Group innovation - think "BeiMac 2.0"
Group innovation - think "BeiMac 2.0"
- Subject: Group innovation - think "BeiMac 2.0"
- From: Yan Feng <email@hidden>
- Date: Fri, 22 Aug 2003 11:47:01 +0800
Those who participated in tonight's WWB chat knew that I was talking
something about our group's innovative "BeiMac 2.0" plan. The thing is
simple and two-fold: identify problems and solve them, and add value to
membership.
BeiMac 2.0 is a mid-range thing in terms of how long it will last. We're
doing it in phases, kicking off with phase 1, which is getting the
membership brochures in two languages. This may seem irrelevant but it's
everything for us. Yeah, seven foreigners founded this thing, but we have a
stable Chinese contingency and they need something in their language as
well, so they'll need the bits in Chinese.
Every new BeiMac member who joins at a physical meeting gets a Welcome
Envelope with important member info and vendor deals. Problem was, a
complete membership requires the Member ID and Member card as well, and it
was difficult to present that to the new members as well. We finally solved
it by revising our member IDs. Formerly, you had to add a member number -
that's the order they entered. Although not exactly hard to do, when you
have a backlog, you start thinking from where one should begin. You fret.
Suddenly, you only get five hours of sleep and you wonder why you're doing
60 mph on the highways when you're supposed to do 70 mph. And so on and so
forth. We got rid of that - now, it's just the member's name (eight
letters), date of entry, and check number (two digits - so 99 people of the
same name can join in on the same day). We also revised our Central Member
Database - it was a chore previously, but now we can get directly to the
entries that are in processing. So now when new members join, 5 minutes
after they join, they got their member card printed out, signed, all ready
to use. This is millions of light years better than the previous month-long
backlogs.
We are also trying to do a bilingual Constitution (State-side it's called
Bylaws) and a bilingual application form.
Another thing is we're adding a new forum and opening the ListServ system to
everyone - even non-members. email@hidden gets you on that. We're
also forging ahead with new value for our Membership Card - the AppleCentre
at Oriental Plaza is granting members discounts!
Finally, we're doing a cosmetic makeover. We unveiled a new logo at our Mac
Day 2003 meeting (16 Aug) as well as new, consistent fonts, and new user
group colours. The design of our Folio (blue folder with BeiMac info) was
also radically restructured.
This is only part one - or phase one, rather - in BeiMac 2.0. Phase two
involves international relations, a point system (as outlined in the chat -
members who contribute a lot earn a lot of points, redeemable against group
'stuff'), and a basic enhancement on our meeting system, as well as a new
executive board system. We are projecting a system (and this is just my
wish) of a Member Liaison reporting to the executives on what the members
think, and eventually, an Int'l Member Liaison to gauge opinion on what our
global, non-Beijing members think. We tested a system whereby people
registered at the start of the meeting, and so on. Worked well, so we're
continuing that. I can promise you that you'll be hearing much more about us
in the future.
So who wins at the end of the day? Sure, members win, but also the whole
group. We have some things no other group in our vicinity has -
international membership, bilingual membership, newsletter, ListServ and the
rest. That makes us pretty unique in a sense. But rather than beat our chest
and proclaim our uniqueness, we're innovating - consistently. We keep on
asking ourselves what we did wrong and how we can improve that. As members
are the core of the group, we keep on asking how we can improve internal
democratic government, and let the Members feel it's their place - not just
a Presidential Palace and all.
It may be the fact that I am a Swiss citizen, and that a French-Algerian
friend commented that only the Swiss pursue endless, eternal, never-ending
perfection. Or it could be the five waffles I had for breakfast.
One never knows.
Faithfully yours,
Yan Feng
President - Beijing Macintosh User Group
http://www.beimac.com/
Apple Regional Liaison for Asia except Japan
Sister groups with Lake County Mac User Group, California, USA
http://www.lcmug.com
Written on a supercomputer.
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