Dave Swider

Dave Swider aka KBasa MOA Position Statement Volunteer resume Professional resume The Boxer Shorts Back to Sled Dog home page		OK, so who’s this Swider guy and why should I vote for him for Vice President of the BMW Motorcycle Owners of America? Good question. If you poke around this site a bit, you’ll find some stuff I’ve written about why I think I’d be a good VP, what my take on motorcycle clubs, volunteers and that sort of thing are. That’s all good stuff. But consider this – you’re here, reading a web site that you found out about in ON. (refering article is here) Two forms of media have been tied together to provide you with more information than you’re getting from anyone else. This amalgamation of information – finding it, putting it together and presenting it to the membership for their consumption – is the linchpin of my candidacy. You’re now seeing how two forms of media can work together to deliver more relevant content, more exciting information and more insight than you can get from one form alone. This is what I want to bring to the MOA; a delivery of content and membership value that hasn’t been achieved by many organizations of any type. So you got me. Why is this good? I’m not a geek. Think about your membership. Chances are, you’ve met some wonderful folks through the MOA, probably making some lifelong friends. You’ve been to a terrific rally or gotten a discount on a hotel or photo-sharing or a rental car or had the Anonymous Book work its magic to get you home. But the one item that keeps coming at you, every month, month in and month out is the Owner’s News. It’s the flagship of your membership. And what’s it composed of? You got it – information. At the end of the month, you may toss your ON on a shelf or maybe you’re a compulsive neatnik and you cut it up and put some of it in a binder on the shelf or you just toss the whole thing in the can because that’s what you do with magazines. What if you could have access to some of that material later? What if you could print out those excellent tech articles with the step by step instructions, take them out to the garage, get them all greasy and throw them away when you were done? What if you could print out the trip report to that neat spot a couple time zones away and get a GPS route to go with it? How about if you could re-read that test of that coat that’s now on sale down at the dealer? What if we could get that stuff archived on the web for you so you could have a look at it when you needed it, not when it was presented to you? I’m looking to further this kind of integration of the information that we have. I want to make it available to all that have an MOA membership number and access to a computer, just like you’re doing right now. I think this kind of integration is important for a few reasons. It provides a terrific service to the membership and allows them to access the information your hardworking ON staff spends so much time collecting. It’s also an excellent recruiting tool. Let’s face it – new ideas are the life blood of any organization. They come from new folks that see things in different ways. Yes, I’m talking about attracting younger folks. The MOA’s demographic has moved steadily older. Younger folks expect that there will be a web presence and they’ll use it to build a strong community. Over on the MOA forum, we’ve seen that phenomenon working away for two years now. We’ve got 3300+ registered users and the vast majority of them are under 40. More than a simple online group, these folks have formed a year round riding club, The Rounders. They’ve put together a rally for April, they’ve organized rides in the Midwest and a whole bunch of folks that didn’t know each other have found a bunch of new riding buddies. This is what our charter, “to foster a sense of family” is all about. We vitally need to continue to leverage our web services to bring new members into the organization. Does this mean we’ve been doing it wrong? Not at all. I’ve been a member for 15 years and consider the MOA to be a fine organization. I’ve spent untold hours trying to help make it better, including running for president last year (lost by 54 votes). I think we can build on our strengths and really enhance the strength of the club. The benefit of that is that it will allow us better negotiation to provide benefits. It’ll help us stand on better footing with BMW’s North American operation. We’ll be in a position of equality with BMW and we’ll be able to work with them to achieve our mutual goals – people on BMWs that are happy with their bikes, happy with their community and happy with their membership and ownership experience. So, consider what you can see here versus what you get from a 500 word essay in ON and decide which vision you want to see come to fruition. Consider who put it on the web for you to explore and makes their words their deeds and actions. I want to expand the member experience just like this set of web pages has expanded the position paper in ON. Thanks for your time, curiosity and consideration. If you want to ask a question, pose it to me directly at teamkbasa@comcast.net or hang it on the MOA Forum at http://www.bmwmoa.org/forum. I think you’ll be glad you asked.
Sled Dog Touring Teaam c/o B+H 19 Burnside St. Bristol, Rhode Island 02809 © SDTT 2005

OK, so who’s this Swider guy and why should I vote for him for Vice President of the BMW Motorcycle Owners of America?

Good question. If you poke around this site a bit, you’ll find some stuff I’ve written about why I think I’d be a good VP, what my take on motorcycle clubs, volunteers and that sort of thing are. That’s all good stuff.

But consider this – you’re here, reading a web site that you found out about in ON. (refering article is here) Two forms of media have been tied together to provide you with more information than you’re getting from anyone else. This amalgamation of information – finding it, putting it together and presenting it to the membership for their consumption – is the linchpin of my candidacy. You’re now seeing how two forms of media can work together to deliver more relevant content, more exciting information and more insight than you can get from one form alone. This is what I want to bring to the MOA; a delivery of content and membership value that hasn’t been achieved by many organizations of any type.

So you got me. Why is this good? I’m not a geek.

Think about your membership. Chances are, you’ve met some wonderful folks through the MOA, probably making some lifelong friends. You’ve been to a terrific rally or gotten a discount on a hotel or photo-sharing or a rental car or had the Anonymous Book work its magic to get you home. But the one item that keeps coming at you, every month, month in and month out is the Owner’s News. It’s the flagship of your membership. And what’s it composed of? You got it – information.

At the end of the month, you may toss your ON on a shelf or maybe you’re a compulsive neatnik and you cut it up and put some of it in a binder on the shelf or you just toss the whole thing in the can because that’s what you do with magazines. What if you could have access to some of that material later? What if you could print out those excellent tech articles with the step by step instructions, take them out to the garage, get them all greasy and throw them away when you were done? What if you could print out the trip report to that neat spot a couple time zones away and get a GPS route to go with it? How about if you could re-read that test of that coat that’s now on sale down at the dealer? What if we could get that stuff archived on the web for you so you could have a look at it when you needed it, not when it was presented to you?

I’m looking to further this kind of integration of the information that we have. I want to make it available to all that have an MOA membership number and access to a computer, just like you’re doing right now.

I think this kind of integration is important for a few reasons. It provides a terrific service to the membership and allows them to access the information your hardworking ON staff spends so much time collecting. It’s also an excellent recruiting tool. Let’s face it – new ideas are the life blood of any organization. They come from new folks that see things in different ways. Yes, I’m talking about attracting younger folks. The MOA’s demographic has moved steadily older. Younger folks expect that there will be a web presence and they’ll use it to build a strong community.

Over on the MOA forum, we’ve seen that phenomenon working away for two years now. We’ve got 3300+ registered users and the vast majority of them are under 40. More than a simple online group, these folks have formed a year round riding club, The Rounders. They’ve put together a rally for April, they’ve organized rides in the Midwest and a whole bunch of folks that didn’t know each other have found a bunch of new riding buddies. This is what our charter, “to foster a sense of family” is all about. We vitally need to continue to leverage our web services to bring new members into the organization.

Does this mean we’ve been doing it wrong?

Not at all. I’ve been a member for 15 years and consider the MOA to be a fine organization. I’ve spent untold hours trying to help make it better, including running for president last year (lost by 54 votes). I think we can build on our strengths and really enhance the strength of the club.

The benefit of that is that it will allow us better negotiation to provide benefits. It’ll help us stand on better footing with BMW’s North American operation. We’ll be in a position of equality with BMW and we’ll be able to work with them to achieve our mutual goals – people on BMWs that are happy with their bikes, happy with their community and happy with their membership and ownership experience.

So, consider what you can see here versus what you get from a 500 word essay in ON and decide which vision you want to see come to fruition. Consider who put it on the web for you to explore and makes their words their deeds and actions.

I want to expand the member experience just like this set of web pages has expanded the position paper in ON.

Thanks for your time, curiosity and consideration. If you want to ask a question, pose it to me directly at teamkbasa@comcast.net or hang it on the MOA Forum at http://www.bmwmoa.org/forum.

I think you’ll be glad you asked.