Paul Willis
The unceasing comment I get from other Board members is the demographics of the society and the view that a majority of members are not totally computer literate. I am not sure that that is a true representation of the facts. However one thing that is true is that less than 50% of members have ever logged onto the website.
Hi Bill,
I very rarely make direct comparisons with other societies, as in my personal view it simply isn’t fair. But I will make an exception here, because it is an important strategic point for the whole of the Board.
I had not long been co-opted onto the Scalefour Society Committee, so around 2009 or 2010. We were discussing the Scalefour Society’s approach to its website, forum, and so on, and there were some people who even then (bearing in mind that the internet had already been in existence for some twenty years at that point) who didn’t see any value to it.
It was the then-Chairman Jim Summers, who was aged around 71 at the time, who cut the discussion short by just saying “The future of the Society is on the internet. That’s where our new members will come from.” And so it has been the case.
And when the more died-in-the-wool members of the Committee said what about those who didn’t use the internet, Jim’s retort was something along the lines of “Well, how do they book holidays, stay in touch with friends, and find things out?“.
The moral is to look to the future, and not to the past…
Best,
Paul