About four years ago when I became really active in our chapter, I had pretty big ambitions for us.  A chapter hangar topped the list along with regional fly-ins and a bulging membership roster.  Those are still things I'd love to see happen, but my expectations are a bit more reasonable these days.  I'm pleased with much of what we've accomplished in the past four years, and under the heading of "if it ain't broke don't fix it", I can't see any reason for us to make any major changes in 2004.  Still, it's a good time to review our chapter - especially what we are good at.  I'll submit these items for your consideration:

Chapter Growth - We have grown from 50 members in 2000, to 59 members in 2001, 71 members in 2002, and we will end this year at 74 members.  That's a 48% growth in three years.  In a time when many chapters are doing well to hold steady, and many more are losing members, this is a good thing.  We obviously can't maintain this kind of growth rate, but adding three to five new members (net) each year is important to the chapter.

Communication - I think most members will agree that if we are guilty of anything, it's over communicating.  Troy has done an excellent job with the newsletter this year and e-mail has made everything much easier.  Getting the newsletter out early in the month and following up with e-mails, along with posting news items and photos on the web site, will continue to be our primary means of communicating with our members in 2004.

Meeting Mix - The mix of technical and social meetings is apparently a good one.  I have to admit that I've been advocating mostly technical meetings for quite a while, but have become convinced that six technical meetings and six social meetings each year works out well for us.  To punctuate the point, attendance is pretty steady at 25% for technical meetings, 35% for most social meetings, and about 45% for the Harris' watermelon social and the Wedington Woods gathering.  Food = attendance.  Beer = more attendance.  2004 will see the same mix.

More/New Involvement - I tend to fuss a lot that we can't seem to involve more new members.  But when I stop and take note I find that's not really true.  For example, our 2004 Board of Directors included Troy Bates (joined in 2001), Dave Hill (joined in 2002), and Doug Stone (joined in 2001).  Other relatively new members who have been actively involved include Bill Aldrich, Dave Bowman, Rich Rost, and I'm sure there are others I can't think of at the moment.  So we are getting involvement from new members who bring new ideas and renewed energy.  I stand corrected.

Tradition - Sure we want new blood in the chapter, but we need an anchor too.  The traditional Spring picnic, the Huntsville Christmas meeting, more recently the Wedington gathering, the Biscuit and Gravy Fundraiser, and the Harris' watermelon social are all things that define us as a chapter.
 
Young Eagles - As a chapter we've flown almost 1,100 Young Eagles.  Bob Harlan, Berry West, and Bob Kellett have done a tremendous job of coordinating these events.  If you haven't been involved in a Young Eagles event you are missing out!

So as a chapter I think we can hold our heads up and look forward to 2004.  There will undoubtedly be some changes, but I'm confident we'll keep doing the things we're good at.

- Chip