President's Perspective
Growth: Whose responsibility is it?
The value of any activity will be appraised, in large part, by the rate at which it is growing or declining. There is a saying in Business 101 that goes something like, "a business is either growing, or it is dying."
In model aviation, unlike most other industries, the industry has traditionally relied on the organization of its customers for most of the promotion and growth of the activity. There are exceptions where the industry did some promotional work, but even most of that involved the industry helping modelers run programs. The industry looked to AMA, and the AMA looked to its clubs, and the clubs looked to their members. This has historically worked very well; aeromodeling grew into the sport/hobby it is today. In fact, it may have worked too well.
As aeromodeling has grown, it has also changed in character. The changes, which have occurred slowly and subtly, have affected the modeling public as well as the industry. Those changes have had a profound effect on your organization, the AMA. Aeromodeling has shifted from an activity that was primarily scientific and competitive to one that is primarily recreational and social.
The majority of aeromodelers today are far more interested in flying models than building them. The industry has catered to that interest by introducing more prefabrication in its kits, and more and more ARFs are being sold. Contests, once the mainstay of the aeromodeling scene, are being replaced by fly-ins and fun-flys. A very large portion of our membership now buys models in a manner similar to buying a skateboard or a personal watercraft — as a recreational device. Gone are the days when the average aeromodeler would spend hundreds of hours building his pride and joy.
The industry has also changed considerably. Although there are exceptions, the days of the mom-and-pop hobby business have gone the way of the Cleveland kit. Today the business is dominated by a few large companies that run their operations like any other business. This is not necessarily a bad thing; in fact, we enjoy many benefits as a result. The products we can buy today are far more advanced than those of the "old days," and are not unreasonably priced.
A large portion of the products we purchase are aimed at the general consuming public — the large market of beginners. Admittedly, they are almost all R/C, although even the purist areas of FF and CL are affected. This flood of good products has resulted in growth beyond our imagination, as well as beyond our ability to cope.
All of these new customers have been dropped onto a network of clubs, with not the least consideration of how they are to be taught to fly and who will do this. Most clubs were thrilled to get more members involved and eagerly set up training programs. Clubs grew to the point that they became overwhelmed with members; many put limits on membership in order to survive.
AMA reaped many benefits from this growth. Our membership grew from about 55,000 in the late '70s to 170,000 in 1993, and then started to fall off. During that time, we were able to create a permanent home for aeromodeling in Muncie and to see the association cement itself into a reasonably financially secure position. That's a far cry from the 1960s, when the AMA was on the brink of bankruptcy and only a "dump the deficit" campaign by the very industry we now speak of saved the organization. Now the membership numbers are declining slowly, and the industry is complaining about the lack of growth.
Whose responsibility is growth? The industry is looking to us for programs that would enhance such growth, as they have in the past. It would certainly be in the best interest of the AMA as an organization if we were to grow, but what about the members? After all, the AMA is an organization of members, and as such should reflect the desires of its members.
I am not sure that the average AMA member today is concerned about the growth of the hobby. In fact, I am reasonably sure he or she doesn't care. As an organization, the AMA and the industry have a common interest in seeing the activity grow. In this sense, the AMA and the industry have more in common than the AMA and a large portion of its own membership. The typical AMA member is rightfully interested in what AMA is doing for him, not what AMA is doing for aeromodeling.
So the question remains: who is responsible for growth? I'd guess that we all share in that responsibility, with each element needing to try to understand the other's perspective.
- The industry needs to understand that AMA is primarily a consumer group whose responsibility is to its members first — and that most of those members do not see expansion as a primary benefit to them.
- AMA members need to understand that growth is important and that almost anything that strengthens the AMA will indirectly benefit them in their ability to pursue their hobby.
- The AMA, as an organization, needs to balance activities that benefit the organization with those that directly benefit its members.
- We all need to recognize that what is right isn't always what is popular, and what is popular isn't always what is right.
Clarification
A point of clarification: the April E.C. minutes showed the approval of a motion to establish a fund for new product review. That motion was easily misunderstood. The intent was to cover the costs of purchasing equipment and inventory, as well as the costs of preparing a location for the production of merchandise items for sale by the AMA — items such as shirts and hats. This plan, when in operation, will be just one of the steps we are taking to reduce our dependence on dues income.
Till next month,
Dave Brown AMA President
Transcribed from original scans by AI. Minor OCR errors may remain.
