President’s Column January 2012

In every special interest club, there are always the 10%ers. That is, in any organization that exists because of the single common interest in something, only about 10 % of its members are actually active in its clubs activities. This is also true of our club. With more than 500 members of the Iowa BMW CCA, only about 50-60 are regular attendees of our planned events and activities. Some members only attend one event a year. Why is that? We have just concluded our Annual Planning Meeting and had several members attended that had not attended any event before. These first timers gave us some input for our activity calendar for next year. So, what is holding you back?

When I was a new club member about 10 years ago, I was initially slow about attending my first event because I would not know anybody. But the members at my first event greeted me and were happy I was there. Therefore, I have been coming back ever since. So, what is holding you back?

In the fall of 2010, we had two brand new members attend Oktoberfest at Road America in Wisconsin as their first club event. They had a splendid time attending the many activities provided at O’fest, and since then, they have also attended the 2011 Fall Colors Drive and had the same wonderful time. So, what is holding the other 90% back? We have attempted to publicize our events via our newsletter Newswerks, via our Facebook and Twitter accounts and also through our email announcements. So, what is holding you back?

We are just a little over a month away from our signature event of the year, our Annual Dinner and Awards Banquet. For the first time in our history, the banquet will be held at one of our primary sponsors facilities on the showroom floor at BMW of Des Moines.

The site of 2012 Oktoberfest has just been announced which will be at Mid-Ohio Raceway from September 17-22.

So, what is holding you back?

If you have some direct insight as to what keeps you away from events, or what could attract others, let us know. Email me at president@bmwia.org.

President’s Column November 2011

Do you like the events and activities that are planned and hosted by our club? Do you have events that you would like to see happen, or wonder why we don’t do an activity that we used to do?

Now is your chance to voice your opinion! Last year, for the first time, our chapter held a “members annual planning session” to discuss and plan the 2011 activity calendar. We had a nice turn out for free pizza and discussion in Iowa City last year.

The Board of Directors felt the planning session was very successful and let us put together a comprehensive yearly plan to tie activities together and recruit activity chairman at the same time. We will once again be soliciting information and ideas for new and different activities that might be interesting to our members. We will discuss which club events were successful and would like to sponsor again and which ones should drift into our memories.

All ideas brought to the meeting will be discussed on their merit, interest to club members and feasibility. We hope to have a larger group than last year with more new and interesting ideas brought to the table.

You are all invited to attend our yearly “annual planning meeting” to discuss new and old activities. Please bring information for us to discuss and help plan next year’s calendar for your club. This meeting will feature free pizza and conversation beginning at noon on Sunday, Nov. 20 at Sam and Louis’s Pizza located at 86th and Hickman in Urbandale. Hope to see you there!

Club’s President Column

Hello, my name is David Brighton, and I am your new President. You probably want to know how I got involved with the Iowa Chapter of the BMW CCA, so here is my story. My first ride in a BMW happened in a friend’s 1995 325iC during sometime early in 1997. I had never ridden in a BMW before, as I had owned American classics. I had always thought BMW’s were for “rich guys” and had never really pursued any interest in owning one. I liked to go fast, but always in a straight line.

Our first ride as a family in a BMW was in a brand new dark green 1997 318i that I was allowed to take home for the weekend to Indianola to show my wife. We drove the 318i to Ames on Sunday to attend a tumbling meet for Katie. After some persuasion and stating the obvious advantages of owning a BMW, I started shopping for a car that I could afford. In a few weeks, a 1994 325i in all black with only 40,000 miles on the clock appeared at the Dave Ostrem BMW used lot in Clive. A couple of days later, a shiny black CPO 1994 325i was sitting in my garage. That was in 1997, but I did not discover that there was a group called the BMW CCA until 1999. I became a member of the BMW CCA in early 2000 and was first elected to Iowa BMW CCA Board of Directors in February of 2005. I served as an at-large director for one year and then was elected to the position of vice-president in February of 2006.

I hope you have had a chance to visit our new redesigned website that went live at the beginning of April. It is a tremendous advantage for the club and has many new features. The Board of Directors has undergone a transformation this year with many new and younger members. The Board is in the process of creating an environment of new events that will be mixed in with our tried and true favorites that should provide an inviting attitude to our current and potential new members. We have also filled a couple of new positions on the Board that should make communications more timely and relevant to our members.

I wish to thank Fred Bell for his hard work as President of the Board of Directors and his enlightenment and leadership for the past three years. I am looking forward to meeting any of our members that I have not met yet and hope to see you at an event soon.