• October 2008
• September 2008

Meetings can sometimes be a grind, regardless of the organizations you belong to. We all love to ride, but we also understand that we have to hold meetings to take care of the biz-side of snowmobiling, but still… I’d rather be behind the throttle. Meetings are less “grinding” if forward movement is made and that is always the supreme challenge. Sometimes you get stuck on simple things and lose focus on the big snowman in the center of the trail. Momentum is lost. The same is true at SAM meetings, so we are trying something new. There is no guarantee that this will work, but the sled won’t run if you don’t pull the rope. Here’s the idea: Rather than have the SAM Delegates attend another committee meeting on an additional date, the Delegates are going to break into small committees at every-other monthly SAM meeting. The short game will be to move our strategic plan forward at a reasonable rate. The overall goal is to get more done with less meetings. Look at it this way; a club delegate volunteers to attend the SAM meeting once a month, chances are this person is an officer of their club or a hard-core volunteer, so we can safely assume that they attend all their club meetings and all the club functions, too. Right? Let’s not add another meeting into the mix; let’s simply get it done on the first Thursday of the month. SAM has clear goals; we just need to move on them. By the way, everyone is always welcome to attend. This is your association and… didn’t I just hear you say that you enjoy meetings!

So what does the future hold for us? Briefly, and I mean briefly, the Goals & Actions of the Strategic Plan are:

• Increase Membership by 10% per year
• Build Public Awareness, both internal and external
• Adopt a Charitable Organization
• Enhance Trail Infrastructure and Funding
• Advocacy & Grass Roots: Alliance Building
• Strengthen Government Relations
• Establish a Fiscal Plan

On another note, The Northeast Chapter of The American Council of Snowmobile Associations is a tight-knit group of snowmobile associations from this corner of the continent, both in the US and Canada. What’s amazing is the fact that we all have the same visions and challenges but often tackle these tasks in very unique ways. We meet a few times a year, compare notes, discuss trends and bounce around new ideas. Everyone benefits. To keep information flowing, I started a blog for the NE Chapter and post news of regional significance every few weeks. It’s not a busy site, but it will keep you in tune of larger issues and snowmobile tidbits in the Northeast. RSS feeds make it even easier to monitor updates. Visit http://northeastchapter.wordpress.com/

Dan Gould
President