[Chapter-delegates] LoA for good or bad?

[Ted Mooney]

Klaus and John,

The discussion regarding the value to and from individual ISOC members is a very interesting and important one.  There are logical arguments for directing resources to increase both the quantity and the quality of individual memberships.  This is one of the many areas where chapters are so valuable.  But as I've learned, there are many individual members who chose not to join a chapter for any number of reasons, whose value we must foster and facilitate as we try to do for chapters.  I don't believe that membership quality vs. quantity is an either/or trade-off. Resources need to be balanced to address both. 

The more ISOC members, the greater is the recognition for our mission and values.  If an individual joined for a single event or issue, it is all our jobs, I believe, to demonstrate how the wealth  ISOC activities, projects and structures support many interest areas and are deserving of on-going support.  But even if a part of our overall membership is crowd-sourced for one special project then disperses like a flash-mob, that's still OK.  I don't think of The Internet Society as a club so much as a movement.  And the more adherents to our movement we enlist, the greater the movement's  voice and the more likely its success.

Ted
 
Ted Mooney
Sr. Director - Membership & Services
The Internet Society
www.isoc.org
 
Direct Line: 703.439.2774
Cell:           301.980.6446
 

 

-----Original Message-----
From: chapter-delegates-bounces at elists.isoc.org [mailto:chapter-delegates-bounces at elists.isoc.org] On Behalf Of Klaus Birkenbihl
Sent: Friday, March 23, 2012 11:16 AM
To: John More
Cc: chapter-delegates at elists.isoc.org
Subject: Re: [Chapter-delegates] LoA for good or bad?


John More wrote on 2012-03-23 15:42:
> A membership organization with 30,000 plus members scattered across the globe cannot be run as if it were a local organization with members involved in all aspects of the organization.

Are there 30,000? We all know how these 30,000 have been generated.
And frankly I wonder about the value of a huge membership with merely no influence, no contributions, nor real knowledge about goals and mission. I see an incredible number of applications for ISOC.DE
(~250/year) via AMS. Once I tell them "we would be happy to see you join and support us, and please note that we require a member fee to do our work" 2/year come back. Maybe what we should go for is commitment and contributions rather than huge numbers.

Klaus


--
Klaus Birkenbihl
Internet Society German Chapter e.V. (ISOC.DE) c/o ict-Media GmbH http://www.isoc.de/