National Directors Meeting by Conference Call
August 7th, 2003 9:30pm EST

Present: Phil Abrami - Quebec, Rolf Drommer ­ BC Main, David Saville-Peck ­ Van Isleand, Chris Pawlowicz - Ottawa, Kip Keylock ­ SA BMW, Gerry Low - Trillium

Regrets: Laura Arthurs ­ Bluesnose, Tracy Deslaurier ­ NA BMW

Call started 6:30pm PST and meeting was started at 6:34pm

Agenda Items:
BMW Magazine article and advertising
Driving school manuals and video
Chapter web sites
Club merchandise
International Council
Directors' meeting
National budget & dues

Previous meeting minutes: As we meet by conference call, and the previous meeting minutes were posted and no correction comments were received, they are accepted as posted on the web site and to the directors.

BMW Magazine article and advertising: Phil met with Kevin Marcotte during the Montreal Grand Prix and was able to discuss various club and BMW interactions. One of the items was that Kevin would get a reported to write a story about the club for inclusion in BMW Magazine. Kevin was also to find out about the possibility of some kind of ad about the club, and this needs to be followed up. Rolf will forward the reply he sent to the reporter Michael Bettencourt when he was contacted by email (reply is at the end of the minutes). Gerry indicates Trillium execs were also contacted for info for the article, so it appears to be in the works.

Driving school manuals and video: The committee to review and rework the manul has not been very active. Some bits are in place and a committee was struck, but there has been little in the way of concrete action by the committee as a group. No conference calls yet. SA BMW has contributed a proposed instructor manual they have been using. Files are on the club forum in PDF format, and Word.doc versions will be available shortly.
As to the student manual: We need some more action on the process of reviewing and updating the current manual and adapting to our national focus. We need to convert the original document to editable text (Microsoft Word). Kip volunteered to head up getting converted to text. RD to advise committee that we need to get an action plan going. We also need to remind George on distribution of video that Bluenose created, as most chapters have not received their copy of the Bluenose video. Set deadline of Jan 1. Get Roger involved from Island.
Gerry commented on need for standards due to new scrutiny of schools. Good standards and teaming up may help on insurance etc. All directors are asked to get involved via their rep on the Driving Schools manual committee. The members are:
Rob Foreman ­ Trillium robf@agribrands.ca
David Saville-Peck ­ Vanc Island davidsp@shaw.ca
Gerry Low ­ Trillium gerry@parallel-mkt.com
Chris Pawlowicz ­ Ottawa cpawlowicz@istop.com
Cherif Gress ­ Quebec cherifgress@yahoo.com
Tracy Deslaurier ­ NA BMW tdeslaurier@shaw.ca
Hagen Hohn ­ Ottawa hagen_hohn@mitel.com
Rolf Drommer ­ BC mainland rolf@bmwclub.ca
Kip Keylock ­ SA BMW keylock@telusplanet.net
Evan Weaver ­ Trillium evan.weaver@senecac.on.ca
Peter Spencer ­ NA BMW leigh2@pspencer.ab.ca
Phil Abrami ­ Quebec abrami@education.concordia.ca
Roger Harmiston ­ Vanc Island roger_harmston@chasm.ca
rharmston@empower-inc.com
George Garner ­ Bluenose ggarner@hfx.eastlink.ca
John Herbst ­ SA BMW jherbst@telusplanet.net

Lapping days issue also a concern. There is a great risk if we don't have regulations and requirements.
Various discussions ensued.
Motion: No lapping days are to be run or hosted by BMW Club of Canada member clubs in Canada.
Moved (Gerry), seconded (Rolf) passed unanimously.

Chapter website: Various discussions ensued about sites. How do we get the missing sites up and running? Several sites are not active or missing. What needs to be done, is paying an issue? While on a previous business trip, Phil met with several directors to brainstorm ideas. There is talent and resource help available from within the club ranks, and national has funds available to help. Will national offer some funding?

Motion: That national offer a $500 web site development or maintenance incentive that can be claimed by clubs for work on their web sites. The intent is to help get the remaining web sites updated and on line. Chapters with existing active web sites can also claim the incentive. Chapters with active web sites may use the funds for other activites once claimed, but must maintain an active updates web presence.
Discussion ensued about who could do the work, and having existing directors do the work for other clubs and possible conflict of interest. It was decided there would be no problem if disclosure is in place on the work to be done and who will do it.
Moved by David, seconded by Chris, all in favour, carried unanimously. Clubs are encouraged to use open bidding for sites if they use club members or directors. Rolf will create a rebate request form and distribute to the chapters.

Club merchandise: Again on a recent business trip where Phil met with other directors he became aware of some club promotional items, in particular a grill badge project started by the BC mainland club. These are high quality die struck brass grill badges that are nickel plated with a color club logo in a baked enamel finish. Do we want similar national merchandise? We discussed various options, as the project BC mainland is doing requires and order commitment of 100 pieces and the cost is set at 29 Euros or about $45 CDN landed in Canada, but they are a very high quality product. Gerry mentioned that he could quote on a similar item.
It was decided this might be a desirable item for national to coordinate the ordering and make the items available to chapters to purchase and sell to members.
Action Items: Send info to Gerry to do a quote. Investigate getting additional quotes. We have a reference quote from the German company BC mainland is using. Make some up. Offer to be sold by clubs, not national, chapters can buy and resell.
RD to get info and sample to Gerry for quoting. RD will also distribute info on the proposed product, and the prices from Germany. Quotes should include shipping and handling costs. Once prices are received we can review further by email and during future directors meetings.
We also talked about other items to be looked at, such as key fobs and other options, but current focus will be on grill badges as something different and unique.

International Council: The International Council meeting is currently scheduled for Sept 11-15 in Munich. Our club gets to send a delegate and an observer. The Council does not cover the flight expenses for the observer, or a delegate or observers partner. Phil will go as our delegate and Jim Westmacott of BC will go as observer. Jim was chosen out of the list of possible observers, as the national nomination for the "Prof. Dr. Gerhard Knöchlein BMW Mobile Tradition Award" is Dr. Sultan Karim with his 507 and previous other vintage BMWs as Sultan is from the BC mainland chapter. National has requested of IC that conflict of interest as it relates to clubs be put on the agenda. Clubs should pass additional info or concerns on to Phil for what should be included at the IC meeting. A suggestion during the conference call was to ask IC regarding standards for Driver Training and schools as run by clubs.

Directors' meeting: We discussed the need and frequency of meetings. Do we wish to have a face-to-face meeting in the near future? We need to start planning for and decide on details if we want to have one.
Initial reactions: David in favour, Gerry against. Phil commented that if there were major items for an agenda it would make sense. We need good reasons to meet face to face, as the costs are significant. Chris in favour of phone conference calls, others agreed. Will continue with conference calls for now, a main face-to-face meeting to be evaluated and called if special need arises.

National budget & dues: Bylaws call for regular dues, so we need to decide status of dues pending for the remaining quarters in the year.. Based on current spending and funding levels the treasurer recommended that we: Defer last two quarters of dues for 2003. Moved, seconded and carried unanimously that we defer chapter dues to national for the balance of 2003.
A quick membership tally was taken to access current membership totals
Current Status results:
Bluenose 124,
Quebec 250,
Ottawa 66,
Trillium 500,
SABMW 175,
NA 100,
BC Main 368,
Island 40.
This quick recap indicates a total of 1624 members nationwide, up from previous count of 1308 or about 24% increase in growth since last year.
All chapters are reminded to report membership totals on at least a semi annual, and preferably quarterly basis to the national secretary, as these numbers are used when we discuss funding and club growth with BMW Canada as it relates to their support.

Discussion ensued about membership profiles and where to put membership efforts as relates to younger members, potential growth of membership etc., and the various types of car enthusiasts that currently are available. David has had some contact with a younger show car crowd and will follow up, and advise of what he has found. We are possibly missing many potential enthusiasts, however some of them are members of existing on-line communities and see little need for a formal club.
Ideas for tapping into some of that membership potential are welcomed. Perhaps there are things we can offer on our web sites and in the way of activities that may attract membership from other than our traditional membership base.
Again ideas and comments are welcome.

Any Other Business:
The next national directors conference call should be helf after the end of driving season, around the end of Oct or so. Directors are reminded we can communicate via postings on the private forum on the web site, and that access is also available to chapter directors to a private forum.

Meeting was adjourned at 10:25pm EST

Attachment bits:
What follows is the email reply to Michael Bettencourt the reporter who was to do the BMW Magazine article.

Hi Michael,

Jim Westmacott, the president of the BMW Car Club of BC passed you message on to me to answer. As he indicated to you, I'm both a director at the local club level, and am also a national (BMW Club of Canada) director and in that capacity am the national secretary treasurer of the national club.

In your original message you asked the following:
> As the president of your respective clubs, I was hoping you all could
> help me get the word out about each of your organizations. If you could
> each give me a little background on BMW Group Canada's role with your
> club, I would be most appreciative. To give you an idea of what I'm
> looking for, I've jotted down a few questions:
>
> - What did BMW Canada do for your club in the past?
> - What does it do now?
> - How did BMW Canada initially get involved in the club?
> - How do the members benefit, or not, from BMW's involvement?
> - How do you hope it will be involved in the club in the future?

I'll attempt some answers, but will also preface it with a bit of history, and some facts about the BMW clubs and their association with BMW Group Canada and BMW AG the parent company.

First the history.
The national club, known as the BMW Club of Canada has been around since the late 1970's. It was formally incorporated with letters patent under the non-profit sections of Industry Canada back in 1980. At that time the club was located mostly in Ontario, but also had followers from across the country.
The club was founded using the guidelines of, and is a founding member of, the International Council of BMW Clubs. <http://www.bmwclubs.org/>

To quote from the International Council site:
> The International Council of BMW Clubs grew out of an idea by Dr. Horst
> Avenarius, long-time adviser to Eberhard von Kuenheim, former CEO of BMW AG.
> The Council was conceived as an umbrella body to coordinate the "living marque
> enthusiasm" incarnate in BMW clubs worldwide. Today, the club membership
> numbers in hundreds of thousands.
>
> The Council is comprised of various market or continental Club umbrella
> organizations from around the world. BMW AG is a coequal and active member of
> the Council. Delegates from both groups meet annually. Subsidiaries are
> encouraged to participate and support their associated continental Club
> organization.
>
> The International Club organization symbolizes and documents the BMW Club idea
> on an international level, ensuring friendship and partnership among all
> people who have established ties with the marque. The Council and its members
> recognize and accept the "Corporate Culture" concept of BMW AG. Moreover, the
> body supports the unique BMW image in all areas of communication. Members
> continuously strive to convey this basic philosophy to their own associations
> around the world.

The BMW Club of Canada has been active in following those guidelines, and has grown over the years.
A few years back the BMW Club of Canada underwent some changes so the local member clubs could better operate regionally. In effect, the BMW Club of Canada became an umbrella club for the existing and potential new clubs in Canada.
Currently the BMW Club of Canada is comprised of 8 member clubs that cover all major regions of Canada, and we count nearly 1400 BMW enthusiasts at the local level in member clubs as part of our national membership.
More info on the national club and its member clubs is available on the BMW Club of Canada national web site: <http://www.bmwclub.ca/>

To directly begin answering your questions:
> - What did BMW Canada do for your club in the past?
BMW Group Canada Inc, and the dealer network have always been supportive of the national and regional clubs. They have offered financial support, as well as event support. Following the guidelines set out by the International Council, they support the clubs, but also allow the clubs a certain level of autonomy.

> - What does it do now?
BMW Group Canada, still actively supports the club community. The national club and as a result the member clubs receive some financial assistance, but the most important part is that by working together, the national club, the local clubs, and BMW Group Canada and the dealer network are active in promoting the BMW lifestyle and BMW heritage. Special offer invitations to participate in events such the recent F! Grand Prix in Montreal, open house at BMW locations etc. are all a part of this.

> - How did BMW Canada initially get involved in the club?
BMW Group Canada Inc., (formerly BMW Canada Inc.) have always been involved with the club/ clubs since their inception because of the guidelines of the International Council which determine how clubs and the owner of the marque are to work together.

> - How do the members benefit, or not, from BMW's involvement?
All club members benefit as a result of BMW Group Canada's involvement with the club structure. Thanks to their various forms of support of the club structure, members benefit from reduced dues needed to operate local clubs, but most important, members benefit because there is a good link between the manufacturer / distributor, and the enthusiasts at the club level.
We have access to BMW information, and a good working relationship with the dealer channel. Because of these relationships it makes it possible for the clubs to understand the heritage of the marque, and promote the uniqueness of the brand.

> - How do you hope it will be involved in the club in the future?
We hope to continue the excellent level of involvement we already have. This includes access to resources needed to support rare and heritage vehicles, specialty events that promote the uniqueness of the brand, and the availability of information about our vehicles. At the club level BMW owners are typically enthusiasts more so than owners of any other brand. Many club members own more than one BMW. Many have owned numerous BMWs and would not consider owning any other brand. This is truly unique in the car club world, and the clubs and the BMW group (BMW Group Canada and BMW AG, and the International Council) strive to continue this type of enthusiasm.

Hopefully that answers your questions a bit from the overall perspective.

I have personal experience in how BMW owners are enthusiasts as a result of my local club involvement. Our local club, the BMW Car Club of BC was founded back in April of 1998 with 6 founding members and by the end of that year was at 83 members. We now total over 368 members and are very active with some 29 club events scheduled during the calendar year. Everything from social meetings, day drives and tours, technical sessions, and a driver training program. We have several very rare vintage and heritage BMWs owned by members of our club, and they are active in bringing them to events to promote the heritage of BMW. The fact that there is a working structure in place between the manufacturer of our cars and the enthusiasts that own them simply helps make things better.

If you have further questions, please do not hesitate to contact me, either by email or by phone.

Also be sure to visit some of our club web sites to get an idea of what happens both nationally and locally.

Regards,
Rolf Drommer, member services, BMW Car Club of BC <www.bmwccbc.org>
national secretary, BMW Club of Canada <www.bmwclub.ca>