USPA's "Championship" Demo Team?

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http://skydiveuspa.wordpress.com/2011/11/30/refocusing-the-u-s-parachute-team-sponsorship-program/

FYI

Matt

Now, we need to thank them for listening. AND if we like the idea tell them we support it (I just sent my email).

I will gladly give you as much information as I have feel free to contact me directly or call me. Trust me the memberships concerns have not fallen on deaf ears. It has been discussed at length and every email has been received.

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http://skydiveuspa.wordpress.com/2011/11/30/refocusing-the-u-s-parachute-team-sponsorship-program/

FYI

Matt

Boy! Talk about a thread killer. Thanks BOD!

~ I want to take a moment to express my sincere gratitude to all the people that were concerned about, and became involved with this controversial issue.

A significant number of Skydivers made their voices heard both on this website and at the USPA headquarters regarding the proposed implementation of a measure that simply looked to be a costly and unethically harmful Conflict Of Interest.

The USPA has listened to our argument and acted appropriately by shutting down the U.S. Demo Team in favor of focusing efforts in a different and hopefully prosperous direction, with the same final goal of acquiring additional funding for the U.S. Parachute Team through corporate sponsorship.

It has always been my contention that the USPA's job is to represent the entire Skydiving community, and that assisting one segment of the membership in any way that is an obvious detriment to any other segment is at minimum grossly unfair and certainly improper & shortsighted.

I applaud Jay Stokes and the executive committee for understanding that position and re-focusing on ways to positively support one group without negatively impacting another.

~We USPA members are after all in the grand scheme, one organization.

Despite however many different groups we may tend to divide ourselves into, there is more that unites us than separates us.

That being said, throughout this thread many clever and creative ideas were recommended and briefly touched upon as possible alternatives for increasing funding to assist our organization with participation in International Competition.

I've started another thread with the hope we can tap into the DizzyDot brain trust and possibly come up with and discuss some innovative ideas that may be useful.


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Again my thanks to everyone on both sides of the 'USPA Championship Demo Team' proposal, we are the USPA and as a membership organization can take some pride that the self-governing system worked.



~Twardo

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Hi Guys,

I just wanted to drop you all an email to thank you for listening to concerns raised by myself and other skydivers regarding the "US Demo Team". It's a good thing that the governing body who represents all skydivers takes the time to listen to our concerns and act on them appropriately. I appreciate the decision being communicated and explained.

I would also suggest that some of the ideas being put forward for the US Demo Team could be transferred to existing demo teams who could potentially assist. I understand that Mr. Hayhurst had some pretty good ideas, how about the USPA work with existing teams with these ideas?

I hope that this will mark the beginning of a new chapter of membership involvement in USPA BOD decision making. Perhaps a more flexible polling system on the USPA website might also allow for the membership to vote on simple matters and may also provide a way to make suggestions.

Thanks again,

Daniel Croft
D-31103

Anyone know how the Demo team presence at the air show convention went?

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The USPA has listened to our argument and acted appropriately by shutting down the U.S. Demo Team in favor of focusing efforts in a different and hopefully prosperous direction, with the same final goal of acquiring additional funding for the U.S. Parachute Team through corporate sponsorship.

Curious Twardo - any idea if USPA lost any of OUR money on the convention booth deposit or possibly the booth rental costs in total for the late cancellation?

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Curious Twardo - any idea if USPA lost any of OUR money on the convention booth deposit or possibly the booth rental costs in total for the late cancellation?

I don't know the details behind the decision, but it appears that the USPA backed away from following through on a stupid decision they made. If that is the case, I would compliment them on listening to their members and changing a poorly thought out policy.

Or you could complain about losing money on a booth rental deposit. It is a little like crying over spilt milk.

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Curious Twardo - any idea if USPA lost any of OUR money on the convention booth deposit or possibly the booth rental costs in total for the late cancellation?

I don't know the details behind the decision, but it appears that the USPA backed away from following through on a stupid decision they made. If that is the case, I would compliment them on listening to their members and changing a poorly thought out policy.

Or you could complain about losing money on a booth rental deposit. It is a little like crying over spilt milk.

I was just asking for my own curiosity.

I am definitely happy that the board changed their direction on this. Whether it indicates that they listened to their dues-paying members, saw the short-sightedness of the idea, or both will likely never be known by anyone that wasn't in the (presumably) closed-door meeting.

Either way, the backlash probably at least influenced the decision, if not completely caused it.

The board would be wise to be more member conscious in all their dealings. This incident was a prime example of what can happen with an involved membership.

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Or you could complain about losing money on a booth rental deposit. It is a little like crying over spilt milk.

+1 ...Bitching about water over the dam?? The way I see it, if you're not happy with the politics, run for office. The board got it right in the end. Any effort to put a negative spin on it is counter productive at this point.

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I would compliment them on listening to their members and changing a poorly thought out policy.

Or you could complain about losing money on a booth rental deposit. It is a little like crying over spilt milk.

I disagree. It's a fair question as the $10k 'loan' was certainly a point of contention for the oppostition. If you simply sweep it under the rug because the USPA 'backed off the idea', you're enabling the same poor decision making that let the idea through in the first place.

The financial apsect of the UPSA is a business, and the financial end of the deal needs to be delt with. They don't want to field their own team anymore, fine, now what about the money. How much was invested in this 'team'? How much was lost on the unused trade show space and travel plans? How is this going to be repaid?

I can't recall seeing any loan paperwork for a business loan that doesn't require repayment regardless of the success of the venture. Although I don't have much experience is the sponsorhip arena, I can't imagine that many sponsorship agreements don't have built-in protection for the sponsor in the case of non-performance from the sponsored. Call it a business, or call it a sponsorship, I don't think you get to 'give up' and the money issue just goes away.

Show us, USPA. Show us that you're running the show like a business, and that you didn't literally just throw our money away. At the end of the day, the only reason I'm a USPA member is for the benefits it provides me or the DZ I jump at. The ability to effectively provide those benefits, and provide sufficient benefits for the money I spend, is all related to good management of money and resources.

An example - I'll buy anything my kids have for sale to raise money for school. The products are never that great, the delivery is generally delayed, and the value is below par with buying popcorn at the movie theatre. Despite this, I continue to buy and never complain about the above. I spending the money to help my kids because I love them, not because I want a painted tin with 3 bags of microwave popcorn inside (for $18).

I don't love the USPA or (almost) anyone on the BOD. I don't pay my dues because I like them and want them to have money to play with, I pay my dues with the expectation that they will be wisely spent on projects or investments that will benefit the membership.

With that in mind, I'm sorry your team didn't work out, now what happened to our money?