President’s State of the Club Message

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Joined
Jun 20, 2006
Threads
139
Messages
825
Location
Mission Viejo, CA, USA
Okay, yes, I’ll admit it – I’m President again. Even though I’m an elderly man with a poor memory, you apparently don’t feel you have any better choices available. Sound familiar…? Anyway, at our January club meeting I accepted the continuing Presidency with a few caveats, which I’ll outline below; and which you’ll see unfold over the next few meetings. But, to start, I’d like to give a little report on the health of the club (in my opinion, at least).

When I began acting as President in mid-2019, SoCal TLCA had a small core group of long-term members, including even a couple of Charter Members who were still active after starting the club in the late 1980’s. Unfortunately though, the club wasn’t terribly active by 2019. I set some basic goals to try and bring back a level of club enthusiasm. I wanted to get the word out that the club was still active, and that we would have not only monthly meetings, but also monthly club runs.

By 2022, we were averaging 15-20 club members at each meeting. We had runs scheduled for almost every month (except December, because of the busy holiday period). We’ve had between 6-22 rigs attending each club run over the last couple of years, with an average of 10-12 vehicles. And, most importantly, we were attracting a new generation of Toyota off-road enthusiasts! Our members come from as far away as Long Beach and Pasadena in north Los Angeles County to south Orange County. Based on the above information, we have what I would consider to be about 50 “active” club members (meaning you attend at least a few meetings and/or a few club runs or activities every year, and are current on your annual dues).

I put a lot of energy, thought, and time into making this the same great club that welcomed me as a new member in 2006. I scheduled club runs, and attended most of them, often acting as Trail Leader. I put together and maintained a Club Directory for those interested in sharing their contact information. I collected information to order club t-shirts, ordered them, and then sold them. I planned and organized our annual Holiday parties and Beach parties. I think my efforts paid off, and I hope you agree! Unfortunately, because of some very welcome changes in my life (grandkids!) I can’t sustain that same level of effort into the future. So, the Presidency will have to change.

For 2024, as President I will:

  • Chair the monthly club meetings
  • Send out the Club Newsletter with any pertinent information that I receive (run reports, meeting reports, run reminders, etc…) from club members
  • Post meeting reminders on our IH8MUD Clubhouse page
  • Submit our annual “Club-in-good-standing” form to TLCA.
If we want the club to offer more than that, then club members will need to volunteer to help in those areas that interest them. For instance, if we want to do monthly club runs, someone will need to volunteer as Club Run Coordinator to schedule the runs and secure a trail leader for each run. If we want an annual Beach Party, someone will need to volunteer to plan and execute the party. The same for our annual Holiday Party. And, for any and all the other things that we want to have as a club (directory, t-shirts, club flags/banners, etc…), we will need volunteers for those items. PLEASE NOTE: VOLUNTEERING TO COORDINATE DOESN’T MEAN YOU HAVE TO DO IT ALL! If we all participate, and are willing to share the work, we can continue to have an awesome club. I urge you to think about how you can do your part!

Thanks!
 
Man can I relate to that! I am also president of Beach N Toy's again, I guess I didn't do a bad enough job last year ;).

One thing BnT started doing, gosh, over 12 years ago now, is getting as many runs on the books in January as we could and then assigning run leaders to each. That way we could claim the weekends before our wives did while spreading out the workload. It's worked well to keep the runs going. We are getting more active in social media which required someone much more savvy than me to do it.

We also struggle to attract new and younger members. I turned 50 last year. It hasn't helped that the 200 sold so poorly for it's run and that 100's just don't seem to attract off roaders the way 80's, etc... seem to do. Additionally, many of the older more iconic vehicles are moving or have moved out of their "prime" into classic status. And then there is the reality that we have to compete with Tacoma / 4runner clubs as well as general offroading sites, it's not the easiest environment in which to grow. Hopefully the new LC helps to change this. We are also updating our logo to better reflect that we are a Toyota 4x4 club, not just a Land Cruiser club.

Frank
 
Man can I relate to that! I am also president of Beach N Toy's again, I guess I didn't do a bad enough job last year ;).

One thing BnT started doing, gosh, over 12 years ago now, is getting as many runs on the books in January as we could and then assigning run leaders to each. That way we could claim the weekends before our wives did while spreading out the workload. It's worked well to keep the runs going. We are getting more active in social media which required someone much more savvy than me to do it.

We also struggle to attract new and younger members. I turned 50 last year. It hasn't helped that the 200 sold so poorly for it's run and that 100's just don't seem to attract off roaders the way 80's, etc... seem to do. Additionally, many of the older more iconic vehicles are moving or have moved out of their "prime" into classic status. And then there is the reality that we have to compete with Tacoma / 4runner clubs as well as general offroading sites, it's not the easiest environment in which to grow. Hopefully the new LC helps to change this. We are also updating our logo to better reflect that we are a Toyota 4x4 club, not just a Land Cruiser club.

Frank
Thanks for the feedback, Frank. I really like the idea of planning the year, and then filling in the blanks.

Fortunately, one of our newer and younger members volunteered to handle our Instagram account. Have you seen it (@socaltlca)? He’s doing a great job with it. And, it took a little weight off of me. We’ve been fortunate to have attracted a few younger members. That’s another reason why thy club runs are so important to me. If we don’t “do stuff”, we don’t give them any reason to join. Kicking tires and shooting the breeze at club meetings works fine for some, but it’s not a good growth strategy.

As to the vehicles, I personally think Toyota has abandoned our market niche (capable vehicles straight from the factory floor), and there are only so many on the used market.
 

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