Difference: TestResults3 (r6 vs. r5)
Sample Table Display of Results
Table to see how we can look at the results as of April 20.
| 4. What help would you like from AIS? | 5. Please add any other comments you wish to. What else would you like to tell us? |
| Maybe more programs | |
| Suggestions for programs.... | Magazine is much better than it was a few years ago. |
| Whatever you're already doing. | Thanks for being there! |
| Ideas for how to attract young people. | |
| A "Survival Guide" for new club presidents... Seems like we have such a difficult time getting people to even consider becoming president, it might help to have a concise tip sheet of resources available so that signing up would not seem so onerous... BTW, our club does not have a separate Programs chair, so that is yet another task that befalls any would-be presidents. | |
| Speakers for regional conventions and even local meetings. There are only a few iris experts withing a 500 mile radius of our club. | I actually enjoy the national conventions more than our local club, I am sad to say. I am getting old and no longer have the energy to be a great deal of help in our local club. I always feel guilty when I don't volunteer energetically any more, but I am not up to it physically. |
| New Program Ideas | Fresh Leadership |
| Encourage affordable conventions. | Maintaining public display gardens is a terrific drain on resources and manpower. |
| Don't see where AIS can help. | |
| Provide program materials at no charge. | No additional comments at this time |
| would like to see info on hybridizing. Such as choosing parents by dominant and recessive traits such as colors, size of bloom etc.I am sure there are many wanna be hybridizers like me that have no clue as to how to select parents other than Boy! that's a beauty and look at that, lets make a cross.Reference books(not TOO complicated)on the subject could be shared also.How else can we get better and better iris??The random choice is not very scientific or praise worthy. James Washington (102351) | |
| Continued | |
| Continued | |
| Can't think of anything more than is already being offered. | Our members like 'AIS News and Notes' - we offer it as a membership benefit. |
| Inspiration for members? | I was just elected treasurer and we have a new prez who is very psyched about reinvigorating the group. Been working on a new membership brochure in hopes of getting new people involved. |
| WAYS TO FIND NEW MEMBERS | |
| Good, FREE digital programs | |
| One idea is to have AIS open their conventions and regional meetings to the public. For instance, having the guest gardens open to the public like a garden tour for the public, similar to art tours, where people go from place to place on a single day to visit art venues. Iris folks could be there to answer questions and encourage people to learn about AIS. It would be advertised in local news, and on social media. Other activities in the convention hotel, like the iris show, and boutique, could also be open to the public. I feel that we have closed ourselves in, and are not reaching out to the public when we have these big events. We co-sponsored our last Spring Regional in a hotel where the iris show was in the Lobby. We had over 180 entries, with arrangements visible as you entered the hotel. It was quite spectacular, and many folks saw the show and commented. In hindsight, we should have had an active membership table, but we did not expect the show to be such a success. | We are fortunate to still have 2 commercial gardens in our membership. That is why we can sponsor the Spring Regional Meetings. The decline in commercial iris gardens has made it hard to get other clubs to sponsor the regional meetings. Perhaps more emphasis on small gardens, and how to grow iris in a smaller yard, would help to encourage more folks to participate at the local level, and as an extension be an AIS member. |
| Ideas in attracting new members | Our club has meetings 9 months out of the year. We have an annual show and sale. At our meetings we have guest speakers and programs. We have members join our society but never seem to attend our meetings or get involved with the activities. ????? |
| Current updates on getting youth interested and keeping them interested and involved. | none |
| I would like to see new programs done in keynote. I use the iPhone 6S as a laptop and program is on the phone through the iCloud. Then I can hook up to projector or smart TV. I would like to see the AIS webpage updated and easier to search what you are looking for. I would like to see judging training periods for G/E two hours classroom and two hours in garden. For a small region very expensive for one hour of training. | Programs for meetings for the clubs. We have to make these meetings fun. We need to find a way to have people want to come to an iris meeting that isn’t boring. |
| Please change the rules for Youth in AIS, the way CIP's are made to be covered within AIS. The leader who is AIS is covered so why should all the youth within that particular CIP be listed by name. Most parents in California are very cautious of giving out their children's names and birthdates. In region 14 we have just as many Youth members as we have adult members. There are at least 100+ more youth that would like to be in a CIP, they are being mentored by Region 14 now without being in a CIP, that is because we have adults who are dedicated to AIS and the youth within our region. | WE are life members and have enjoyed all the benefits within AIS. AIS has become a society made up of very old people, if you want to see AIS continue for another 100 years you will need to make it easier for youth to be mentored so that they will be able to nurture our favorite plant and gardening in general |
| We are very isolated. We have AIS judges in our club and the only shows they get to judge is our own show. AIS should be encouraging the formation of clubs in Region 11. I think there are only 3 clubs in this very large district. The only support we receive is demands to fill out evaluations for iris that mostly benefit breeders, no national officers ever visit, communicate, write articles for our newsletter, or send any encouragement. We could exist without the national organization. These and other reasons are more than likely the reason why other iris societies in the district find no benefit in belonging. | I have been a member for many years. I have formed an opinion concerning the national magazine. It is focused on self congradutionary articles and memorials for service. Some articles about horticulture practices are usually included. Your design focus is very limited with photos of designs in some cases not meriting blue ribbons. My only guess is that they were awarded a blue because they showed up, giving the designer undeserved recognition. Do you ever reach out for design articles that address subjects other than elementary and beginning design issues, or photos of designs other than that are entered in photo contests? You produce a beautifully printed and colorful magazine that is mostly a trade magazine for the breeder trade. Open your horizons and improve the magazine. |
| Stop raising fees for things like ribbons and postage. How to keep members ideas. | I sure wish the website would be updated. We love the iris wiki site and the News and Notes. |
| Suggestions for motivating people and a list of people who will come and do programs. We want a list in our hands. Need a way to contact them. Also please stop raising postage and awards costs, really you don't need to make a profit off of the clubs that are the backbone of AIS. Just charge us the cost to you please!! | We all need help with websites and even facebook. The learning curve of our members is not too good. |
| Provide guest speakers for our general meetings at low cost or large speaker fees. | Try to find more reasonable hotels for the nationals. Lower the registration fees if possible to nationals. I think more people would attend the national and other section events. We have 5 members attending New Orleans this year. Do more for the youths. We have over 140 youth members in our society area. Could use more support in iris training and iris donations. It is difficult and costly to provide for the youths activities. |
| It would be great if more judges from more regions would be available for judges training and if there were more judges. Some of our Region Trainers are wonderful, The Royals, Jim Wilson, The Brownings, Bob Strohman, but many like Darnell Hester and Hilda Crick have retired or moved. We try to stay local or close to keep costs down but the aging of our judge population will soon be a pressing problem. | The key to a healthy club is not only a love of iris but of the people who love them, and individuals who pitch in, are willing to weed and to share, and it does not hurt to have some stellar cooks in the group. |
| AIS seems to have enough problems of its own - I don't think they can provide much help to affiliates | I feel like organizations like the AIS all the way down to its affiliates are in a death spiral, particularly in low-income urban areas like ours. No one gardens here. |
| Advertising that can be easily tailored for local publications, guides, ideas to expand membership, sharing platform between locals. Materials on how to make sure that we we do have new members that we make them feel welcome instead of like they are crashing someone else's party. | Our parochial attitudes will kill us, leadership at the regional level is not inspired and seem to simply be waiting to turn out the lights and lock the doors. It's understandable. Many of us have a mindset that says that the style of meeting that most of us have grown up with is not the model that will see us into the future. Sounds brutal, I know, but we have to look at ourselves with a critical eye... I don't know the answers but I do know that if we face the questions together we have a better chance of finding answers. |
| Not sure | Ways to add members. |
| Keeping your website updated would be nice. | |
| Current ligature to present at local events to promote our club | |
| Guidelines for newly elected positions | Seems like there needs to be an overall outline how to run a club. Ways to attract more members is also needed. |
| As an officer in multiple clubs and someone who is frequently involved with programs and program planning I would like to see AIS be more helpful with program materials, ie, more like what the AHS offers in the way of cost free, lots of choices, fresh and current material and DOWNLOADABLE. Something I will call "Iris 101" , material that a new member could access to help them jump start their iris adventure would be a tremendous help, it is very difficult to get new members the information they need to get up to speed on iris culture etc without conducting meeting programs that are of little to no interest to current membership. Most new members, especially those who became interested at a show or a sale, join to learn about the iris and loose interest quickly if they feel left behind at meetings. | AIS needs to revamp their judges programs. Currently, it is too intimidating and involved for most members to consider becoming judges. Here again, look at the AHS training and requirements for judges, major differences. Also, a separate garden judge classification is SORELY needed as a way to involve more members. Additionally, either train judges to judge artistic displays correctly, limit artistic judging to accredited flower show judges only (which is not really a viable alternative due to cost and availability of such) or eliminate the category from AIS shows altogether. |
| To remember that not all Iris lovers want to be a hybridizer . Work on information on how to incorporate Irises in their garden with the correct companion plants, in a Bulletin hand out . Also remember local clubs are "Social" clubs and for the most part the members are over 50 years old and do not travel much. | First of all I would advocate the notion that even though the clubs are none profit It is not against the the rules or the law that the Board member be given a stipend not just for their time but also for the expense they incur and I believe the AIS should acknowledge this. In ten minutes I can tell you all you need to know about a bearded Iris ,then what do you offer a member for their years membership . You need to offer a real calendar say the size of the AIS Bulletin with only pictures of Irises not people and events the public will not buy what you currently put out every year we give away at least 1/2 of the calendars ,this year I think we will save our money. Don Fennell fdh48@msn.com |
| I don't know | We will probably merge with Pollen Daubers Iris Society, another local club. They have close to 20 members, no judges, no 501(c)3 and only do a rhizome sale. They do have more meetings and activities than our group but are kind of lackadaisical. |
| Speaker panel available for local meetings | Enjoy the website, could use more variety of information for artistic designs how to and sample photos. |
| Maybe the AIS could provide free 6-month emembership to the AIS to new members. This would be an enticement to join the AIS and help clubs keep new members. For those people not familiar with computers, could the AIS provide several small glitzy pamphlets to new members that talks about a) growing irises for the first time b) different type of irises and what grows where c) what is this AIS anyway? d)how to hybridize for the for first time e) where to get irises. I figure this information already exists in the old bulletins so it would just need to be reformatted. I know this information exists on-line but there nothing like having something in-hand to inspire you if you are not sure you want to be an active part of the iris community. Maybe the AIS can charge the club a dollar for the pamphlets and if they are smart they will add one about their club. | I would like a single on-line table that contains the registered irises. I can write code to access that table (similar to looking up stocks) and pull information about a specific iris. This will help out with my personal database and with classification at the show. |
| Suggestions on increasing membership | One long time member wants meetings to be more fun---any suggestions? |
| None at this time. | |
| I don't think they would accept it. | We have recently started to meet at a local restaurant. This has resolved several we were having. Now we no longer have to bring covered dishes. We purchase our lunches and go to the meeting room, much easier. |
| haven't been able to interest younger members of the community as yet though a few enter the show yearly, tips for growing membership as a whole which tends to hover between 45-55 | Since AIS can't control or help with the weather, I guess that's about it! |
| Tips on how to attract younger members | In these days of multitasking and instant gratification, is it realistic to expect younger people to want to join and be active in an iris society? |
| Nothing | Nothing |
| Need help finding resources to get guest speakers on iris related topics that will draw people in. | Would like help/suggestions on how to get people to attend meetings and join our club. |
| How can we get members to become more involved in the meetings/activities | Need more presentation packages on other topics for clubs to purchase such as pest control, |
| Don’t know | |
| Not sure of an answer for that. | We have a fantastic website that one of our members has created and maintains. I believe that our Region 5 should have a website like most other regions do. |
| ?? Ask the them, I don't go to meetings anymore. | They should merge with the Madison, WI club |
| Specialized programs on CD format and updating of the handbook. | In the AIS magazine it would be fun to highlight clubs at the local level in each issue, maybe a page dedicated to the grass"root" of AIS. It seems that it's mostly directed at Societies and Irisarians at the National level. Give the clubs a voice, a place for sharing ideas and information. |
| 1. PLEASE Update the Handbook for Judges and Show Officials!!!!! 2. Standardize the Iris Encyclopedia name entries (originally used alphabetical order, regardless of spaces or capitalization - recently, spaces have made a difference which is making it harder to find specific entries) 3. Update the Affiliation form as it is years old. 4. Have the Regional and National websites offer current information (update your websites) and forms, especially if a specific form is required. 5. Have the Regional officers explain to their local clubs what they do for us (besides dues, affiliations, and host a future meeting) and the how and why local club members should participate on a Regional or National level. | Be proud of your organizations! The storefront is finally selling coffee mugs, t-shirts, and tote bags. (Did we have to wait until the AIS Centennial for this merchandise?) How about purple AIS pens or pencils, Pins that promote AIS without having to be an outgoing RVP . A picture is worth a thousand words - what does the AIS 50th Anniversary Medal look like and can anyone proudly wear it? Can you add LINKS to other affiliates or local clubs to order t-shirts, coffee mugs, and tote bags to help support the local affiliates and clubs? I'd love to have a t-shirt collection with irises on them all. I'd pay to proudly wear American Iris Society (AIS), Iris Society of Australia (ISA), Belton Iris Society, Siouxland Iris Society, Reblooming Iris Society, Historic Iris Preservation Society (HIPS), Median Iris Society, etc. Let's all support the local clubs and affiliates!! |
| I would like to see an expense account provided to the AIS Pres. so that person could travel to the different Regions and give a lecture on the AIS. Many people don't really know much about the AIS. | AIS needs to offer members more services not less. To lessen services and continue to raise membership is a map for membership disaster |
| Love the printed magazine. Hope to go to another national convention when it is cost effective and not the same weekend as our planned show | Doing a great job. Love my hobby |
| leadership skills training, how to grow membership, online Q & A for leaders, sparkling meeting topics, online speaker bureau | |
| Ideas on how to gain new members. | We have had 2 big projects the last 2 years: naming irises for our school presidents and their first ladies, and planting irises with school children. We hope to find some new members through these projects. |
| Accept us as an AIS affiliate if we have at least 1 AIS member as an officer or director. | I personally get more helpful information from TBIS and RIS bulletins than I do from the AIS bulletin. |
| duties of each officer of the club | Would love to have another group in the Hamilton area. There is much need for it. |
| More iris education | Is there an iris logo/artwork available for local groups to use for promotional items or marketing? |
| be more proactive in helping clubs by openly supporting their presence in their communities | |
| nothing at the moment | |
| Just keep members informed. | |
| On-line judges' training, more incentives for membership (having a link to special "club order" offers from commercial sources would be nice!) | Step-by-step help for clubs seeking 501(c)(3) status would be much appreciated! |
| Keep up your great work maintaining your website, iris encyclopedia, covering our insurance, helping with show materials, etc. | |
| Details and what is involved in starting a club in my area. | What is involved in starting a club in my area?- Long Island, NY Please email me at ann_digitalis@hotmail.com |
-- WayneMesser - 30 Mar 2018
| 4. What help would you like from AIS? |
| Maybe more programs |
| Suggestions for programs.... |
| Whatever you're already doing. |
| Ideas for how to attract young people. |
| A "Survival Guide" for new club presidents... Seems like we have such a difficult time getting people to even consider becoming president, it might help to have a concise tip sheet of resources available so that signing up would not seem so onerous... BTW, our club does not have a separate Programs chair, so that is yet another task that befalls any would-be presidents. |
| Speakers for regional conventions and even local meetings. There are only a few iris experts withing a 500 mile radius of our club. |
| New Program Ideas |
| Encourage affordable conventions. |
| Don't see where AIS can help. |
| Provide program materials at no charge. |
| would like to see info on hybridizing. Such as choosing parents by dominant and recessive traits such as colors, size of bloom etc.I am sure there are many wanna be hybridizers like me that have no clue as to how to select parents other than Boy! that's a beauty and look at that, lets make a cross.Reference books(not TOO complicated)on the subject could be shared also.How else can we get better and better iris??The random choice is not very scientific or praise worthy. James Washington (102351) |
| Continued |
| Continued |
| Can't think of anything more than is already being offered. |
| Inspiration for members? |
| WAYS TO FIND NEW MEMBERS |
| Good, FREE digital programs |
| One idea is to have AIS open their conventions and regional meetings to the public. For instance, having the guest gardens open to the public like a garden tour for the public, similar to art tours, where people go from place to place on a single day to visit art venues. Iris folks could be there to answer questions and encourage people to learn about AIS. It would be advertised in local news, and on social media. Other activities in the convention hotel, like the iris show, and boutique, could also be open to the public. I feel that we have closed ourselves in, and are not reaching out to the public when we have these big events. We co-sponsored our last Spring Regional in a hotel where the iris show was in the Lobby. We had over 180 entries, with arrangements visible as you entered the hotel. It was quite spectacular, and many folks saw the show and commented. In hindsight, we should have had an active membership table, but we did not expect the show to be such a success. |
| Ideas in attracting new members |
| Current updates on getting youth interested and keeping them interested and involved. |
| I would like to see new programs done in keynote. I use the iPhone 6S as a laptop and program is on the phone through the iCloud. Then I can hook up to projector or smart TV. I would like to see the AIS webpage updated and easier to search what you are looking for. I would like to see judging training periods for G/E two hours classroom and two hours in garden. For a small region very expensive for one hour of training. |
| Please change the rules for Youth in AIS, the way CIP's are made to be covered within AIS. The leader who is AIS is covered so why should all the youth within that particular CIP be listed by name. Most parents in California are very cautious of giving out their children's names and birthdates. In region 14 we have just as many Youth members as we have adult members. There are at least 100+ more youth that would like to be in a CIP, they are being mentored by Region 14 now without being in a CIP, that is because we have adults who are dedicated to AIS and the youth within our region. |
| We are very isolated. We have AIS judges in our club and the only shows they get to judge is our own show. AIS should be encouraging the formation of clubs in Region 11. I think there are only 3 clubs in this very large district. The only support we receive is demands to fill out evaluations for iris that mostly benefit breeders, no national officers ever visit, communicate, write articles for our newsletter, or send any encouragement. We could exist without the national organization. These and other reasons are more than likely the reason why other iris societies in the district find no benefit in belonging. |
| Stop raising fees for things like ribbons and postage. How to keep members ideas. |
| Suggestions for motivating people and a list of people who will come and do programs. We want a list in our hands. Need a way to contact them. Also please stop raising postage and awards costs, really you don't need to make a profit off of the clubs that are the backbone of AIS. Just charge us the cost to you please!! |
| Provide guest speakers for our general meetings at low cost or large speaker fees. |
| It would be great if more judges from more regions would be available for judges training and if there were more judges. Some of our Region Trainers are wonderful, The Royals, Jim Wilson, The Brownings, Bob Strohman, but many like Darnell Hester and Hilda Crick have retired or moved. We try to stay local or close to keep costs down but the aging of our judge population will soon be a pressing problem. |
| AIS seems to have enough problems of its own - I don't think they can provide much help to affiliates |
| Advertising that can be easily tailored for local publications, guides, ideas to expand membership, sharing platform between locals. Materials on how to make sure that we we do have new members that we make them feel welcome instead of like they are crashing someone else's party. |
| Not sure |
| Keeping your website updated would be nice. |
| Current ligature to present at local events to promote our club |
| Guidelines for newly elected positions |
| As an officer in multiple clubs and someone who is frequently involved with programs and program planning I would like to see AIS be more helpful with program materials, ie, more like what the AHS offers in the way of cost free, lots of choices, fresh and current material and DOWNLOADABLE. Something I will call "Iris 101" , material that a new member could access to help them jump start their iris adventure would be a tremendous help, it is very difficult to get new members the information they need to get up to speed on iris culture etc without conducting meeting programs that are of little to no interest to current membership. Most new members, especially those who became interested at a show or a sale, join to learn about the iris and loose interest quickly if they feel left behind at meetings. |
| To remember that not all Iris lovers want to be a hybridizer . Work on information on how to incorporate Irises in their garden with the correct companion plants, in a Bulletin hand out . Also remember local clubs are "Social" clubs and for the most part the members are over 50 years old and do not travel much. |
| I don't know |
| Speaker panel available for local meetings |
| Maybe the AIS could provide free 6-month emembership to the AIS to new members. This would be an enticement to join the AIS and help clubs keep new members. For those people not familiar with computers, could the AIS provide several small glitzy pamphlets to new members that talks about a) growing irises for the first time b) different type of irises and what grows where c) what is this AIS anyway? d)how to hybridize for the for first time e) where to get irises. I figure this information already exists in the old bulletins so it would just need to be reformatted. I know this information exists on-line but there nothing like having something in-hand to inspire you if you are not sure you want to be an active part of the iris community. Maybe the AIS can charge the club a dollar for the pamphlets and if they are smart they will add one about their club. |
| Suggestions on increasing membership |
| None at this time. |
| I don't think they would accept it. |
| haven't been able to interest younger members of the community as yet though a few enter the show yearly, tips for growing membership as a whole which tends to hover between 45-55 |
| Tips on how to attract younger members |
| Nothing |
| Need help finding resources to get guest speakers on iris related topics that will draw people in. |
| How can we get members to become more involved in the meetings/activities |
| Don’t know |
| Not sure of an answer for that. |
| ?? Ask the them, I don't go to meetings anymore. |
| Specialized programs on CD format and updating of the handbook. |
| 1. PLEASE Update the Handbook for Judges and Show Officials!!!!! 2. Standardize the Iris Encyclopedia name entries (originally used alphabetical order, regardless of spaces or capitalization - recently, spaces have made a difference which is making it harder to find specific entries) 3. Update the Affiliation form as it is years old. 4. Have the Regional and National websites offer current information (update your websites) and forms, especially if a specific form is required. 5. Have the Regional officers explain to their local clubs what they do for us (besides dues, affiliations, and host a future meeting) and the how and why local club members should participate on a Regional or National level. |
| I would like to see an expense account provided to the AIS Pres. so that person could travel to the different Regions and give a lecture on the AIS. Many people don't really know much about the AIS. |
| Love the printed magazine. Hope to go to another national convention when it is cost effective and not the same weekend as our planned show |
| leadership skills training, how to grow membership, online Q & A for leaders, sparkling meeting topics, online speaker bureau |
| Ideas on how to gain new members. |
| Accept us as an AIS affiliate if we have at least 1 AIS member as an officer or director. |
| duties of each officer of the club |
| More iris education |
| be more proactive in helping clubs by openly supporting their presence in their communities |
| nothing at the moment |
| Just keep members informed. |
| On-line judges' training, more incentives for membership (having a link to special "club order" offers from commercial sources would be nice!) |
| Keep up your great work maintaining your website, iris encyclopedia, covering our insurance, helping with show materials, etc. |
| Details and what is involved in starting a club in my area. |
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