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  1. #1

    Idea: Traveling Chapter Leaders Academy

    This is excellent. I just wanted to chime in. Jeff Skiles and I are looking at taking the Chapter Leadership Academy on the road. Many chapters cannot afford to send their leaders to Oshkosh for the weekend workshop. We are considering breaking the country down by regions...having a Chapter host the "Leadership Academy"...and then invite other EAA Chapters within a certain mile radius.

    Any thoughts?
    Last edited by Hal Bryan; 08-17-2012 at 12:37 PM. Reason: Split from Chapter/SportAir thread.

  2. #2
    Jim Heffelfinger's Avatar
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    Trevor.... move this traveling Leadersahip Academy idea to it's own thread..... I will add my thoughts
    JIm Heffelfinger
    Sacramento

  3. #3
    EAA Staff / Moderator Hal Bryan's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Jim Heffelfinger View Post
    Trevor.... move this traveling Leadersahip Academy idea to it's own thread..... I will add my thoughts
    JIm Heffelfinger
    Sacramento
    Done.

    Hal Bryan
    EAA Lifetime 638979
    Vintage 714005 | Warbirds 553527
    Managing Editor
    EAA—The Spirit of Aviation

  4. #4
    rosiejerryrosie's Avatar
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    Traveling Chapter Leaders Academy is a great idea. Would allow more leaders to attend and would send the message that headquarters is actually really interested in chapters.
    Cheers,
    Jerry

    NC22375
    65LA out of 07N Pennsylvania

  5. #5
    Are you still going to have some of the leadership academies at OSH? That's part of the fun, to be able to walk the grounds, tour the museum, etc.

  6. #6
    Jim Heffelfinger's Avatar
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    Trevor,
    I also agree that the important piece about travel to HQ is the ability to connect with nearly all the key staff and Paul and Audrey. These, and more, are elements that cannot possibly be taken on the road.

    I had not been to OSH, yet had spent many hours on line, watching and wishing I was there for AV. My heart and spirit wanted to be there but plans made to attend had to be changed for family and work over a number of years.

    I attended Leadership Academy in February of 2011. It was a treasure to be treated in such a respectful manner, to connect and share with other chapter leaders from around the country, to have open access to EAA staff during unstructured social time, to have such a focused effort on chapter development during meeting “on” time and “off” time in the lodge. My chapter partner was unable to travel at the last minute and I was solo – I spent lots of time in the quiet hours working on a chapter action plan.

    I was impressed that Steve Buss remembered that I had a few key topics on the 365 forum. I mentioned that I was unable to be with my first grandchild for his 5th birthday and magically a handful of youth aviation projects showed up on my assigned seat. We had dinner with Paul and Audrey, an open Q&A plus a personally guided tour of the Founders Wing.

    The Air Academy lodge is a monument to the passion for aviation and the support of youth by very generous donors. It is a beautiful building, full of wall memorabilia that can take hours to view. The food was great, plenty of it, served with a smile and a thanks for coming. At night there were snacks and drinks in the open frig for those with body time issues. Beer and wine for social times and 3 vans for the asking. I really felt pampered – kind of like a spa resort weekend - only with planes. Heaven !

    The topping for me was the museum. Entering from the staff entrance there was such sudden flood of history and individual passion of flight that I had to step away and deal with the flood of tears. The tour was quite a ways along before I was back with them. We had open access to the museum. Crawled inside a few planes, left a few unintentional nose prints on the Bugatti canopy, took in pieces of history that are found in no other place on earth. I shot over 400 frames in the museum alone.

    I had a bonus day too. It snowed Sunday evening – enough to scramble flights well into the next. Soooo I HAD to stay another night ( darn) and about 8 of use were able to tour the Sonex factory hosted by John and Jeremy Monnett. We were able to see the work on the Onex, Subsonex, and e flight work in the Hornet’s Nest and tour the warehouse during the 3 hours.

    My contribution to the long weekend nearly $0, Chapter – plane flight, EAA - priceless.
    Hard to take that … on the road.

  7. #7

    Regionalal Chapter Directors instead of Leadership Academy

    Quote Originally Posted by Trevor Janz View Post
    This is excellent. I just wanted to chime in. Jeff Skiles and I are looking at taking the Chapter Leadership Academy on the road. Many chapters cannot afford to send their leaders to Oshkosh for the weekend workshop. We are considering breaking the country down by regions...having a Chapter host the "Leadership Academy"...and then invite other EAA Chapters within a certain mile radius.

    Any thoughts?
    No offense, but I think that headquarters would probably stand to learn quite a bit more from chapter leaders than vice-versa. I do not know many chapter leaders who wait to be told what to do, since they generally have a lifetime of leading businesses, families, community organizations, etc.

    What IS needed however are experienced chapter leaders to serve as regional directors to keep chapters motivated, help them communicate with each other, and provide ideas. Since they are local, they can react quicker and already have well-established networks. The EAA already does this with YE Field Coordinators, with its freelance ad salespeople, and the AOPA has done this for years. The recently re-established Sport Aviation Association (from Paul P.) is quickly setting up state representatives to help tap into existing networks. Why not pay these regional directors on pure commission based on member and chapter retention as well as chapter and member growth? It will only be a net plus for the organization nationally and locally.

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