<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional//EN"> <HTML><HEAD> <META HTTP-EQUIV="Content-Type" CONTENT="text/html; charset=us-ascii"> <TITLE>Message</TITLE> <META name=GENERATOR content="MSHTML 8.00.6001.19088"></HEAD> <BODY> <DIV><FONT color=#0000ff size=2 face=Arial><SPAN class=843491816-01072011>Ryan,</SPAN></FONT></DIV> <DIV><FONT color=#0000ff size=2 face=Arial><SPAN class=843491816-01072011></SPAN></FONT> </DIV> <DIV><FONT color=#0000ff size=2 face=Arial><SPAN class=843491816-01072011>Based on what happened with prior smaller increases of $10-$20, I'd say your numbers are off. Raise dues $100 and you'd lose about half of the Associate members and one fourth to one third of the RPT members. You'd end up around 2,500 times $320 equals $800,000, a little less than what we collect now. We'd need to raise it another $100-$150 to make up the convention difference because that would cause more drops. </SPAN></FONT></DIV> <DIV><FONT color=#0000ff size=2 face=Arial><SPAN class=843491816-01072011>So double the dues,end up with half or less of the membership, fire some of the staff, downsize the Journal, have smaller conventions, hey sounds like a plan.</SPAN></FONT></DIV> <DIV><FONT color=#0000ff size=2 face=Arial><SPAN class=843491816-01072011></SPAN></FONT> </DIV> <DIV><FONT color=#0000ff size=2 face=Arial><SPAN class=843491816-01072011>DP</SPAN></FONT></DIV> <DIV><FONT color=#0000ff size=2 face=Arial><SPAN class=843491816-01072011> <DIV align=left><FONT size=2>Dale Probst RPT</FONT></DIV> <DIV align=left><FONT size=2>Registered Piano Technician</FONT></DIV> <DIV align=left><FONT size=2>Ward & Probst, Inc.</FONT></DIV> <DIV align=left><FONT size=2><A href="http://www.wardprobst.com/">www.wardprobst.com</A></FONT></DIV> <DIV align=left><FONT size=2><A href="mailto:dale@wardprobst.com">dale@wardprobst.com</A></FONT></DIV> <DIV align=left><FONT size=2></FONT> </DIV></SPAN></FONT></DIV> <DIV><FONT color=#0000ff size=2 face=Arial><SPAN class=843491816-01072011></SPAN></FONT> </DIV> <BLOCKQUOTE style="MARGIN-RIGHT: 0px"> <DIV></DIV> <DIV dir=ltr lang=en-us class=OutlookMessageHeader align=left><FONT size=2 face=Tahoma>-----Original Message-----<BR><B>From:</B> pianotech-bounces@ptg.org [mailto:pianotech-bounces@ptg.org] <B>On Behalf Of </B>Ryan Sowers<BR><B>Sent:</B> Friday, July 01, 2011 10:48 AM<BR><B>To:</B> pianotech@ptg.org<BR><B>Subject:</B> Re: [pianotech] Right Here, Right Now (was Stuff Which Should Really Be on PTG-L)<BR><BR></FONT></DIV>Well the math isn't really all that complicated. Right now we operate the convention on a budget based on around 600 registrants paying around $400 a piece. That comes to around $240,000. We have just shy of 4000 members. $240,000 so to have a dues increase cover that amount would come to about $60 per member. <BR><BR>If we got REALLY excited and raised the dues $100 per year, we would have $400,000 to work with, which would give us a far grander budget to work with - meaning we COULD pay more of the instructors expenses AND make attendance "free" for members. <BR><BR>Here are some other things to consider...<BR><BR>4000 members x $220 = $880,000<BR>3750 members x $280 = 1,050,000<BR>3500 members x $320 = 1,120,000<BR><BR>So even if a $100 dues increase caused us to loose 12.5% of our members (extremely doubtful) our increased revenue would be around $240,000, which is about what we run a convention on now. <BR><BR>Food for thought...<BR><BR>Ryan Sowers<BR><BR><BR><BR> <DIV class=gmail_quote>On Fri, Jul 1, 2011 at 8:10 AM, Alan Eder <SPAN dir=ltr><<A href="mailto:reggaepass@aol.com">reggaepass@aol.com</A>></SPAN> wrote:<BR> <BLOCKQUOTE style="BORDER-LEFT: #ccc 1px solid; MARGIN: 0px 0px 0px 0.8ex; PADDING-LEFT: 1ex" class=gmail_quote><FONT color=black size=2 face=arial> <DIV style="FONT-FAMILY: helvetica,arial; COLOR: black; FONT-SIZE: 10pt"> <DIV><FONT color=black size=2 face=arial>Dale, <DIV><BR></DIV> <DIV>I, too believe that, "... one motivated person can make a difference," which is why I am chiming in on this topic, and where it will best reach an appropriate audience, right here on pianotech.</DIV> <DIV><BR></DIV> <DIV>I find it ironic that your takeaway from Del's eloquent and measured post was the one statement he made that could be (mis?)construed to be in support of the status quo.  What is your take on everything else he wrote?  </DIV> <DIV><BR></DIV> <DIV>Similarly, while I appreciate and am still absorbing your response to selected aspects of my post, I would be most interested to learn your views on the points I made about furthering our own professionalism as an organization, and placing a premium on excellence in instruction.  To my mind, these are two defining issues facing our Guild.</DIV> <DIV><BR> <DIV style="CLEAR: both"></DIV>Finally, I apologize if I have passed on an inaccurate calculation as to how much dues would have to be increased in order to make registration at national conventions gratis for members.  Please set me straight by providing the true amount we would have to notch it up to accomplish this intriguing goal.</DIV> <DIV><BR></DIV> <DIV>Thanks,</DIV> <DIV><BR></DIV> <DIV>Alan Eder<BR></DIV></FONT></DIV></DIV></FONT></BLOCKQUOTE></DIV>-- <BR>Ryan Sowers, RPT<BR>Puget Sound Chapter<BR>Olympia, WA<BR><A href="http://www.pianova.net">www.pianova.net</A><BR></BLOCKQUOTE></BODY></HTML>