Canadian Yachting October 2016 - 53

VANTAGE POINT ' 46 48 ' 44 ' 42' Why a Squadron Membership Officer Sarah-Jane Raine, S, National Administrative Officer Does your Squadron have a Membership Officer? If not, why not? This is an important Officer on your Executive. The National Membership Committee has been forwarding to each Squadron Commander a list of lapsed members. The idea is for you to personally contact these lapsed members, to encourage them to rejoin CPS-ECP. Has your Squadron been doing this? I can tell you from personal experience being the Membership Officer of my Squadron, calling and chatting with that lapsed member you will get some of them to send in their membership fees. This retains members for your Squadron, which in turn assists the organization at all levels. It also gives you an opportunity to promote any courses or socials that your Squadron may be offering and also to advise them of the member's benefits that National offers to all members. Some have just put it aside and forgotten about it, so a reminder is all that they need. Optional course offering Don Griffin, AP, National Educational Officer The Educational Department hopes that everyone had an enjoyable and safe boating season in 2016. Going forward, it is important for CPS-ECP to remain relevant by delivering boating courses that our customers/ members find useful and meaningful as well as present them in a manner that they want. The CPS-ECP Educational Department is working to provide Squadrons with flexible alternatives to our boating courses that include both online components as well as in class instruction. The intent is for Squadrons to use these alternative tools effectively to help increase enrollment. CPS-ECP needs to be innovative in how we advertise and present our courses in order to help increase student enrolment. Students/members do not join the organization or take the next course because of things that National does, they join because of the people and programs in their local area. Once we have them in the first class our Squadron instructors and proctors should explain why the next course the Squadron (or a neighbouring Squadron) is offering is just as important as the first course. Also, Squadron personnel should explain the benefits of CPS-ECP membership. It goes without saying, getting and keeping CPS-ECP members truly engaged in learning and other activities is extremely important for our organization. Safe boating! May your courses be full and your membership increase! From the outside looking in Cathie Johnstone, National Executive Officer As the summer comes to an end and new activities get underway including Events and Courses, I invite everyone to go to their Squadron and District websites and view them with a fresh look to see if you are portraying the latest and greatest you have to offer the boating public and your members. This is their window into your front room. If your course information is from last spring and your last posting is advertising an outdated event or the contact information is not up to date, anyone going there is not seeing what you really have to offer. Please coordinate with your webmaster Continued on page 54 www.canadianyachting.ca 53 THE PORT PORT HOLE HOLE THE Comments from Robert Pepin, AP, Chief Commander It is the Chief Commander's responsibility to approve Merit Mark submissions. Having the opportunity to read what and how much was done by each recommended member provides a privileged view on the fabulous dedication from each one of you. In 2015, there were 2000 volunteers who devoted 150,000 hours to CPS-ECP. On May 9th, the Board of Directors approved the operating budget that becomes effective on July 1st, 2016, and times are still very challenging. We now have a new bilingual person at the National Office for providing service to our members and the approved budget allows for the addition of an Information Technology specialist to provide support to members, officers and staff. This summer, a number of volunteers have successfully been active in two major activities, the Recreational Vessel Courtesy Check program and the Safety Equipment Education and Flare Disposal Days. These are marvellous occasions for meeting with boaters of all kinds, informing them of where CPS-ECP is active, and telling them about courses offered by Squadrons. http://www.canadianyachting.ca

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Canadian Yachting October 2016