gunrunr
Life Member
We are always on the lookout for good Area Reps ( a position we already offer - they are extremely helpful)
Are you volunteering to help?
Iowa Bowhunters Association
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We are always on the lookout for good Area Reps ( a position we already offer - they are extremely helpful)
Are you volunteering to help?
singlecoyote
Proud member of the IBA
No I'm just giving you an idea would increase the membership greatly.
Whitetails Unlimited hosts 20+/- banquets in Iowa this year. Each banquet probably has 200 people attending. The base ticket is $40. Many people spend $100. Some spend 100's of dollars.
Each person, by attending becomes a member of WU. That's 4000 members.
Honest question, what is the IBA's current membership number?
Could the IBA grow with a regional banquet system? Yes. But comparing the IBA to WU, NWTF, PF banquets, etc is not apples to apples. These groups have national, state, regional, and local/county committees to put these banquets on. They also have full time employees that help make sure those banquets are a success. Those groups have banquet kits and materials to help make each event successful.
The IBA is and will continue to do it's best to provide a fun and exciting banquet format. If the bowhunters in Iowa can make one event successful, then there is the opportunity to hold multiple events.
Please keep the feedback coming.
The IBA is and will continue to do it's best to provide a fun and exciting banquet format. If the bowhunters in Iowa can make one event successful, then there is the opportunity to hold multiple events.
Please keep the feedback coming.
ironwood
Active Member
Join your local 100% archery club. Get involved with local people and become an IBA member at the same time.
There is no good reason to not be a member if you are a bow hunter. The benefits have been covered very well here and we need to encourage membership for bow hunting's future.
There is no good reason to not be a member if you are a bow hunter. The benefits have been covered very well here and we need to encourage membership for bow hunting's future.
turtlshell
PMA Member
Great thread. I've been a member in the past, but it was difficult to "feel" the value. I don't recall even receiving a renewal form, but I did get a sticker and some periodic magazines/newsletters. The content, from what I recall, was pretty decent.
All that said, I"m glad to hear of the new updates. A user-friendly (self-service) style website would be a step in the right direction. Also the other changes sound promising, enough so, that I will renew/update my membership.
All that said, I"m glad to hear of the new updates. A user-friendly (self-service) style website would be a step in the right direction. Also the other changes sound promising, enough so, that I will renew/update my membership.
Hawk32
PMA Member
x2 on a great thread. Some great reasons presented on why to be a member and some great ideas. It really is about the bigger picture and not "whats in it for me". That should be true for most any organization whether its the IBA, NRA, WTF, or you local church group. Theres always gonna be differences in opinions on policies and public matters but that isn't a reason not to belong. It has to be about the big picture. I could on and on but I won't.
To answer singlecoyotes question on memberships. We currently have 1002 members. Pretty small # when you consider there were 54,000 bowhunters last year. also single coyotes idea of multiple banquets as been discussed amongst the board in the past. Like sheep said I'm just not sure it possible. Maybe down the road it will be. Its a good suggestion and hopefully someday could be a reality.
Sligh
Thanks for your comments as well. Just another little tidbit of info for ya. At last years open forum meeting there were approximately 40 people there. Of that 40 I counted 2 (including myself, unless I missed someone) that were under the age of 40.
Membership issues and mailings I know have been an issue. We are doing our best to work these out. Updating our system of record keeping will be a big help. Sometimes there is human error sometimes there is record transferring errors from us to printer, sometimes its our outdated system. I would ask if this is the case or has been the case in the past to not let that deter you. Simply pick up the phone and give me a call and will do my best get it straightened out. 641-780-5068. I have only been treasure since aug and am working hard to get it up to date.
To answer singlecoyotes question on memberships. We currently have 1002 members. Pretty small # when you consider there were 54,000 bowhunters last year. also single coyotes idea of multiple banquets as been discussed amongst the board in the past. Like sheep said I'm just not sure it possible. Maybe down the road it will be. Its a good suggestion and hopefully someday could be a reality.
Sligh
Thanks for your comments as well. Just another little tidbit of info for ya. At last years open forum meeting there were approximately 40 people there. Of that 40 I counted 2 (including myself, unless I missed someone) that were under the age of 40.
Membership issues and mailings I know have been an issue. We are doing our best to work these out. Updating our system of record keeping will be a big help. Sometimes there is human error sometimes there is record transferring errors from us to printer, sometimes its our outdated system. I would ask if this is the case or has been the case in the past to not let that deter you. Simply pick up the phone and give me a call and will do my best get it straightened out. 641-780-5068. I have only been treasure since aug and am working hard to get it up to date.
hillrunner
PMA Member
The only thing I'll ad is I wish they would send a renewal notice either by email or mail. I've joined twice but never know when to renew and it ends up running out.
I just registered for the banquet and am excited to go and see what it is all about. Sure seems to me that if there has been issues in the past (based on some of the posts I have read, not my experiences) reading this forum shows that there are members of the board who are trying to straighten things out and get IBA on the right track. I can honestly say that this forum is the first time that I can remember hearing about IBA, so thank you to those who brought it up!
Hawk32
PMA Member
hillrunner I know that a renewal form is sent out the month your membership is due and then again the next month. That has been how it was done in the past and how I am currently doing it. Again i know it has not always been a 100% accurate..and i hope once I get a new program up and running it will be a huge improvement and possibly be able to send a reminder both mail and email.
bkcrrtnps
Well-Known Member
I want more info....
Daver
PMA Member
I would also like to say that I appreciate the helpful, friendly tone of this thread. Just a thought on the idea of having more, as opposed to one, IBA banquets distributed across the state...
As one that has been personally involved in planning and conducting numerous events like this over the years, yes, it is normally very time consuming and I certainly understand the notion of having one event per year in the interest of not burning out the faithful few volunteers that do exist.
(Preface - I am NOT referring to anyone specifically here, just sharing some perspective based on many similar experiences.) There are usually many more "ideas" and suggestions out there than what there are volunteers to actually do said ideas.
Having said that...it does seem to me that the IBA would benefit by "branching out" more and having some satellite dinners. To keep the volunteer effort factor low...have one main dinner that is more involved and so forth and then have the other 3 or 4 or however many dinners be very low key affairs where most all of the work can be handled by a caterer.
Sure, it will cost a few bucks more per plate to do it that way, but seriously, nearly all of us have been conditioned to pay $1000+ for bows, zillions for land, seed, boots, etc, kabillions for broadheads...per piece! So what is another $5 or $10 on a meal one time per year?
If a dad wants to bring some kids...knock the price down a little more to make it doable for them, etc. But my main point is that I think you could conceivably have several more banquets that would draw more members and $$'s, without recreating the annual grand gala, etc.
It sounds like several other good ideas are in the works and that there are very committed souls on the BOD that are listening and acting, and that is super.
As one that has been personally involved in planning and conducting numerous events like this over the years, yes, it is normally very time consuming and I certainly understand the notion of having one event per year in the interest of not burning out the faithful few volunteers that do exist.
(Preface - I am NOT referring to anyone specifically here, just sharing some perspective based on many similar experiences.) There are usually many more "ideas" and suggestions out there than what there are volunteers to actually do said ideas.
Having said that...it does seem to me that the IBA would benefit by "branching out" more and having some satellite dinners. To keep the volunteer effort factor low...have one main dinner that is more involved and so forth and then have the other 3 or 4 or however many dinners be very low key affairs where most all of the work can be handled by a caterer.
Sure, it will cost a few bucks more per plate to do it that way, but seriously, nearly all of us have been conditioned to pay $1000+ for bows, zillions for land, seed, boots, etc, kabillions for broadheads...per piece!
So what is another $5 or $10 on a meal one time per year?If a dad wants to bring some kids...knock the price down a little more to make it doable for them, etc. But my main point is that I think you could conceivably have several more banquets that would draw more members and $$'s, without recreating the annual grand gala, etc.
It sounds like several other good ideas are in the works and that there are very committed souls on the BOD that are listening and acting, and that is super.
Limb Chicken
Active Member
Yep. Competing with a lot of different activities going on every day. Got to get in front of (phones) the younger guys (future) you got to update the stuff daily. Not fun, but needs to happen if you want to compete for their time and that is what you're doing now.
Fishbonker
Life Member
Great thread.
The IBA's main banquet competition over the past few years has been a combination of a comfy chair, a remote and hunting shows on TV or DVD/Bluray. Who wants to pay to come listen to a speaker when they can watch the same speaker on TV for the cost of cable or the DVD/Bluray? The beer sure is cheaper. Not to mention when the speakers TV shows get more popular their speaking fee is out of the IBA's budget, but you have to spend money to make money.
As others have said, we could go on forever about how the IBA has been instrumental in establishing and maintaining Iowa's rich bow hunting heritage. But that is the past and we look forward to leading the way into the future for the bow hunters of Iowa.
To believe in the future is to believe in the IBA. If you believe in the future become an IBA member today. The next several generations of bow hunters will thank you.
To those of you that are IBA members a huge thank you. You have made a difference.
One more insight in regards to electronic media. In the past most members signed up using our standard paper form. We are bow hunters not calligraphers and as such some of us have lousy penmanship. When it comes to reading email addresses on those forms, some are anybody's best guess. We try to make sure we can read the email and all the registration information before the member leaves the booth. What I'd like to see is a couple or three computers at the Classic and Fall Festival so we can input the members data immediately and send them a conformation email that they can get immediately on their smart phone. Yes Randy, you'd have to up grade.
The IBA's main banquet competition over the past few years has been a combination of a comfy chair, a remote and hunting shows on TV or DVD/Bluray. Who wants to pay to come listen to a speaker when they can watch the same speaker on TV for the cost of cable or the DVD/Bluray? The beer sure is cheaper. Not to mention when the speakers TV shows get more popular their speaking fee is out of the IBA's budget, but you have to spend money to make money.
As others have said, we could go on forever about how the IBA has been instrumental in establishing and maintaining Iowa's rich bow hunting heritage. But that is the past and we look forward to leading the way into the future for the bow hunters of Iowa.
To believe in the future is to believe in the IBA. If you believe in the future become an IBA member today. The next several generations of bow hunters will thank you.
To those of you that are IBA members a huge thank you. You have made a difference.
One more insight in regards to electronic media. In the past most members signed up using our standard paper form. We are bow hunters not calligraphers and as such some of us have lousy penmanship. When it comes to reading email addresses on those forms, some are anybody's best guess. We try to make sure we can read the email and all the registration information before the member leaves the booth. What I'd like to see is a couple or three computers at the Classic and Fall Festival so we can input the members data immediately and send them a conformation email that they can get immediately on their smart phone. Yes Randy, you'd have to up grade.
Monsterbuck
Active Member
Some questions for you board members.
I'm curious why you have decided to have the banquet on a different weekend than the deer classic? Seems like a lot of people who live further from Des Moines wouldn't want to make the drive two weekends in a row. Some of us with young kids find it hard to get away two weekends in a row even without having to drive very far.
Another observation, why not sell tickets to the banquet at the deer classic? I would think you could add quite a few more tables if tickets were available at the Classic and at the event site. I realize you need some idea of a head count for catering but I think you could make a reasonable estimate of additional tickets you could sell.
I'm curious why you have decided to have the banquet on a different weekend than the deer classic? Seems like a lot of people who live further from Des Moines wouldn't want to make the drive two weekends in a row. Some of us with young kids find it hard to get away two weekends in a row even without having to drive very far.
Another observation, why not sell tickets to the banquet at the deer classic? I would think you could add quite a few more tables if tickets were available at the Classic and at the event site. I realize you need some idea of a head count for catering but I think you could make a reasonable estimate of additional tickets you could sell.
Monsterbuck
Active Member
Care to give some specifics on how the banquet is being revamped and where it is being relocated?