Eurodrivers Management.

[CGY_GTI]

Re: Eurodrivers Management.

2 months for Driven is plenty of time, Scott, can you create a post calling for cars to go to the show.

Shoot me a message with the details (entry cost, etc) and I will get something put together later today!

[T-Dubbs]

Re: Eurodrivers Management.

I was not aware that we needed to
"Make ED Great Again".
I do agree that we need a better presence at car shows, but replacing all of the admins seems like overkill.
Let's try and help the current team to see if we can make it better for everyone, before replacing everybody.
That seems like a rash decision

[Sinc]

Re: Eurodrivers Management.

I'll be honest. I enjoyed the club when I first came out here 3 years ago. But the more I came out the less I feel it is a car club with some kind of mission/purpose or rather now it's really just a group of friends meeting every now and then. There is no real club loyalty as you can see just by what happens with Driven. Lots of cars that are "Eurodrivers" enter with different clubs. I was a part of that last year.

And I don't think it's one person or the management to blame, it's the members I feel. How many people have come out to events in the past few years that never came back? How come it seems to be a common thing that the regular attendees all have the newer higher end cars in the VAG scene? Where are all the pre 2000 year cars that we know there is a lot of around and have some pretty cool builds. I don't particularly find ED to be the most welcoming to potential new members because it seems everyone in ED gets an opinion about someone based on what they drive, what they look like, they're first impression. And then we never let that new person really become part of the club. I know each of us have said or been less than kind to someone new or even current members. And yes I know that happens everywhere in life it seems now but there are other car clubs that are more like family and less like high school cliques.

ED is like the dirty redheaded headed step child that everyone is associated with but don't want to be seen with.

Last year I supported CVD more than ED all because they asked for support and help.

I've supported ED at events before and will support anything new that comes about. Just need something to do and some way to increase members and keep them.

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[Sinc]

Re: Eurodrivers Management.

When joined my first car club with my first vw. I had stickers and lights and all the Canadian Tire mods you can think of. Sure there was a few guys making fun of me but there were more that helped me change my style and helped with ideas and helped with wrenching. I wouldn't know much about cars if it wasn't for those guys from that club. And they are lifelong friends now albeit 4000km away but I'll always send them ideas or they send me their ideas even to this day.

There's a few guys that came to ED meets that I told them to come out too. I still keep in touch with them and help them with their cars. But they don't care for Eurodrivers.

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[R-Audi]

Re: Eurodrivers Management.

Thanks for your comments rod. I understand the reason of moving from euroquake, to into the rockies. I was apart of the final euroquake and understood the frustrations. Also thank you for the insight on the operations of the club.



I believe we need to host a show in Calgary. Hosted by eurodrivers. With the possibility of leaving to open to all makes and models. I dont see anything wrong with leaving it open as there are many european owners who want to attend with jdm friends and such. this would greatly increase exposure for euro drivers.


I would absolutely love to wear the club on my sleeve. Promote it, participate in it 100% but i honestly beleive its not possible under the current management. Like you said, life gets in the way which is perfectly understandable. You are going to Chile for family, colin is busy with his job at calgary autoworks, and tyler is also busy with work as well also doesnt own a euro anymore. Where does this leave eurodrivers....... on the backburner. Maybe its time for Members of the management team think about stepping down, or step it up in terms of commitment. And ill say again, there are many members who would have the time and can be enthusiastic about taking the reigns of the club.


I think Driven is now too late. Many members includeing myself have already committed to other groups (our group started to plan before the new year) , and the timeline now is pretty short to get people committed for a big epic showing. but i could be wrong.

I got rid of my 'Euro's' several years ago and have really only browsed the forums in the past few years, so take my opinion for what its worth.

I really dont see how someone can go on and on about wanting to represent ED and then in the next sentence mention how they comitted to another group. The easiest way to support the group and promote the brand is to represent them at shows.. whether it was World of Wheels, Euroquake, IllMotion, European classic car meet etc. For anyone who has helped/had their car at any of the shows, they know organizing people to attend is a huge hassle and a rather large punch in the gut to turn around and see group members off with other groups when there is little to no feedback. Its easy to sit back and make a post, but when push comes to shove there havent been a ton of peope actually stand up and help out....


On other matters, it makes a ton of sense to have paid advertisers... I brought this up a while back, but several groups make decent money advertising their wares, it only makes sense to have them pay for that right. That $ would certainly help pay for whatever marketing materials/insurance/banners/etc.

[slhazy]

Re: Eurodrivers Management.

Make Eurodrivers great again.

[GTi]

Re: Eurodrivers Management.

Eric makes some great points. I'm not sure it needs a complete rebuild, but a tune up is always good!

We, the people, are what makes something, or let it fall apart. It has been a common thread in this discussion that there needs to be more support and everything requires volunteers and membership.

It is important that people know that this is needed, and it is more important that when individuals come forward, that they are included. When they aren't, they talk to people and it spreads in to a pandemic of people not volunteering.

We have lots of great people in this community with diverse backgrounds that can help contribute. Yes, events cost money, yes we need membership to cover the pieces to ensure that we can do the events we want. Membership fees do NOT go towards the cost of the events themselves, unless there is a need for a display for something like WoW or Driven. Speaking of Driven, two months out, most people have already started to make commitments and know if they want to be involved.

Don made a great point, being part of the leadership is a huge commitment, it isn't easy and it does require support. It also requires personal commitment to the betterment of it. It can be more draining than rewarding, but a lot of this depends on the people involved and how the load is spread out. We all have our own lives on top of this and it is important to balance it all. As people have other commitments and obligations, it is there responsibility to step back and let others pick up the torch. The membership needs to be given a chance to join and the team needs to be given a chance to step back each year. This allows people to balance their lives and fresh blood to enter the fold. This isn't to say that people can't choose to stay on. However, in the immediate case, it sounds like some people have moved on and some people are struggling to maintain.

From what I can see, we are short on team. We don't need two VPs, one would be fine, but we do need someone to be responsible for memberships, someone for any PR(marketing, social media, and any possible media contact), some one for events and someone to help make sure the finances are in order. These 6 individuals would need to be people that have the drive and passion for this, as well as the ability to commit and the open mindedness to include others, their ideas and suggestions.

We need to have ideas and a plan to support a vision of growing the membership, becoming a larger member in the community(leading by example, and hosting more events), and above all making sure everyone enjoys the environment and culture that is EuroDrivers.

[Sinc]

Re: Eurodrivers Management.

Make Eurodrivers great again.

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[T-Dubbs]

Re: Eurodrivers Management.

I really think that titles/positions should be earned and not given.
If someone wants to step up to the plate and organize events/shows then by all means that person/group should do so. Once successful, a title/position is earned.

Just an opinion...

[Adcodo]

Re: Eurodrivers Management.

I personally do think that Eurodrivers does need a rebuild. I may not be as active as I am in the summer but that's because school and work get in the way and I just don't have the time to make it out. In the summer I think I am way more active and try to join as many shows as I can with Eurodrivers and try to come out to the meets. This year, I didn't even know that we had a reserved spot until now, but now I am with a different group.

When I first joined Eurodrivers, everyone was super welcoming and the forum had new things on it everyday with people posting about what they have done to their cars. I have met some great people through here and would love to see the club become something bigger in the future. Now there will be days when I come on the forum and no one will have posted anything new which sucks.

I see lots of potential for the future, but for that to happen there has to be some management changes. There has been lots of great points, and lots of people seem to want to help, including me. Since ED is turning 15, let's make some changes and bring it back up where people are proud to be part of the club, and more club s**t happens.

[Danaldson]

Re: Eurodrivers Management.

Thanks for for addressing my points.

In my opinion, i think membership fees should be going to improve and invest in the club not charities. I think the club needs to be invested in to improve it, and then save the charity donation for a show once we have built the club.i think that would allow for larger donations.

This is works for me if the club wants it this way we can do this right now.

i beleive if we hold of on donating to charity for some time, and use our money to invest in the club, I think that would give us good opportunity to save the charity donations when we host a big show in the future.

I think something needs to be done about the low amount of membership renewals and new members. Yes there are perks to having a membership, but i think there needs to be more than that in order to get increased paying members. Like myself for example. I think my Eurodrivers membership has expired, but i still get all the discounts at the shops in the city because i shop around often enough. There is no incentive for me to pay for a memberhip anymore other than just to support the club. This is where a VP external comes to mind.

What options do you think we should take here?

I think this can begin with shops and companies who post on the forum, or on our Facebook page require to pay fees for doing so. I think that is fair. That includes myself for pushing photography services on everyone.

We can also hunt for new sponsorships in our area. A paid club membership needs to have a value for our "customers" i.e. members. Im sure other members have ideas on this as well.

I would absolutely love to wear the club on my sleeve. Promote it, participate in it 100% but i honestly beleive its not possible under the current management. Like you said, life gets in the way which is perfectly understandable. You are going to Chile for family, colin is busy with his job at calgary autoworks, and tyler is also busy with work as well also doesnt own a euro anymore. Where does this leave eurodrivers....... on the backburner. Maybe its time for Members of the management team think about stepping down, or step it up in terms of commitment. And ill say again, there are many members who would have the time and can be enthusiastic about taking the reigns of the club.

We all have jobs and lives that take over from time to time. My Chile trip is for a couple of weeks. That being said I have no problem stepping down and letting someone else lead from here on in. Each one of us here wants to make this a great club and if me stepping down helps in that then that's what needs to happen.

Rod i dont have an issue with you being involved with the club. I just think if someone cannot commit the time to do so, i think things should change. and maybe playing a smaller role that can be handled would benefit everyone.

Like toppless said, i am open to staying as a club tailored to the newer vw/euro crowd. but i think there needs to be cohesion with the other clubs around the city. To me it kids of seems like its been a eurodrivers vs CVD vs Dasdubebrs type of deal. but i think that needs to change to a Eurodrivers + CVD + das dubbers.

I am not vs anyone at all and I welcome unity between the VAG clubs wholeheartedly. I have no past issues or problems with anyone from the other clubs.

I dont think anyone in the Eurdrivers club has intentionally pushed anyone away, or made it feel unwelcoming. but i feel i agree with erics comments. Other members have expressed this to me as well.

I got rid of my 'Euro's' several years ago and have really only browsed the forums in the past few years, so take my opinion for what its worth.

I really dont see how someone can go on and on about wanting to represent ED and then in the next sentence mention how they comitted to another group. The easiest way to support the group and promote the brand is to represent them at shows.. whether it was World of Wheels, Euroquake, IllMotion, European classic car meet etc. For anyone who has helped/had their car at any of the shows, they know organizing people to attend is a huge hassle and a rather large punch in the gut to turn around and see group members off with other groups when there is little to no feedback. Its easy to sit back and make a post, but when push comes to shove there havent been a ton of peope actually stand up and help out....

Mark, I completely understand where you are coming from on this. It may not seem like i have not tried to help out and wear the club on my sleeve, i think im one of the most active members of Eurodrivers, but I've found it increasingly difficult to try and help out with events and shows. Driven 2015 was a good example of this. Many of us tried to make it a bigger show and get exposure, bt getting banners, etc. but it just seemed like some people didn't care. Just go take al look at the thread.

And thats a big reason why i didn't not return with Eurodrivers for driven 2016, and also for this year. i felt like it was not worth my effort because i would be looked over or pushed aside. and this is also a big reason why i made this thread. because i want things to change. I care about Eurodrivers and many of its members.

[flipstah]

Re: Eurodrivers Management.

If you want businesses to push paid advertising, you have to ensure traffic is constant to justify the costs.

Original content is key.

[Ur0Drivr]

Re: Eurodrivers Management.

If you want businesses to push paid advertising, you have to ensure traffic is constant to justify the costs.

Original content is key.

And this could be a revamping of the forum to be able to have that type of content in a more accessible area.

[kujiwara]

I still rock the Eurodrivers decal

I think this thread is getting quite intense here. From my past few years of experience at Eurodrivers this place is the best place for the Calgary VAG community, can things be improved? Sure!

I'm gonna write out a story of why I love Eurodrivers so much and still try really hard to hang with the crew, I'm not particularly good at telling stories so if you don't want to read it, don't read it.

I got my first car, back in 2012, I was 15 and couldn't afford any mods. VWVortex was the biggest VW community out there, so like any high schooler with a MK4, I joined there and posted my car in the infamous "MK4 Golf/Jetta" AKA "BBS RS and Bags forum". Sticker bomb was a thing back then, and for $10 it can make the rear window look pretty cool, replies "Too many stickers.", and the only other comments I got was "lower it ASAP", personally I didn't care back then and I would've had better places to spend $500 than on cheap coilovers. The last comment I saw there was MechEngg(Sean)'s, recommending me to check out the Eurodrivers forum. I posted my car here, the comments were so much more welcoming than VWV, the community actually cared about me since day one! It was not something that would've happened on VWVortex, unless I'm bagged on bbs' with a votex kit and 1500 followers on IG. The warm welcoming influenced me to go to the first meet as I got my actual license when I turned 16, it was a Thursday Monthly meet, I remember Tyler's MK4, Colin's car, some white MK2 Jetta scraping across the speed bump by the old Boston Pizza... I didn't know anyone at the time, but someone came up to me "Are you Kuji?" and then that's where it all started, I met more people from the community. Honestly Eurodrivers is still a pretty important part of my life in Calgary, because my life was revolved around by cars since day 1, and back then in High School, I either go to school, hang with some friends, or have fun play soccer or go to Eurodrivers meet. Eurodrivers back then was a place where I can get away from the school stresses and blahblahblah, and in a way it still is, by communicating through this forum. Although I'm in Vancouver 10/12 months these days, I still check this website at least once a day to keep up with the crew.

Since everyone is older than me and has a job, and as time went by, people started getting into newer VWs and Audis, and MK4s and such started getting less attention, I think this is when less people started showing up to the meets. And when the price tag of the car you own goes up, sometimes the new younger kids with cheaper cars can find it becomes more difficult to approach you, unless you are a super outgoing person. These days, on the first page of the "Builds Threads" the most popular ones are the newer cars. Back then, I make a small mod or some repair on my car (or anyone really), comments will start, and leads to discussions and more, because back then a lot more people drive MK4s and can relate to me. These days, everyone drives a new car, and I can have a pretty important and big job happening and barely any comments, nothing is happening, why? Because people don't know and appreciated how much you can improve one of those older cars compared to the newer ones. New cars already has bright headlights, good power output, nice interior etc. Some people also don't bother looking at a proper "used MK4 build" when they can eye on a certified pre-owned S6 or something getting satin wrap, a lowering module and some Vossens, because as we all know a S6 is more expensive and cooler than my MK4, lol.

^ I think we should improve the website first before trying to get more people in, because car owners here are getting more separated(this is okay, a person driving a new RS3 does not have to get two shiets about a classic MK2), we should create more catagories on our website, so people can feel more comfortable about posting there cars up, and have an easier time finding the content they want to see. I don't think we should divide it up too much, because we are not VWVortex with millions of people, we should have it into a few catagories by the era of the car. For example, the aircooled models share many components and repair techniques, so we should have a Pre1972 section. The MK1- MK3s are all relatively older school, and have similar chassis designs, the nimble 4 cylinder GTI was also the king of the pocket rockets during this era, so there should be a 1972-1998 section. MK4 and MK5s are somewhat modern but not modern enough, however the iconic R32 models are born in this era but discontinued afterwards, so 1999-2009 should be another section. And MK6 and up with a section called Present. Audi models have a similar timeline in terms of their development so that would not be difficult to be included.

^ What I want to say is, our website can be improved before we take on recruiting more people, and without more people we won't have a large community and won't be able to host good large events. And also, do we want to develop into a world class shiet show like VWVortex or grow into a larger Calgary community instead? Or do we want to be hippies like Lowcals and expand via YouTube and social media with profit in mind? Personally I don't want to see a drastic change in this community, surely time moves on and positions need to be replaced, but the community goal should not be completely replaced with the change of a person, because at the end of the day what makes Eurodrivers Eurodrivers is not the name, it's the caring and diverse local crew.

I hope the people that care about this thread reads and can somewhat understand what I'm trying to express, and I hope to see Eurodrivers steadily become even better.

[flipstah]

Re: Eurodrivers Management.

There are tons of good ideas in this thread.

Better bring your notebook and take notes, Danny. I'll be at the meet tomorrow to see what changes are proposed.

I'm Switzerland.