Town hall meeting

Here is the place to post your ideas and suggestions for the President of IHMSA.
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ole95
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Town hall meeting

Post by ole95 »

Maybe the two canidates could visit this forum
And give there views and goals
Just saying We got this forum lets us it
jrs
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338whisper2
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Re: Town hall meeting

Post by 338whisper2 »

I agree with ole, let's hear their views and future goals,to keep us around for long time.
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Re: Town hall meeting

Post by IHMSAHEADQUARTERS »

This is Cindy Smith
I did post some on the forum it will be under the nominations.

Thank you all,

Love my IHMSA family
Cindy Smith
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Re: Town hall meeting

Post by IHMSAHEADQUARTERS »

I am Cindy Smith
I am running for president and I will promise I will come out to the Forum. I will try to be as much a part of IHMSA as I can. I am trying to save this sport I took over Headquarters and it has been a bigger job then I thought with little to no training. I think I have done pretty good! I am really trying hard to get all the stuff caught up that had piled up. I am a lot more comfortable now then when I first took over. I am open to new ideas and I have a open door and phone policy. It might take me a bit to get back to you but I will. I work full time and I have had been putting in a lot of my weekend hours on IHMSA. I want you all to know I love this sport and that is why I volunteered to take on headquarters. My Daughter has volunteered to help with headquarters if I do get the president spot. I really want you all to know. I look at IHMSA as a family to me. I have met some pretty amazing people with this sport.

Keep Shooting and let me know if you need anything.

Cindy Smith 307-421-3802
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338whisper2
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Re: Town hall meeting

Post by 338whisper2 »

Thank you for everything that you have done,also thanks for posting on the forum....
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volleyman
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Re: Town hall meeting

Post by volleyman »

Here is a letter from Philip Braun with questions I responded to. If may give a little idea on what I stand for. If you have any other question please let me know.
Thanks Steve Martens

--------------------------------------------


Subject: Re: IHMSA

Hi Philip
I'll try and answer some of your
questions.
1) What
steps do you think we need to take to accommodate our
declining participation and revenue. I know that the
shooters that we have lost in the past are unlikely to
return. How do you think that we can survive
?
1.
Last year as VP I introduced at the board meeting a motion
and it was passed. This year we will be offering a free one
year memberships to many past members, they will only get
the online copy of the IHMSA news and will not have voting
rights. They will get an IHMSA score card and will be able
to shoot at any and all matches, including State, Regionals,
and Internationals matches providing they meet that two
entry rule. Hopefully they will get back into the sport and
will see the improvements we are trying to
make. Also for every year I was on the board
I pushed to get away from the printing company that was
doing the IHMSA news, they were draining our revenue. I
pushed to find someone who could do the newsletter in-house
and Dan H. will do a great job, at a fraction of the cost we
were paying. When the cost of printing the
newsletter has stabilized, I will push for a reduced annual
membership rate for members who are willing to receive the
IHMSA News electronically. Members who want/need a hard copy
of the newsletter will pay slightly higher membership
rate.
2) Can (or
should) we continue to have the yearly Internationals when
it has been losing money?
2. The Internationals is/should be
the showcase of our sport. It is an advertising tool that we
use when we go to industry at the Shot Show to seek door
prizes and it makes us unique as a truly international
sport. Without the Internationals we would lose much
support. That being said, it should not be a drain on the
treasury. In the past, the IHMSA boards have made some poor
decisions with the development of ranges that have been used
for past internationals. A lot of money was spent with
little return. One of the very few benefits of reduced
membership is we are able to host the Internationals at
smaller ranges that do not need as much IHMSA support to
host the matches. That will keep the costs down on running
future matches.
3) Do you think that a
regional "re-alignment" is necessary , or
desirable ? Region 1 has, for all practical purposes -
ceased to exist. Is this something we need to address
?
3. Yes, we
have re-aligned regions in the past, the states in Region 1
could be absorbed into another Region. If in the future
those states grow and want a separate Region that could also
be done.

4) Do you plan to keep the
membership informed on what is going on within the
organization, and do you intend to participate in meaningful
discussion with membership - either via print or electronic
media.
4. Yes, I've told Cindy we need
to keep the membership better informed. Without a monthly
printed newsletter going to every member we lose the feeling
of connection. We need to have a mass email list of members
to keep them informed of things such as renewals, elections,
match dates, and when the on-line edition of the newsletter
is available to download. The inclusion of a current email
address on the membership form/renewal will be important to
communications. I will be available to answer
any questions the membership has. The forum on the IHMSA web
site should have a moderator so it isn't a
"bitch" board that does nothing to encourage
people to join our sport. It makes no sense for IHMSA to pay
for a site that gives people a poor image of our sport. The
web site can and should be a valuable recruiting tool and I
pushed for it when I was on the board.
As President I would like to
emphasize "competition" more than it has been
under our past presidents. We are an organization of
competitors. We need to recognize the achievements of the
shooters. We as shooters do things with a handgun that most
people can not believe. We have pushed the limits of handgun
accuracy to the highest level and we continue to raise the
bar. We as an organization have to realize we
will not appeal to all handgun shooters as most handgun
sports are the "spray and pray" games. We can
still be that niche shooting sport that emphasizes handgun
accuracy.
Let me
know if this answered some of your questions or if you have
any others. You can share this with others if you
wish.
Thanks, Steve Martens
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260 Striker
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Re: Town hall meeting

Post by 260 Striker »

Thank you Cindy and Steve for your comments. I truly believe you both want the best for IHMSA. Good luck to both of you.
Lynn Shultz
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Current VP Logan Handgun Association
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volleyman
IHMSA President
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Re: Town hall meeting

Post by volleyman »

[quote="tonedaddy"]Steve,

As you mention the Internationals, I think the problem most of us have is that they should be self supporting and the members who do not go should not have to supplement their cost. You kind of gave me that impression but is that your stand also?

Is your view they should be self supporting?

Thanks,

Craig Eagle
#39631[/quote

Let me start by saying that they should be nearly self supporting and certainly not to the point of draining our treasury. At the most it should be the cost of advertising, which it is for our sport.
As I stated before, they are part of the identity of our sport.
My view is that they are very important to our international shooters, it gives them a great match to plan a vacation to and in many of the countries a reason to own and compete with handguns.
As a serious competitor it is the location to measure yourself against the best shooters in the world. I enjoy shooting against the best as it makes me work harder to raise my level.
I also support the rise of inter regional championships. It makes it possible for more shooters travel to a match with good competition. I would like to see it a qualifying match for the internationals. Win a category at the WCC or ECC, you get that entry free in the world championships. It would encourage the best shooters to travel and raise the level of competition at both matches.
Also if I'm elected president I intend to promote the competitors in our sport. I will bring back the president list of the best shooters in each region and an all world team.
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ole95
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Re: Town hall meeting

Post by ole95 »

A few of questions for our Presidential candidates
Cindy
You have been running the day to day operation of IHMSA on a free volunteer basis.
If you are elected would you still run the operation as well as handle the obligations the president has
(Not sure what all that is). What’s your plan?

Steve
If your elected and let’s just say Cindy can no longer run the day to day operation is this something you would do. Would you relocate HQ closer to you What’s your plan?

Both if elected
What’s you #1 top priority problem to address

Both if elected
And attend the INT. would your top priority be to be there as The President or as a competitor

Both
Other than the printed news what do you see as the biggest financial burden on IHMSA and what would you do to correct this

Thanks you both for what you do and the commitment you have made :ymapplause:
Richard Slaton
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jrs
"ole78x80"
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volleyman
IHMSA President
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Re: Town hall meeting

Post by volleyman »

I believe the president and the headquarters position should be separate. If you put too many responsibilities on any one volunteer you risk burn-out. Just look at many of the ranges we have lost, before they closed, all the work was being done by one or two people.
The biggest issue I see is the stabilization and then growth of our membership. At last years World Championships the board passed the proposal I brought forward was to grant past members a free limited year membership in 2015. Hopefully the current board will follow thru on this and we will get some of our former members to rejoin the sport. I also believe we need to reorganize the membership fees when we get a good hold on the costs of our newsletter costs.
In 2013 at the Internationals in Ft Stockton I had to assume the presidents duties for the match as Nancy was recovering from heart surgery and was not able to attend. I was able to both shoot and run the meetings and was available to answer and questions. The key to running a successful match is having enough talented people to spread the load.
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