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Author Topic: BKSTS Membership drive Gordon McLeod Film God Posts: 9532 From: Toronto Ontario Canada Registered: Jun 99 posted 03-02-2007 11:54 AM                     Today I recieved an email regarding a drive to increase membership in the BKSTS and with their permision I have posted it here Their magazine Cinema Technology and Image Technology are excellent sources of information quote Dear members, As you have been made aware by the recent letter from the President and Council, the Society has hit a financial low point. This has happened before and we have weathered the storm with the help of our members and sponsors. You, as members of the Society, can be of enormous help at this moment in time. If each of you were to recruit at least one new member the Society's income would instantly double! Surely, either work colleagues or friends would benefit from becoming members and joining this well-respected and distinguished body of professional people who are the basis of the crafts and skills of the film and broadcast industries. In eager anticipation, I have attached a membership application form which can be posted or faxed to us – or the deed can be done on-line at http://www.bksts.com/index-membership.htm I look forward to your replies Best regards Wendy  |  IP: Logged Kenneth Wuepper Phenomenal Film Handler Posts: 1026 From: Saginaw, MI, USA Registered: Feb 2002 posted 03-02-2007 12:30 PM                     Gordon, Do you feel that the associate level of membership would benefit many of our Film-Tech friends? I think the magazine and the access to information would be very helpful. I doubt that many US memberships could benefit from meetings unless they were to organize chapters here in the US. As a former member of the IEEE, we had a local chapter of about 25 engineers who met regularly for dinner and a speaker. The one speaker was the engineer who designed the electrical systems for the Mackinaw Bridge. Another was chief engineer for several radio stations and discussed how directional tower arrays were monitored. If there was a chapter of your group here, we could have similar speakers on the topics of film and video. What is the cost in $US for the lowest grade of membership? Thanks KEN  |  IP: Logged Peter Mork Expert Film Handler Posts: 181 From: Newton, MA, USA Registered: Jun 2002 posted 03-02-2007 12:46 PM                     Umm, what does BKSTS stand for? (Their website doesn't say!)  |  IP: Logged Stephen Furley Film God Posts: 3059 From: Coulsdon, Croydon, England Registered: May 2002 posted 03-02-2007 01:04 PM                     British Kinematograph, Sound and Television Society. Or is it Kinomatograph; I can never remember.  |  IP: Logged Bernard Tonks Jedi Master Film Handler Posts: 619 From: Cranleigh, Surrey, England Registered: Apr 2001 posted 03-02-2007 01:14 PM                     The British Kinematograph, Sound and Television Society. Gordon, You will find another email sent out alarming! I received mine an hour ago.  |  IP: Logged Richard Fowler Film God Posts: 2392 From: Ft. Lauderdale, FL, USA Registered: Jun 2001 posted 03-02-2007 06:10 PM                     Bernard, the new e-mail about the (please take it off our hands)hoped for merger with SMPTE and the back room deals are disturbing. I belong to both groups and they have strong points in different portions of the tech side which is good....like going to different hardware stores based on their specialty....instead of take or leave it Home Depot.  |  IP: Logged Gordon McLeod Film God Posts: 9532 From: Toronto Ontario Canada Registered: Jun 99 posted 03-02-2007 10:28 PM                     which is why the membership either grows to suport itself or it will fail As a group it cannot live in the past and has tried to move forward but it cannot be a fossil organization that only lives in its past  |  IP: Logged Phil Hill I love my cootie bug Posts: 7595 From: Hollywood, CA USA Registered: Mar 2000 posted 03-02-2007 10:37 PM                  After MANY years of SMPTE and BKSTS membership, I've decided NOT to renew in either anymore.  |  IP: Logged Louis Bornwasser Film God Posts: 4441 From: prospect ky usa Registered: Mar 2005 posted 03-03-2007 10:08 AM                        Phil; I'm on the same page you are. Louis  |  IP: Logged Richard P. May Expert Film Handler Posts: 243 From: Los Angeles, CA Registered: Jan 2006 posted 03-03-2007 10:35 AM                     Phil and Louis, As a manager of the Hollywood Section of SMPTE, I would sincerely like to know your reasons for not wanting to renew membership. If we get constructive information, we can try to make this membership more attractive. Thanks, Dick May  |  IP: Logged Leo Enticknap Film God Posts: 7474 From: Loma Linda, CA Registered: Jul 2000 posted 03-03-2007 12:59 PM                        I let my BKSTS membership lapse, probably around 5-6 years ago now, the basic reason being that I didn't think the membership benefits justified the subscription. What it buys you is effectively a small discount on their training courses, plus the journals, plus one or two other things which are only really relevant if you live in or close to London (e.g. the members' evening events). Given that the training courses, as things stand, are not in areas that would directly benefit me, I can read the journals in the library of the university where I now work and I don't live near London, it doesn't really seem worth it. At the moment I only belong to one professional body - AMIA. Their individual membership is a fantastic bargain. If anything, I think AMIA probably sells itself a bit short, but the individual membership rates are deliberately kept as low as possible in order to encourage people who are interested in, but not working directly in, the field, to join too. AMIA membership costs $75 (£39) a year, and includes a big discount on the conference registration, plus a journal subscription, plus one or two bits and pieces. The discount on the conference registration is almost as big as the membership fee itself, meaning that if you attend the conference, you effectively get your year's membership for free. Membership of the BKSTS costs over double that, at £92 ($169), they don't organise a big international conference, and as far as I can see the only substantial benefit is the subscription to the two journals. Added to which, I can't really see what the difference is between full and associate membership (it's not the price, at any rate). The BKSTS has done a lot of good work and I wish it well. Its reference library of technical publications, which is housed at the British Universities' Film and Video Council (which, as an employee of a BUFVC member institution, I had access to), was a literally invaluable research resource when I was writing my book Moving Image Technology (that wasn't a shameless plug - honest!), and I think there's scope for them to try to develop a higher profile in the area of professional standards and advocacy. For example, if a talking head 'expert' appeared on the BBC news with a soundbite every time there was a media technology-related story in the headlines, they'd get both exposure and kudos. But with individual subscriptions at that level, I'm not surprised that they're struggling to recruit members. One possibility might be to introduce institutional as well as individual memberships, or to try and negotiate deals with big employers (e.g. cinema chains) to sell bulk memberships for staff. One advantage of this approach is that the workload is lower than trying to recruit lots more individual members. The bottom line? If the subscription was in the ballpark of £50 and they did stuff north of the M25, I'd rejoin like a shot.  |  IP: Logged Brian Guckian Jedi Master Film Handler Posts: 594 From: Dublin, Ireland Registered: Apr 2003 posted 03-04-2007 02:56 PM                     Whilst it's understandable to join professional organisations with a view to seeing what might be available to members, there is another approach, which is to consider what one might bring to such organisations as a member. In other words, an active approach, rather than a passive one. Within that, the value of membership fees are then measured against how these structures facilitate people to develop their skills, learn more and make their own contributions to furthering the art and craft of, in this case, motion picture presentation. I have to say that measured in those terms, membership of organisations such as the BKSTS and the SMPTE provide extremely good value IMHO.  |  IP: Logged Leo Enticknap Film God Posts: 7474 From: Loma Linda, CA Registered: Jul 2000 posted 03-04-2007 03:15 PM                        Agreed to an extent. All these professional bodies depend on voluntary work for their existence. Their members are motivated to do the voluntary work for a number of reasons, the main ones being (i) being altruistically motivated to make a contribution to the profession or field, or (ii) career advancement - wanting something to stick on their CV. There are also members who don't join because they want to make an active contribution per se (iii), but because the material benefits of membership represent good value for money. Probably around 80% of the AMIA membership join because of (iii) - i.e. they don't get involved in committees and interest groups, or speak on panels at the conference or write in the journals. Stick the membership subscriptions up too far, and you're going to lose these people. This will also act as a disincentive for (i) and (ii) - having to pay for the privilege of doing the voluntary work, especially for younger professionals on lower salaries. I agree with you that the goal of any professional body should always be to increase the ratio of (i)s and (ii)s to (iii)s. But if you push the membership subscriptions up beyond a certain point, you're going to start eroding your core revenue stream, i.e. the non-engaged members who work out that the benefits are worth the dues. At the moment, individual membership of the BKSTS costs roughly double that of membership of a comparable professional body. I'd therefore speculate that this is putting a significant number of potential members off.  |  IP: Logged Tim Reed Better Projection Pays Posts: 5246 From: Northampton, PA Registered: Sep 1999 posted 03-04-2007 03:28 PM                       I was a member of the SMPTE for a while, but let it lapse. Primarily because the dues kept going up and the motion picture information in the Journal kept going down. Truly, I would've loved to join the BKSTS -- and I followed the link Gordon posted with a mind to do so -- but as Leo mentioned, the cost is just too great. I can't swing $169 a year for what amounts to 4 issues of a magazine.  |  IP: Logged Steve Guttag We forgot the crackers Gromit!!! Posts: 12814 From: Annapolis, MD Registered: Dec 1999 posted 03-04-2007 04:44 PM                     I think this might be an issue with all such societies (dues too great for what a member gets out of it). I belong to the SMPTE and have for years...I too find the costs very high for what I get out of it. In fact, I'm on the P-3 (Film Projection Technology). Which as others have stated....requires voluntary effort for no compensation or any other special benefits. However, I also belong to the IEEE (Institute for Electrical and Electronic Engineers). They are even MORE expensive. Nearest I can figure, most memberships are paid for by the companies that members work for. There are tax deductions to be had for the professional organizations in the USA too to offset some of the expense. However, if people did not participate or even have such organizations as the SMPTE, IEEE or BKSTS...where would the standards come from? The Government?....very scary! Or perhaps there wouldn't be standards.  |  IP: Logged

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