Dear Brian,

It appears I left you out of my response above, as I was concentrating on the actual event and not relating it to your original point.

If lowered responses indicate a sag in interest, perhaps a survey could reveal what does get people's attention. The experiment done by the Washington Post illustrates the point made by Al Reis and Jack Trout in their book on Positioning. That is that people nowadays have thousands of messaages bombarding them and competing for their attention. It may be that as society (including the JPF membership) is moving in a particular direction, new means of marketing the Road Trip could be devised to connect with potential attendees. For example, some churches now promote that they offer "contemporary" worship services to attract attendees. I think we can safely assume that these churches saw declining attendance as long as they stuck with the traditional format that had nevertheless been successful in earlier times.

I don't know about JPFers in other areas, but as a member of an active chapter, I go to every meeting that I'm in town for. And I travel a lot for my job. I like the interaction and I learn something new every time I go. Personally I would love to meet you and shake your hand and thank you again for the great work you do on our behalf. But aside from the chance to meet Brian face to face and maybe hear him speak, how does a "Road Show" meeting differ from a regular meeting? (This info might appear on the boards in full detail, but escaped my notice). The announcement of a Road Show would have to be stated in a way that

1) gets the attention of today's typical member and
2) communicates what benefits are associated with attending.

That is, what this experience has to offer that nothing else can.

My two cents for what it's worth.

Steve Dockendorf
Dockendorf Audio Recorders
"Quality music for quality people"
dockendorf2000@yahoo.com
http://www.stevedockendorf.com
http://www.myspace.com/stephendockendorf
http://stevedockendorf.wordpress.com