incorrect.

I'm sure the core nucleus of the cps dont understand why attendance was poor but being the core nucleus they would be naturally be aware of meetings dates and locations.  The members on the periphery, ie myself for one, do not pay close attention as its typically irrelevant to us.

To attract peripheral members you have to put more effort into promotion, it's not a 'field of dreams' where simply building it attracts people automatically.

I also took the trouble to show this thread to a high ranking professional in marketing and get their feedback and their comments were a lot stronger than mine.

Maybe you disagree, thats your privelidge, but i can assure you that this event was not well publicised given that you had made the change in location.  I would hate to go down the road of thinking that it was deliberately not well publicised, i'm sure that is not the case.

There's no need to feel so protective of the cps, the comments are meant to be constructive and aimed at helping for the next meeting/event, if you are openminded you will see that. I really look forward to one day being able to attend a meeting.

The CPS can either learn from this or not, its upto you.

[pwilson]

David Ahrens, on 04 October 2011 - 19:18 PM, said:

I find it rather funny that the two people that have the most to say on this subject had no intention whatsever of going to the meeting.
Phil's main point was that people are always moaning about meetings being in the South. When you have a meeting north of the Waford Gap Services, hardly anyone turned up. I didn't go, I had the VAT to do and fuel is getting prohibitively expensive. Anyway, I don't moan about the meetings, I usually just go to them.
I had visions of there being a big motorway pile up near the meeting then being taken to Smethwick hospital. I could see me waking up in the hospital and saying
"Nurse, have I come here to die ?" and she replying
"No, you came here yesterdie"

Oh come one Dave. You could have got a train from London to Birmingham, done your VAT on the train and claimed the travelling as expenses. Plus you would be less likely to have ended up in Smethwick hospital.

At one point Dennis thought he saw you in the car park anyway. Which leads me to one of two conclusions. Either you got to the show and thought better of it in the car park. Or you have a double in Birmingham. I think the latter is infintely more disturbing...

Phil

[pwilson]

manders, on 05 October 2011 - 04:32 AM, said:

Well, do you really want to know why i have a lot to say about it?  In 30 years ive had very little opportunity to attend anything arranged by the CPS as its allways been down south.  I regularly attend orchid society meetings in the northwest so why would I not attend a CPS meeting if the opportunity arose?  your assumption that i wouldn't attend given an opportuniy is rather presumptive and simply incorrect.

I'm sure the core nucleus of the cps dont understand why attendance was poor but being the core nucleus they would be naturally be aware of meetings dates and locations.  The members on the periphery, ie myself for one, do not pay close attention as its typically irrelevant to us.

To attract peripheral members you have to put more effort into promotion, it's not a 'field of dreams' where simply building it attracts people automatically.

I also took the trouble to show this thread to a high ranking professional in marketing and get their feedback and their comments were a lot stronger than mine.

Maybe you disagree, thats your privelidge, but i can assure you that this event was not well publicised given that you had made the change in location.  I would hate to go down the road of thinking that it was deliberately not well publicised, i'm sure that is not the case.

There's no need to feel so protective of the cps, the comments are meant to be constructive and aimed at helping for the next meeting/event, if you are openminded you will see that. I really look forward to one day being able to attend a meeting.

The CPS can either learn from this or not, its upto you.

Meetings only happen where there are local people to organise them. That is why traditionally CPS meetings have been held in the south. Because we had the location and we had local people to organise them. It's as simple as that. Ideally we'd love to have meetings at one of the botanical gardens but the cost is prohibitive. Unfortunately the days when we used to be able to get cheap or free rooms and free entrance for the membership attending, are long gone. Nowadays institutions are more interestested in organising corporate conferences...

We have tried to organise meetings north of the Watford Gap before but there just has not been anyone willing to do the ground work. As far as I know there still is no one willing to do the dirty work. You see members only get out of a society what they are prepared to put in. It's easy to criticise but as we've seen with the CPS website, when it really comes down to action, it becomes very quiet suddenly...

And for what it's worth, I used to be a member of the British Tarantula Society and the International Herpetological Society, both who held all or nearly all their national meetings in the north!

Phil

[Ian Salter]

We certainly all learn from these experiences.
What it seems easy to forget is that all the Committee members are working on a voluntary basis with no apparent benafits to themselves (or often thanks), and not trained in marketing let alone anything else other than the attributes they have and the willingness to help.
Of course constructive comments are always helpful particularly when they are before an event, unfortunately most seem to come after the event.
The CPS used to be much more about a combined effort of Committee and members, Committee doing their part and members doing theirs like sending in seed and articles for the publications and assisting at events.
The seed bank is severely lacking donations of seed (probably the same seed being pedalled on ebay). Seed donations are needed and greatfully received from non CPS members too (HINT!)
Members make a small donation that seems to be read as a fee for an expected service and the consensus may be "Why should I pay £x amount to only get a bit of seed and two journals etc." The CPS can only be as strong as its members and will not get stronger without support.
And for those of you who think "well they chose to do it" where will we be if they didn't?
Ian.

[manders]

With all due respect, the last two responses are irrelevant.  You wanted to know why people probably didn't turn up and you've been told.  Learn from it or not, upto you.

BTW, if you want someone to book a venue in Cheshire or a little further north I could arrange it.

[pwilson]

manders, on 05 October 2011 - 10:34 AM, said:

With all due respect, the last two responses are irrelevant.  You wanted to know why people probably didn't turn up and you've been told.  Learn from it or not, upto you.

BTW, if you want someone to book a venue in Cheshire or a little further north I could arrange it.

I've already pointed out that you are wrong and to be honest I'm not sure that there is any point in taking the issue further is there. We will never agree.

I am trying to take this thread in a more constructive direction. If you don't want to follow then that's fair enough. The response to Dave's post was an attempt at humour.

If you want to organise a meeting in Cheshire then you need to contact Dianne, who is our meetings organiser. You can do this via the CPS website or PM me and I will pass on her email address. Cheshire is a bit too far for me to travel so I won't be able to make it of course.

Phil

[Tim Bailey]

Dear all

It looks like we've just about come to an end on this. The CPS thought it was enough to make a post in the Open Days & Events page on the Forum (End of Season Meeting) and to email members for which we had an email address for).  Before the meeting well over 300 visits had been made to the Open Day & Events posting, giving a sense of security that we were reaching members. We were unable to put it in the Spring 2011 Planta Carnivora as an appropriate venue and date was not available, and so we had to give a TBA.

Some of the problem is the symptomatic failing of the CPS website which is simply not being visited, but which is being addressed with a major investment. It would also be helpful for the CPS to have all members, if they have one, email address so we can more widely post alerts - which is down to us.

Members have become highly conditioned to the southern meeting bias and members in other parts of the country have not grown the CPS meeting habit as a result, which the CPS need to work on.

It would have been helpful to have an 'in your face' posting on the Forums beforehand, but short of telephoning members or sending out an extra posting it is difficult to see what more could have been done on this occasion.

To resolve the problem for next time, it is important to get a venue and date fixed to go in the Spring 2012 Planta Carnivora (and hope we can get speakers to match), to make good use of the new CPS website and to advertise more strongly on the Forums, etc. There will be other ways too we can explore.

Members need to play their part too, by shaking off this conditioned apathy and to check the events going on in their area on a regular bases - and make it a habit. We will play our part in that too.

What's good to hear is that members who have commented recognise that the Committee members have put a huge amount of work into this meeting and to putting it on elsewhere in the country. For my part the Committee are a dream to work with and we are working hard together as one to bring about all the improvements needed. It is a shared ambition to make radical improvements and to have most of them in place before next Spring. You have already seen this with Planta Carnivora, EEE Chester Zoo, media promotion of our hobby/CPS (some going unseen at the moment), merchandise, events, conservation (which we will report on soon), seed bank, question to Committee members being answered quickly, etc.  More will follow with the new website....., and more besides.

I would like to thank Vic Brown on behalf of the membership for giving an excellent talk at the meeting, and to pass on my thanks for all the constructive feedback members have given in recent times (including on this topic).

So here's to an even better 2012.

My best wishes to you all

Tim

Tim Bailey
CPS Chairman and Publications Editor

Edited by Tim Bailey, 05 October 2011 - 14:01 PM.

[manders]

pwilson, on 05 October 2011 - 10:58 AM, said:

I've already pointed out that you are wrong and to be honest I'm not sure that there is any point in taking the issue further is there. We will never agree.

Phil

Fine, that makes at least 3 of us that are wrong, it's good to know your listening to your members!

[pwilson]

manders, on 05 October 2011 - 13:58 PM, said:

Fine, that makes at least 3 of us that are wrong, it's good to know your listening to your members!

Thanks for your help.

Phil

[Alexis]

Maybe Tim's reasoned post should be the last word on the matter.

[mobile]

Alexis, on 05 October 2011 - 14:36 PM, said:

Maybe Tim's reasoned post should be the last word on the matter.

Agreed. Topic locked.