moocow
is Blowin Smoke!
I pay my money just for the Bull Sheet, everybody here likes to read it. It is pretty crappy that you can't even get a free bumper sticker. But the RD membership is almost priceless if you don't have a business.
I still say that if you define a society by a region. You are capping the potential.
A free reach around?
Thats why I was saying that you need to charge a premium to non member teams. I really didn't care about the KCBS when I started. It was just something that was there and I question whether I would even be a member now if it weren't for the need to join to be a certified judge. I really don't think I would've no matter how much I appreciated BBQ or liked how KCBS promoted or ran contests. That stuff really would've been a non issue and i would have contined to participate in KCBS events and reaped the benefits FOR THE SAME COST as member teams.
Now once I joined the KCBS I became curious as to what it was all about. Heck if I am paying for a membership I might as well become familiar with it. So I did. Now I am very much involved in what goes on. I am going to the banquet as well and there I will attend the rules committee meeting and possibly others. I appreciate my membership and what it does for me. I also appreciate that my money goes to this organization and what my money helps it do.
KCBS doesn't save starving people in Africa so you aren't going to get people to just fork over money for the principle. KCBS membership doesn't afford you discounts at sanctioned events so you won't get thrifty competitors to jump on board. KCBS offers some perks but many of them aren't all encompassing for the membership nor do some of them even apply to membership in areas without the business i.e. Restaurant Depot. Any kind of perk related to membership would help if it applies to everyone. If KCBS provided meats the members could chose first or if meat was supplied then the KCBS members would get reduced rates. Money makes it all happen.
I got a "BBQ" oval bumper/window sticker!I pay my money just for the Bull Sheet, everybody here likes to read it. It is pretty crappy that you can't even get a free bumper sticker. But the RD membership is almost priceless if you don't have a business.
I think that the fee for non KCBS member teams should be more then the membership. This would definitely push people to join. Also as I mentioned maybe the family membership should apply to a team membership.
Thats why I was saying that you need to charge a premium to non member teams. I really didn't care about the KCBS when I started. It was just something that was there and I question whether I would even be a member now if it weren't for the need to join to be a certified judge. I really don't think I would've no matter how much I appreciated BBQ or liked how KCBS promoted or ran contests. That stuff really would've been a non issue and i would have contined to participate in KCBS events and reaped the benefits FOR THE SAME COST as member teams.
Now once I joined the KCBS I became curious as to what it was all about. Heck if I am paying for a membership I might as well become familiar with it. So I did. Now I am very much involved in what goes on. I am going to the banquet as well and there I will attend the rules committee meeting and possibly others. I appreciate my membership and what it does for me. I also appreciate that my money goes to this organization and what my money helps it do.
KCBS doesn't save starving people in Africa so you aren't going to get people to just fork over money for the principle. KCBS membership doesn't afford you discounts at sanctioned events so you won't get thrifty competitors to jump on board. KCBS offers some perks but many of them aren't all encompassing for the membership nor do some of them even apply to membership in areas without the business i.e. Restaurant Depot. Any kind of perk related to membership would help if it applies to everyone. If KCBS provided meats the members could chose first or if meat was supplied then the KCBS members would get reduced rates. Money makes it all happen.
Maybe they need to offer as "lifetime" membership. Or a 5 year membership. This might help with the people who do maybe two contests a year. I think that the fee for non KCBS member teams should be more then the membership. This would definitely push people to join. Also as I mentioned maybe the family membership should apply to a team membership.
I think they should do what they have been doing, at least here in this part of the country. KCBS contests have grown rapidly and now we even have a state championship series where before we barely had any contests three or four years ago. Contest entries have grown rapidly as well. I think that KCBS membership is up the couple of years, but could not find where I had read that. I think they are attracting more cooks.
I do think that membership should be required. I can't think of anywhere else that membership in the sanctioning body isn't required to compete in a sanctioned event. Interesting Ford that you assumed a 50% membership, that based on just observations over the years? Wonder if its even that high.........There are ways that membership can be mandated, organizers fees could be based on membership percentage or something to that effect. If a nominal membership fee is going to be too steep, you are probably in the wrong hobby anyway. Buck up and pay it, its the cheapest thing at a comp.
For people that live in areas where another sanctioning body is present, they may not get anything out of KCBS and may be better off with their own local sanctioning body, but the KCBS is far more national than the majority of other organizations.
We are already working on a lifetime membership as a matter of fact... it was a topic at the last board meeting.... may happen real soon
What if there was some bonus money available to the winner if they were a KCBS member. It would need to be paid by the KCBS and not the orginizer of corse. Lets say the winner gets a $100 bonus but 3 new people joined the kCBS for a shot of the bonus so the KCBS just made there money back and got three new members. This may not make sence at some smaller contests but at the royal for instance it could be hundreds in bonus money and lead to a lot of new members. I know its not exactly the same thing but there sure was a lot of people using Kingsford Comp. at the royal to try to double there money. Or maybe its not winning based but a drawling by the KCBS reps of every KCBS team at the event, That way you don't even have to be a good cook the be eligible to win the bonus. You just have to be a member to be eligible. What do you guys think?
Skip 2 years ago that was put in place - an additional $25 per contest for non members - the annual meeting had the organizers and cooks going crazy over it - it was removed the following month. There are actually some contests that still do it, especially those on the East Coast who understood the concept.
In all those other cases, the sanctioning body shares in the profit/loss of the event.... with marketing $$, overall purse money, guaranteed TV time, etc. etc. In these events... the sanctioning is paid for as a service... and the event is there usually to raise money or awareness for some other sponsored function. The organizer has to take care of their organization and sponsors first, since that is where the $$ comes from.... then KCBS second. I think it would be awesome if KCBS came up with a way to draw the small cooks in with some value at a higher level.... and use the cookoff as a way to get that upsell. But when an Organizer is paying KCBS for sanctioning, and KCBS has no skin in the game for prize money guarantees.... you can't really expect an organizer to add something in. I would expect them to give KCBS a tent to set up and pimp the society to all at the event... and work membership drives at that level... selling on the value that they provide. (membership, contest list, access to recipes, and other cook team info (if they have bios submitted) and the bullsheet)...