Regional Conference takes place at Matamata

Thirteen of the region's 23 clubs were represented by 19 attendees on Sunday the 18th of September along with members of the NZ Bridge board Karen Martelletti and Alan Turner and four of the five Waikato-Bays Regional committee, Ian Moore being overseas. The theme of the day was "Growing our Clubs".

Anna Kalma had done some number crunching and compared our region to the wider NZ Bridge population. Click here to view Anna's terrific PowerPoint presentation - see where your sits. In summary:

• Our region has grown by 4% since 2013 and we are the second largest region by club member population
• Excluding Affilate members, 50% of our bridge members are located in 5 clubs, Tauranga, Hamilton, Mt Maunganui, Taupo and Cambridge
• Clubs with a greater proportion of Junior players are growing, we have a 3% higher number of Junior members compared to the nationwide trend

In the next part of the conference, club representatives of clubs which had grown, shared what they had done in the past year. From the success stories there arose a call for NZ Bridge to commission a national radio advertising campaign similar to the one that the Hamilton bridge club had used so successfully for the last two years. Similar sentiment was endorsed concerning the Board's producing an excellent 30-second trailer that never really surfaced in movie houses around the country. General consensus was that it was word of mouth that worked best and this was enhanced by the culture at the club. FUN is one of the key ingredients.

Karen Martelletti then presented a resume on the improvements that had been made on the NZ Bridge web site with a preview of what is coming up - facilities for clubs to change membership details directly on the NZ Bridge database, upload master points which are instantly available for all to see, issue new members a NZ Bridge number, add or change tournaments details, and make links to tournament posters and entry modules.

During an excellent catered lunch, minutes of the 14 July NZ Bridge Board meeting were displayed. This was to ensure all attendees were aware of the following:

That the board works towards a model which sees the board in a governance role rather than a management role, and as a consequence of this, the strategies of the board will be implemented by a person appointed by the board to lead this operational task pursuant to clause 14 of the Constitution.

Karen explained that historically the NZCBA was a management committee, that when the NZCBA became NZ Bridge with an elected Board, the management style continued, but that a review would take place at some stage to look at becoming a governing committee. She mentioned too that the Board members were putting in enormous amounts of time and that this was not sustainable in the long term and that ultimately the Board members were all volunteers doing the work of people who would be paid for those jobs done. Karen mentioned that more needs to be done in regards to marketing bridge and fundraising and that people with certain skills in those areas were not necessarily present in the current Board. A move to governance could mean the appointment of a CEO or the role of the Secretary could be changed. Club representatives were concerned that this proposal could mean an increase in levies or masterpoint fees. Karen said that person employed would be responsible for finding a way to raise funds for NZ Bridge and this may be in the way of sponsorship or similar, so that we do not ask the players to pay more, but added that there was no business plan for this move yet.

When asked, Alan Turner commented he was not against the governance model, but that the plan was financially not viable and that NZ Bridge would run at a loss within two years if it were to go ahead. This topic is moved for discussion at next Saturday's NZ Bridge AGM.

Michael Neels presented his findings on what the Region was doing to help with Growth in its clubs. He concluded .. NOT MUCH!. He demonstrated that 80% of bridge players just want a game of cards once or twice a week and come along for the social aspect of the game. This 80% is not interested in attending tournaments, yet most of the funding and efforts of the Region were directed at encouraging and supporting the 20% of players who did go to tournaments - and we do that pretty well. The good news was that the 80% did not really NEED fixing - they were quite happy doing what they did. This hitherto largely undetected Dark Matter actually, though, forms the very backbone of bridge in New Zealand. They are the ones that reflect and exhibit the tone in clubs and, to this end, they are the ones that need constant grooming and tending if we want to make bridge clubs fun, supportive places that are attractive to outsiders. In this way we can change the public's stereotypical perception of the game and its people.

The meeting then split into groups to discuss what could be done to improve the lot of the 80% group and retain people who come to lessons. Some of the items mentioned by the groups were:

• International players should visit clubs and share their experiences, like the All Blacks have been doing in schools these last few weeks
• Charge for lessons. It gives the impression that they are paying for something and are less likely to not show up anymore
• Also include in their payment a club membership until the end of the year. This hopefully will keep them beyond the first year
• Create a Fun Tool kit. This means think of social things to do with the members which makes them want to come to bridge more frequently
• Create a Snippet Tool kit. This is a card with a bridge topic which could be explained prior to bridge starts
• Find people in the right target groups, people who have time on their hands, like Probus, Lions, Golf Clubs
• Mention achievements of players at all levels before the session
• Find people to become great Partnership Stewards
• Hi-Low bridge events, where Open and Intermediate players must play with a Junior
• Cinema advertising should be driven nationally by NZ Bridge, ditto for radio advertising
• Profile the game more, more active marketing

The meeting closed at 2:40 with a feeling that good progress had been made in addressing Growth in our clubs.