NMRA E-Bulletin News Nov-Dec 2016

NMRA E-Bulletin News 

November & December 2016

A few words from the President

Going Digital Revisited?

Sorry! As I wrote last May, we are not going digital anytime soon with NMRA Magazine but we are headed toward digital publishing in an increasing digital age. I revisit this topic because of some interesting new information courtesy of a true digital pioneer in model railroad digital publishing, Model Railroad Hobbyist.

In their October issue, MRH published a survey of reader ages for their digital magazine. They certified accuracy with a 95% certainty. The results are very illuminating and very interesting. We have often heard that only the young prefer digital magazines. We have also heard that digital magazines, the wave of the future, appeal to those younger generations, whereas older readers are into print. Therefore, a decline in print circulation does not mean a decline in younger modelers for they are on a digital platform. These observations are often accepted as absolute truth. They are consistent with our expectations, for after all it is the younger generations who are most at ease with the electronic age and serve as inspiration for us older folks as to the wonders of the digital age. I stand in awe of their skill and of the potential of digital devices.

The death of print media has been projected for over thirty years now and while newspapers are slowly eroding, the end of print is still nowhere in sight. There is something satisfying about a magazine that is hard to replace. One would therefore expect that Model Railroad Hobbyist, being a digital pioneer, would naturally attract the younger demographic which the blogs assure us are out there.

Imagine my surprise to discover that 88% of MRH readers are 49 years old or older. Indeed 67% are 60 or older.

Two conclusions can be fairly reached from these numbers. First, the old chestnut that older modelers prefer print may not be true. Secondly, there are not hordes of young modelers reading digital and eschewing print. According to the MRH survey, less than 4% of MRH readers are 30 or under. Therefore the good news is that older modelers are not the fuddy-duddys portrayed who are out of touch in a digital world.

But the bad news is the postulated large numbers of young modelers who prefer digital platforms may also be a myth.

Interesting, no? Well, those are my thoughts; what are yours?

Charlie

Notice of Winter BOD meeting in Atlanta

The Winter Board of Directors meeting will once again be held in Atlanta, Georgia, on February 18 & 19 at the Drury Inn & Suites. The Budget and Operations meeting will begin at 2:00 PM on Friday, February 17, and the Board will be in caucus that evening. Both of those meetings are only open to invited guests.

The regular, open session of the BOD meeting begins at 9:00 AM on Saturday, February 18. Because the agenda is not yet finalized, there's no way to tell if the meeting will continue on Sunday. All members are invited to attend the open sessions. Watch www.nmra.org for details.

News about the 2017 NMRA Elections

By John Stevens, NMRA Secretary

We are fast approaching the 2017 election. This election is different than the elections of the last two years. Those elections included worldwide positions that required ballots distributed though NMRA Magazine. The 2017 election has no worldwide positions and therefore there will be no ballot distributed in the magazine.

This election cycle has five positions under consideration. One of them is the Region Advisory Council Director, or RACD position. Each Region has a representative on the RAC and they are the only ones that are eligible to vote. There are three candidates for the RACD position. This election should be completed by Christmas.

Three of the positions in 2017 are the Canadian Director, NMRA Canada President, and NMRA Canada Vice-President. This election will be run by NMRA Canada. Those of you who are members of NMRA Canada should be receiving your ballots sometime around February 1st.

The last position up for election is the Central District Director, or CDD. The Central District includes the states of Alabama, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kentucky, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, Ohio, Tennessee, and Wisconsin. Only those members living within those states are eligible to vote for the CDD. In years past, the members have received a ballot in the mail. They then filled out the ballot and mailed it back to Headquarters.

This election cycle, we will be mailing ballots to the membership, but we are going to be offering the option of returning your ballot by voting electronically. We will be using a service called Election Buddy. This service has been used successfully by a couple of Regions. The service generates voting codes for each individual eligible to vote. The individual goes online and enters the voting code. They then view the ballot and vote. Once they complete the process, they can't use the voting code again.

At the end of the voting window, we receive two reports. One report is the results of the election. The second report tells us who voted electronically. Using the two reports there is no way to know how a member has voted. In the meantime, some of you will have filled out your paper ballots and mailed them to headquarters. The second report will be checked against the paper ballots. If HQ receives a ballot from you and you have also voted electronically, the paper ballot will be declared invalid and your vote will be the electronic one.

The current plan is to mail the ballots in mid-January. The election window should be February 1 through February 28. Since we will still have to process some paper ballots, the election results will not be known until the end of March.

Having trouble finding the "Promotional Videos" on our website? Search no more!

Several NMRA eBulletin readers have mentioned that they're having a hard time finding the "promotional videos" that Model Railroader Video Plus, TrainMasters TV, and Model Railroad Academy have donated to the NMRA online video library.

They're actually fairly easy to find!

If you're not logged into www.nmra.org as a member, you can find the videos which the general public can view by clicking on "Education," then "NMRA Videos." Again, these videos are available to members and non-members.

But once you log into www.nmra.org as a member, just click on "Education" then "NMRA Videos" and you'll be taken to a page that shows you all the donated videos.

If you're an NMRA member and you're logged into www.nmra.org as a member and you're on the Members Only homepage (by clicking on "Membership" and "Member Home" from the main page), click on "Special programs" then "Member Video Library."