Grace Kanomata said there were 50 GMC’s that attended. I visited the convention to drop off some parts for the auction but couldn’t stay long. The RV Park in Buellton is enormous and well maintained.
I had heard they hoped to have 80 in attendance. If only 50 showed up that would be the lowest attendance in GMCMI's history.
| 1999 Fall | 304 | River Oaks Rally Ground | Forest City, Iowa |
As I reluctant Millennial, I can confirm some of the generational differences. We like to share information freely, gather information freely, and don't like to pay for club memberships. GMCMI feels like a paywall--it's off-putting.
I'm not opposed to clubs at all, and I wouldn't say we're not socially engaged (we're not Gen Z'ers after all
I look forward to attending a rally of some sort soon and would absolutely love to rub elbows with more GMC enthusiasts, but there's only so much I'm willing to pay for a "camping" weekend. I tend towards boondocking, compromise with the wife and pay "too much" for USFS campgrounds (where we already get 50% off) and would really struggle paying more than that for the right to park somewhere for a couple nights. When we select high-dollar facilities and the admission gets up into the hundreds of dollars on top of the already high fuel costs, my interest dwindles.
I see the allure of the information sessions over the decades, but many of us now would rather see a well-made YouTube video so we can access the info when/where it's pertinent to us. I can envision those information sessions becoming a thing of the past eventually.
There's no substitute for the organized work parties though. Those seem pretty neat to me.
Trust me, I've heard all the sales pitches. It's falling in deaf ears. I'm just anti-dues and anti-subscription. Myself and my peers just find different means to collaborate. It's what's familiar. We don't get newspapers, magazines, newsletters...etc.
Most understand. Gmcmi is in transition…. Hopefully it gets people together. Although it can seem like a costly to attend, there is much value in it as far as food and entertainment. And meeting in person other owners from all walks of life and areas of country.
Paul,As I reluctant Millennial, I can confirm some of the generational differences. We like to share information freely, gather information freely, and don't like to pay for club memberships. GMCMI feels like a paywall--it's off-putting.
I'm not opposed to clubs at all, and I wouldn't say we're not socially engaged (we're not Gen Z'ers after all
I look forward to attending a rally of some sort soon and would absolutely love to rub elbows with more GMC enthusiasts, but there's only so much I'm willing to pay for a "camping" weekend. I tend towards boondocking, compromise with the wife and pay "too much" for USFS campgrounds (where we already get 50% off) and would really struggle paying more than that for the right to park somewhere for a couple nights. When we select high-dollar facilities and the admission gets up into the hundreds of dollars on top of the already high fuel costs, my interest dwindles.
I see the allure of the information sessions over the decades, but many of us now would rather see a well-made YouTube video so we can access the info when/where it's pertinent to us. I can envision those information sessions becoming a thing of the past eventually.
There's no substitute for the organized work parties though. Those seem pretty neat to me.
The biggest "decline" in membership was actually getting the membership into a real database. Something that has been sorely lacking for many years. Actually organizing everything made reality far more realistic. We hope to stop the bleeding here. This first rally was the first hurrah. And many more to come. Glad to have met you guys out there. Awesome finally putting faces to names.
But that is indeed a paywall, yes?
And that absolutely is a great perspective. Everything still costs something however even taking into account everything being run by volunteers. This site for example, while free to you, costs Christo money to maintain and develop. I'm sure the meager ad revenue he gets here might pay for part of the domain name renewal every year. As for GMCMI, the domain name still needs to exist. The insurance needs to be paid for so we can hold these awesome rallies. We're trying to make sure everything is as cheap as it can be. Server space and development still costs money. That's true no matter where you look. And we've had stuff on the "free" sites before. And guess what? We lost a lot of valuable information because it disappeared the day the site owners decided to just walk away or shut their free service down. Nothing is ever free.
I feel like I was able to access it once and never again. I've had a lot of issues with the site and have kinda given up. I usually find newer part numbers that are still in stock places by searching the forums and Facebook. Tedious, but you can at least get a sense of when the info was posted/relevant.
I attempted to bring up something on gmcmi.com site on my iPhone a few weeks ago and my wireless router issued an immediate Malware notification in Safari. It was a reference to gmcmi.net and not .com.
