The Cactus and Succulent Plant Mall
Cactus-Mall Blog
Monday, November 21, 2005
  Future of the BCSS
There is an ongoing discussion about the future of the BCSS.

It is a fact that there is little recruitment now being done by branches with a few notable exceptions. Over 50% of new members come from the Internet. In Sussex there are now very few shows or displays being put on. We simply don't have the members and collections to be able to stage them. The last few Shows that Brighton branch put on some years ago attracted very little public and were very ineffective as a recruitment method particularly considering the large amount of work and time involved. Locations or Halls to stage shows in our area which have any significant passing traffic are prohibitively expensive.

Recruitment via the Internet in contrast is fairly cost efficient both in terms of money and time. I also believe there is still fair potential for increasing this still further. Admittedly this only gets at a fraction of the population but that fraction is now quite high and in terms of potential members is probably still higher. I think we should aim to double Internet recruitment over the next two years. If we can combine this with some improvement in the retention figure this could get the society membership growing again.

There are a number of things we should be doing to achieve this:

1. We need to get more people to the website. We can do this by improving the quality and quantity of material on the website (and also the branch websites). Some hard copy publicity of the website address may be useful and we can also look at extending on-line publicity.

2. We need to keep the visibility of the website high. In part this follows on from item 1) but also involves technical as well as commercial methods. I intend to write a paper on the technical aspects this which I will publish somewhere on-line because it will be useful to BCSS branch webmasters and other BCSS members who have their own
websites.

3. We need to look carefully at the incentives for joining. Are the existing ones spelt out clearly? Can we add to them? In particular we need to allow for the fact that a high percentage of those joining on-line are either too far from a branch to attend or are even overseas. We now have a number of English BCSS members who have retired to places such as Spain or France. Can we quantify this? Is there anything extra we can offer them?

4. We need to look carefully at the incentives for renewing, particularly for first year renewers. Is there anything extra we can offer them? Is the process as easy as it should be?

Tony Mace
 
Comments:
"Benefit" of the BCSS central library - this should be removed from the introductory leaflet etc. OR the central library should be made accessible to all members!

Lindsey D.
 
I think it is a great idea to concentrate on online recruitment.

Whilst the opportunities for members to gather at branch meetings may be in decline, the number of people able to access the internet is increasing daily. The technology is now available to host virtual shows and discussions to compliment branch meetings and local shows.

Focussing on the internet & electronic communication will also facilitate membership tracking and could boost retention figures.

I look forward to reading your paper on the technical methods of improving site visibility. The technical design and overall accessibility of online material will be a critical factor in increasing website traffic.

Catherine A.
 
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This Blog will note updates to the Cactus-Mall and other related websites like the British Cactus and Succulent Society and the Mesemb Study Group. I will give my thoughts on the current state of the Cactus and Succulent hobby and discuss topical subjects which I think need airing. I hope it can be used by others to give us feedback on the development of the now 10 years old Cactus-Mall and what you think of its usefulness and ways in which we might improve this.

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