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13_Yachtsman 2015.qxp_Yachtsman Magazine 19/08/2015 4:32 pm Page 54

Membership
Membership Report
By Robert Alder, Rear Commodore Membership
The year has ended very positively, with a record 2057
members of the RPAYC as at the end of April 2015.
Most pleasing was the change in trend in Full Members
which increased from 422 to 425, along with continued
growth in Youth members. The addition of 15 new Full
Members from the total of 31 new members from the
March Sail Expo weekend was a highlight of the year
with the above results emerging from successful
member strategies underpinned by our key focus on
Membership Sustainability and Participation.
Follow up of new members is a key priority for the Membership Committee, and all
Committee members have been diligent in being available for the initial interviews
required for all new members, and then calling new members within 6 months of
them joining RPAYC. Feedback has been that an earlier call or email would be
appreciated, so we will now call new members at the 3 month mark, and ask 4
simple questions: What yacht are you now sailing on at RPAYC?, Are you happy with
your RPAYC experience so far?, Will you renew next year? and “Other” comments or
suggestions for improvement?
Feedback has been excellent from new members, with participation in sailing our
continuing goal, as new members who participate tend to stay and become valuable
long term members. Many useful comments and even some valuable criticisms from
new members (who see things that we 30 year+ members take for granted) and
offer suggestions for improvement based on their experiences elsewhere have been
passed onto Management and our activity leaders and have been actioned for the
benefit of all members. We have revised the interview form this year, and now offer
mentor services to new members in accordance with their priority reasons for joining
RPAYC. The crew experience program, trialled with the Thursday twilights, has now
been successfully extended to the winter Saturday races.
The current strategic plan emphasises growth and retention as the key strategies,
so during March 2015 the Membership Committee met out of session with the
intention of prioritising our goals, both short and longer term, recognising that a
new Strategic Plan was about to be put in place at RPAYC. The goal of the Membership
Committee is to contribute to the Plan’s success, and also devote our always too
limited time as volunteers into areas that create and maintain member benefits for
all members, both new and enduring, and for all categories of the RPAYC. Our main
priorities for 2015/16 have now been agreed to be Participation, new 25-40
participating members, and looking at the future of 28-32 syndicated racer/cruisers,
as many members see this as the future of keel boat sailing.
A first ever RPAYC Participation Survey was sent to all berthing facility holders in late
2014, and with follow-up emails and phone calls from staff and committee members,
an extremely pleasing response rate exceeding 50% was achieved.
A further follow-up email was sent out by Russell Murphy and myself in March 2015
before the RPAYC General Meeting, acknowledging the wonderful response by
members and promising that their feedback would be not forgotten and will be
incorporated into our future plans for members.
Our “New Member Evenings” were reduced from four to two, but with the same
budget, so a larger