Feedback From Club Members

[Austin-Rover]

After a bit of a chat with other club members, we were discussing the club in general and wondered if we could get any feedback from the committee about some of the things we have been talking about.

Since the last AGM, we have heard ideas for the future of the club such as an improved regalia section and an online FAQ. Looking at other clubs on the net, particularly the 1100 Club and the Maxi OC the general consensus is that it would not hurt for our club to follow a lead from these two, as they both seem to do particularly well in some areas where it would seem our own club struggles. In particular the 1100 club has a very good regalia section with usual items which seems to sell well at events etc. Those of us who like to keep up to date with the running of the club have not heard much about our own regalia situation for some time and were wondering where the club is up to at the moment with this? The Maxi owners club has a very good internet site – its website is updated very regularly, and its main page always offers something new to visitors at least every month. As far as I can tell, our own club main page has been the same for a few years. Some sections particularly untouched, such as the “show us your cars” feature – which I think would be a great feature if it was updated and refreshed regularly. Our current forums are fantastic, and I don’t know of any other club that has such a successful forum with such a vibrant community. It is a testament to the hard work that goes into it. But it is a shame to see the rest of the site eclipsed by just the forums. Who knows how many people are put off from investigating the club further when they see the same things month after month every time they visit the main areas of the clubs site?

I know it is very easy to sit and offer suggestions to the people running the show, and it is by no way a criticism to the hard work done by everyone to make this club what it is, but it is sometimes frustrating to see the club fall behind in some areas that could be done to such a high standard and really make the Maestro & Montego Owners Club stand out from the crowd in the classic car movement!

It would be nice to hear what the committee has planned for the future and its current ideas.

[D87SMW]

Some interesting points made there about the regalia section and I do agree that some people often don't know much about it.
As I remember, the Regalia page of the website is only accessible by club members isn't it?
A suggestion there may be to actually make the page available for viewing publically rather than just for members who have the password. A further point may be to provide in the members area, a section where regalia items can be bought online?

With regards to the main page and layout of the website, it has remained much the same since about 18 months ago as I remember. It does work well, but I agree that it would be nice to see some amount of change every so often.

This is echoed when speaking in terms of the Your Cars section of the site. Although the Your Maestro section hasn't changed in over a year (despite myself entering an article and images at this time), the Your Montego section saw it's first entry of an article on a lovely Austin Montego 1.3 - sadly this page has been "temporarily removed" and is no longer accessible.

The last AGM saw the entrance of a new place on the committee in the form of Website Assistant I believe, which I thought would have helped keep the website up to date.

As a whole, the Club website does include everything the club has to offer, but since the last update, so much has happened and it would be great to see it reflected in the website itself.

All credit to those who have got us here today, but hopefully we as a club can help to move ourselves forward.

[Guest]

So far as regalia goes, I have got a lot planned in the pipeline, but it all boils down to funds, i.e in order to purchase items and have them made. Suppliers, which I am fine with so far as stickers goes, but now we are branching into other areas, it is becoming hard to find suppliers that are reasonably priced and dont have a huge minimum order quantity.

I have just about got t-shirts sorted, I have been given another supplier to investigate this evening, and a supplier I almost had for mugs turned out to be a complete waste of space.

I do agree, regalia does need updating, and it will happen, but from my point of view, I have to purchase items which

A. You as the club memebers will want to buy
B. I/we as the club can sell on at a reasonable price for that item
C. Somthing that is not going to cripple the club in terms of setup and
purchasing costs
D. Somthing that we won't sell 2 of, and then be left with 198 of them as
they wern't popular.

Basically, whats in the pipeline is t-shirts, tax disc holders, and either pens or mugs. In what order and when though, I can't say at the moment, but I do the best I can in amongst everything else I am doing!!

If anyone has any suggestions for what they would like to see, then add a post on here, as some input from the clubs members as to what they would like, lets me know what you would want to buy, and thus what we can make back on the production costs to make more regalia!

Rich

[D87SMW]

If anyone has any suggestions for what they would like to see, then add a post on here, as some input from the clubs members as to what they would like, lets me know what you would want to buy, and thus what we can make back on the production costs to make more regalia!

Rich

The items you've listed sound great. One item I'd like to suggest is something to store the Monstro mags in. A simple folder with Austin Rover/Club logo on may be an idea.

[e692wtt]

I think the Forum eclipses all else on the website and within the Club, and friends have commented on how good the site is - friends with no interest at all in cars but who are impressed with the lively discussions and debate on the Forums.

Comments about taking the best ideas of other Clubs are interesting... Local Authorities do this, it's called 'Benchmarking' and improves the service offered by all. It's a two way process though.

I think this Club is more web-based than most, and it could be argued that this is more forward-looking than the 'traditional' Club that sends out quarterly magazines and has a telephone helpline.

I also talk to one particular Club Member who is enthusiatic about the Cars, but doesn't have a computer at home (by choice, probably a wise one :laugh: ) who recently wondered if the Great North Run was happening this year (it most certainly is, I am organising it).

I'd buy T-shirts and Polo-shirts with the club badge on, if they were available. My cars get enough positive comments when I drive and park them... Overalls would be even better... what could be better than working on a Maestro or Montego in a set of Club Overalls?

I'd noticed that the Montego 1.3 Base model had disappeared from "Your Cars" too... that's a shame, as I saw the car 'in the flesh' at the Maestro/Montego Birthday Bash in May, and very nice (and rare) it is too...

So let's know what plans there are, please.... I've found the Club, especially the Forums but also the Spares Section extremely useful, and I enjoy helping others on the Forums (we all have to start somewhere!).


Thanks.

[e692wtt]

If anyone has any suggestions for what they would like to see, then add a post on here, as some input from the clubs members as to what they would like, lets me know what you would want to buy, and thus what we can make back on the production costs to make more regalia!

As above, I would buy a T-shirt, Polo-shirt, Overalls... and as Steve Worsley said, a folder with the Club Logo on, and things like that. Heaven knows, most of us have got Maestroitis pretty bad! :laugh:

The idea of T-shirts and polo-shirts was mooted by a Club Member at the overnight camp for MG Saloon Day, and apparently, after around Ł15 for the first T-shirt (and the making of the transfer) it's about Ł5 for subsequent ones, at a Supplier in South Yorkshire. Charge Ł7 + p&p and you're breaking even after 5 sales.

How's about releasing the early Monstros (or, indeed, all of them) as an archive on CD-ROM? Maybe from the start to 2001 then 2002-2004 (alter according to how much memory each Monstro takes :laugh: ), I'm sure there'd be interest in this... *imagines 2 CDs and not a pile of magazines under the bed*


I think the trick is to get people to put money on the table to get an idea of demand... it's easy to get people to promise to buy an item, but if they've forked out then they will collect, and sales are then guaranteed.

[Jonathan]

There are some excellent ideas here. I've got a little bit more time on my hands this week so if anything needs doing now would be a good time! To keep interested parties informed with what's going on:

1. Rich has already given his take on progress with regalia. There's plenty more to do here and there are limitations, but the good news is that we have now added t-shirts and magazine CDs to the range which will expand bit by bit as funds/demand allow.

2. I was only thinking about the situation with the web site the other week - a thriving forum in a site that's otherwise not updated that frequently. I can't offer to update it with new material on a regualr basis because I simply don't have the time to do that. Chris our Assistant Webmaster works more behind the scenes running the server and sorting out all the really techy bits I'll never understand.

So we need YOUR help! I'm looking for regular visitors to this forum/site with a basic knowledge of HTML, a strong enthusiasm for the cars (that's all of us) and something of an interest in writing. You would update one individual section of the site (eg. news) every couple of weeks or so. It really isn't all that difficult. I've noticed that "Blogs" have become popular on many sites nowadays, maybe we could come up with our own equivalent? Ideas & offers of help please!

Over the next few days I'll see if I can look into improving the classifieds, club shop and maybe a few subtle enhancements to the site if time allows.

[e692wtt]

I was at the BMC/BL Rally yesterday, and have now got a Club T-shirt (a tenner)... there are also Sweatshirts available, but I had to give the Magazine CD and Sweatshirt a miss due to having spent up...


Another very positive thing about the Club that I missed on my above posts is the social side... I camped on the Saturday night and had a great time all weekend, as I did on MG Saloon Day and the camping the night before too, and I also thoroughly enjoyed the Great North Run last August too(sort-of adopted by me at the last minute :laugh: ). I'm organising the Great North Run 2004, and expect it to be every bit as good as this weekend was - both the Saturday and Sunday.

The Club pulls together people with common interests, which I think is the very essence of what Classic Cars are about, regardless of Manufacturer.


People often comment that I am 'trapped in the Eighties', so (to reinforce this :laugh: ) *serious question alert* I will ask what HTML stands for?

I could contribute to a blog (but my cars generally behave themselves, so it would be infrequent), and have written for Monstro in the past - it's very satisfying to see your work in print, just like seeing people paying interest in your car at Shows...


There's a lot of interest in our Cars, that was crystal clear at the BMC/BL Rally...

[Beaker]

HTML = Hypertext MarkUp Language.

If you are keen to write, there are ways around the HTML. The content is the hardest part, converting text to HTML and uploading is easy and I am sure someone would be a) willing to teach you or b) upload it for you, if you email the content.

There is some good software round nowadays like Frontpage, where you don't really need to see the HTML content unless you are wanting to do something really fancy. The front end types in just like word, then saves it for you in HTML.

I am good on the techie side, but when it comes to content and writing I am not very good.

[e692wtt]

I've got Frontpage on this computer, along with Word, Excel, blah blah zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz.

It bores me, it really does. I hate the details of computers, but as long as they work, and I can get on t'internet... :laugh: "Set up a webpage" they say. Shall I laugh now?

Anyway, thanks for the reply Skatiechik, I knew Hyper Text figured somewhere, it was the M and L that got me...

I can write good articles, it's just the techie side that leaves me positively icebox (never mind cold :laugh: ). I never bothered with Frontpage, it seemed somehow impotent ...


We've got 'softphones' being introduced at work (they work via the pc). Cue hollow laughter? According to one of the Council (that's where I work) Techies, the takeup of the Instructions off the Council's "Intranet" (ie Internal Internet, for those of use watching in black and white, and that includes me ) is about 30% :laugh: and the launch date is 'imminent'. Voicemail? Me? Don't understand it. Don't get it.

As I will emphasise, it leaves me positively 'Liquid Nitrogen', ie minus a couple of hundred degrees... not merely 'cold' :laugh: .


But if anyone wants insight, poor humour, poor nicknames for E_T_V when he shines a green light in his face (you had to be camping at the BMC/BL Rally to get this one) and mediocre articles, however, I am your man... Now where's my pc's 'notepad'? Blog here we come... I'll send them to Jon, if he wants them... :laugh:

[Guest]

I would be more than happy to help, Jon. I'll send you a PM.

[D87SMW]

Although not a regular visitor , I suppose I could lend a hand also.

Could someone please explain what the term 'blog' means, as it went right over my head...

[Austin-Rover]

Blog = Web Log ( [We]b Log )

[Beaker]

Blog is like a diary of events, your personal views and issues on day-to-day events in the world.

Search Google for a better definition or see the austin-rover resource site for examples.

[Guest]

You can count me in too on this one! I would like to make more of a contribution if I could, although it might be a little sporadic due to having to fight to get to my computer these days (which is illogical because we have three!), and with work commitments as well.....

And everything I write is an essay, as I am sure I have demonstrated in the past! I even have a very sketchy basic knowledge of html as well (it was a few years ago now.....!)

Ricky.