Any interest in forming local 914World Chapters?, One Lesson Learned from European 914 clubs |
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Any interest in forming local 914World Chapters?, One Lesson Learned from European 914 clubs |
JeffBowlsby |
Jul 3 2014, 09:55 PM
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#1
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914 Wiring Harnesses Group: Members Posts: 8,663 Joined: 7-January 03 From: San Ramon CA Member No.: 104 Region Association: None |
My recent visit to the 914 International meet in Italy opened my eyes to some interesting differences in the 914 communities here in the USA vs Europe. I had the great pleasure of meeting and spending a few days with our very own Gustl, Johannes, Peter and many others with the 914-passion and I think that common bond is an aspect of 914 ownership that most of us are interested in. 914s are not just about the cars – its about the people.
Europe is roughly ¼ the size of the USA, and they have multiple local 914-dedicated clubs mostly organized by country – 914 clubs exist in Germany, France, Italy, England, etc. These clubs meet from time to time locally to network, socialize and promote the 914 hobby in their regions (check out their individual websites). Once a year they all get together for a major high quality International 914 event somewhere in Europe. The International meet is always well attended (limited to 100 914s and their owners!), booked/paid a year in advance, and is hosted in a different country (by the local 914 club) each year on a rotating basis. It has official support from Porsche. The European approach is very supportive, and non-competitive in the negative sense. In the USA, we have no organized, local 914-dedicated clubs. We have no regularly (monthly-quarterly-ish) organized local 914 events. We have no annual USA National 914 event. Europe has nothing like our 914world.com forums…in a literal sense, 914world.com is THE international 914 Forum because we have many international members here. I would like to see if we can increase international participation on the forum in the future. The USA is much larger geographically than Europe which is a challenge for holding larger national events. PCA, SCCA, and similar groups are good events for some, and not that we want to withdraw from those, but they are not an ultimate 914 venue for most of us. Thanks to the camaraderie on this Forum, we do have a series of what I will characterize as fairly regular, regional, moderate-sized events that are always fun – Red Rocks, WCR, ECR, Okteenerfest, etc. Some locales have sporadic informal 914 breakfasts, drives etc. Only when someone volunteers to host an event does it happen – I think we as 914 Owners could all really benefit with better organization and regional leadership. New 914 owners need a venue to hang out face to face, and long-time owners can share their experiences. A real world, local, in person, ‘914 Garage’ experience is one of the great things about our community. My idea is that we form local/regional 914World Chapters to generally help better organize us and promote the 914 ownership experience on multiple levels. 914World.com will always be our playhouse. None of us wants a dues paying, card carrying, rules/regulations format and I don’t propose anything like that. The idea is intended only to be a way for 914 owners to connect locally and informally, and perhaps hold a national event in the future. I don’t see the concept as divisive, but rather as unifying us, prospering the 914 experience and being a supportive environment. What say you? Attached image(s) |
JeffBowlsby |
Jul 5 2014, 03:49 PM
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#2
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914 Wiring Harnesses Group: Members Posts: 8,663 Joined: 7-January 03 From: San Ramon CA Member No.: 104 Region Association: None |
Not sure of the impetus behind the European clubs…we can only guess. Hopefully someone from Europe will speak to that. I can imagine it has a lot to do with the individual country, cultural or regional identity, language and just the convenience of local groups.
The idea of forming local chapters is not to detract from our common identity with 914world…it is to reinforce our unity by just creating a slightly more organized presence on the local level in support of 914world. Like the “un-Cola”, 914world is the “un-Organization” of the 914 ownership experience and I think I am reading that we want this great thing we have to grow and prosper. Growth is important if we are to flourish. Or we can remain static, or eventually allow it to die off. We have to make the choice and that decision reflects our level of commitment. I am not seeing any need for adding any additional layers of “rules”, “membership fees”, monthly newsletters, membership cards, funky handshakes, club tats or anything like that. No “reporting back to National” or club hazing requirements. No separate local club website. As currently, any costs for events are only one time flow-through costs related to the event. Some of the driving events I have been on have signed waivers, not a big deal. As has been pointed out, we already have some informal local groups that have been pretty effective in holding local events. Teener Tuesday, all the regional things – WCR, ECR, MUSR, Okteenerfest, Red Rocks…these are all terrific and should/will continue. The personal relationships already established should not change because someone belongs to one chapter and not another. There will be no requirement for requesting a chapter membership change. In fact any visiting emissary from another chapter is a perfect excuse to call an impromptu meeting, if nothing else for the photo-op. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/wink.gif) My initial thoughts are that we can first identify regions for chapters, pick a name for the chapter, and then identify a minimum 2-person volunteer co-leadership team for each chapter to share the responsibility. The chapter leaders can generate an annual plan for their chapter to get together, determine and publish dates in advance on 914world.com, and coordinate with venues when needed. That’s about all. Many of us here have put low-key events together in the past, its easy and does not take too much time to coordinate a breakfast, a pleasure drive to a destination, or a group attendance at an interesting event. Its just that usually no one does it, or when it does happen its at the last minute. We can do a lot better than that with a little effort in preplanning. If we don’t plan anything, nothing will ever get done and we will not grow. The local chapter can determine their own schedule and set their own pace depending on their needs and interests, it just takes someone to lead, and a little organization and forethought to make it a greater experience for one and all. I don’t think it needs any more formality than that. We will all be inspired to see what the other chapter events are about when we see the photos posted. Several individuals have already stepped forward in this thread supporting the idea of getting better organized, in being leaders, and that is encouraging. I think it will be important to have at least 2 people as co-leaders, to spread the responsibility around and not be a burden on any one person. I am reading a generally positive interest in moving forward, and the cautious concerns about too much organization are also not only appreciated but respected and mutually shared. What I get from the spirit of the responses in this thread is that we are all generally interested in the same thing. |
Gustl |
Jul 6 2014, 12:17 AM
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#3
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914 enthusiast & historian Group: Members Posts: 11,618 Joined: 16-June 04 From: TIROL / Austria Member No.: 2,212 Region Association: Austria |
Not sure of the impetus behind the European clubs…we can only guess. Hopefully someone from Europe will speak to that. I can imagine it has a lot to do with the individual country, cultural or regional identity, language and just the convenience of local groups. Of course, I can only speak for Austria - and maybe a little bit for Germany, but from my best knowlege it's just the same for all over Europe. At this part of the world, we have several clubs for everything. Every smallest village has numerous clubs for sports, cultural things, communal things, religious things, agricultural things and all other hobby related things. I live in a village of 15,000 inhabitants and we have 116 different officially registered clubs only in this village. It's a historical grown thing, that has to do with mostly social aspects. Persons who share the same hobby organize themself in a club ... There are several laws in my country, that only deal with this club thing. I don't know all details, but officially registered clubs have to follow some rules, but also have some benefits against other groups that "just" share the same hobby (but are not officially registered). Has something to do with the general public acceptance and furthermore with some financial aspects (officially registered clubs get easier support from the community, for example). A short summary might say, the club thing is about doing things together (in a kind of organised way) instead of doing it alone ... (IMG:style_emoticons/default/biggrin.gif) |
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