In general the Pomona Convention was a great and positive experience with many new and unusual coaches to drool over, more vendors than your imagination can handle, great seminars, chapter fair, open forums that were very interesting, and the entertainment was top notch.

Being we have a Trek/Safari product, we had absolutely wonderful fellowship/happy hours every night.

One of our objectives at Pomona was to meet some of the Executive Board members so we could get a better understanding of how FMCA works. We also wanted to get a feeling of how board members thought FMCA might change to better accommodate the current RV environment.

We were blessed with the opportunity to meet face to face with four current board members and one nominee to the board. Our analysis of these meetings is that they all feel the same as we do. That is that FMCA needs to evaluate its current management structure and how it is positioned to meet the challenges of the 21^st century. Since Pomona we have received two long telephone calls from FMCA committee members who agree with this position.

At the President’s Forum, Connie Pool reported on a meeting that she had with some baby boomer-age people and said she received some good input but no details. Doug Key provided a brief un-audited 2007 financial report: Operations was over budget by $392,000, earnings on investments was $952.000, so the organization is still financially healthy. He also stated that this condition could not continue. 2007 membership saw a decrease of 3,000. The magazine income has been down but it looks like it will be financially well with the March issue.

During all three open forums, issues were presented stating that FMCA needed to re-organize to make changes in a more quality and timely manner. We also offered that FMCA had to start thinking outside the current box; in fact, way outside, if we are to be competitive in the 21^st century environment.

We stated that a National Director communication system was required so we could be better prepared to make quality decisions at the Governing Board meetings. Also, we mentioned that the NW Trek Fun Club Webmaster has put together a WEB Forum for this purpose. Don Eversmann stated that he felt this was a good idea, so we are hopeful that he will help us get an email listing of NDs to input to this forum.

Bob attended the National Director training presented by Don Eversmann, so he is now prepared to present that training at the NW Area rally at Albany in June.

Please send us any thoughts you might have to improve the health of FMCA.

See ya down the road.

Bob Beers & Peggy Beers

VP NW Area

ND Safari Intl