in CORP Business

Swallowing my pride on this one.

How about a web address that more accurately reflects who we actually are?

www.corptrails.org

What about a simple tagline under our logo:"we build the trails you ride"?

That's too close to "We build the trails, you ride." which is painfully accurate. It should focus on getting involved. I don't have anything better, though.

Swallowing my pride on this one.

How about a web address that more accurately reflects who we actually are?

www.corptrails.org

As long as we keep the existing domain pointing to it until everything has been updated, I'm all for it. Should not be taken lightly.

Swallowing my pride on this one.

How about a web address that more accurately reflects who we actually are?

www.corptrails.org

That is good Bear.

As long as we are throwing crazy "re-invent ourselves and break the mold" ideas out there. Jeff Knops thinks we need a new name as well as CORP means so many other things, and none of them are fun. I can see how hard it is for a newcomer to remember CORP and what it means.
He proposed MAMBA - Madison Area Mountain Bike Association.  I think it has a good ring to it, would be easy to remember, and in itself sounds like something fun that I would want to be a part of

What about a simple tagline under our logo:"we build the trails you ride"?

That's too close to "We build the trails, you ride." which is painfully accurate. It should focus on getting involved. I don't have anything better, though.

My attempt at pre-caffine morning humor failed.

Swallowing my pride on this one.

How about a web address that more accurately reflects who we actually are?

www.corptrails.org

I've been thinking a bit about the name 'CORP' lately and maybe it's time for a slight rebranding of the club. The acronym that makes up the name is frankly silly, 'capitol offroad path finders' has always sounded awkward to me, doesn't really say much about what the club does and I think it could be dropped with no loss.  The 'corp' part is appropriate (and arguably historical) though, so something the lines of "_____ trail corp" would say a lot more about what we do.

I understand that it would probably be a big deal on several levels to make that change, but a more descriptive club name might make it stick in peoples heads a little better.

That is good Bear.

As long as we are throwing crazy "re-invent ourselves and break the mold" ideas out there. Jeff Knops thinks we need a new name as well as CORP means so many other things, and none of them are fun. I can see how hard it is for a newcomer to remember CORP and what it means.
He proposed MAMBA - Madison Area Mountain Bike Association.  I think it has a good ring to it, would be easy to remember, and in itself sounds like something fun that I would want to be a part of

Agree on name-change.  Disagree on MAMBA...sounds too close to NAMBLA.

What about "Mountain Bike Trails Corp."

Out of what has been mentioned I like MAMBA.  It flows off the tongue, is easy to remember, and describes who we are.

Obviously we would have a lot of planning and discussing to go down the road of rebranding.

Good ideas here, but a short-term increase of more people willing to shoulder the work seems needed before anything else.

It appears around 6% of the paid members and a subset of the board are giving hundreds of hours relative to the whole. They can barely keep up with obligations to land managers and important things in the bylaws. A short-term campaign to reach out is in order whether that's a marketing idea or getting other work done.

With several bike clubs and organizations near, hundreds who raced, and 92 kids enrolled in youth programs just do some very elemental reaching out before reinventing wheels. New marketing ideas without the organization are like pets.com or a news conference from Congress.

Outside helpers are still asking me for the posters that were supposed to be printed in June so pardon my thinking it's inappropriate to be wasting time on re-branding when elemental things that only need a few people are not getting done.

I agree that we have a branding/name problem. I also think there will never really be an optimal time to deal with it, so it doesn't matter when it gets done, but really the sooner the better and especially before we're going to start working on a bunch of print material and signs.

People trip over names all the time. We need an exciting name/acronym. I can guarantee it will help membership. No offense to whoever coined CORP, but it really is confusing as an acronym and when spelled out. I admit that I feel embarrassed whenever I mention it to anyone.

People trip over names all the time. We need an exciting name/acronym. I can guarantee it will help membership. No offense to whoever coined CORP, but it really is confusing as an acronym and when spelled out. I admit that I feel embarrassed whenever I mention it to anyone.

Ditto here. It always takes an explanation of what the acronym stands for. And that is awkward as well.
Something that rolls off the tongue, is memorable, and stands for the basics of what we do is ideal.
So far MAMBA has it for me. Madison Area Mountain Bikers leaves things open to what we are. Sounds like a fun group that you should join if you are in the Madison area and like to mountain bike
Agreed we have more pressing issues. Also agree we need to move carefully on this. And there is never a good time to do it. We also need to always be looking forward if we are going to stay viable in the long term.
This also should not devolve into a large segment of the meeting discussing it tonight. Sounds like something that should be researched and brought back to another meeting.

The --MBA format bring a lot of familiarity to what we do. Even if people don't know exactly what it stands for, they probably will make an association to mountain bikes.

"I don't know what MAMBA stands for, but I know what IMBA, CAMBA, SOMBA, PAMBA, etcAMBA stands for!"

What about a simple tagline under our logo:"we build the trails you ride"?

How about extending that slogan to encourage the "you" who isn't helping?

Alternatively:
"We build the trails you ride, join us to create more and better trails." - Not quite as succinct or catchy.
"We volunteer to build the trails you ride. See how you can help at madcitydirt.com" - This could go above the logo with the madcitydirt.com at the bottom.


Renaming makes a lot of sense and would be a good discussion. Why not keep it simple and just chose madcitydirt as the club name? It's already everywhere and it is a much more exciting name. Or create a naming contest on the forums?

People trip over names all the time. We need an exciting name/acronym. I can guarantee it will help membership. No offense to whoever coined CORP, but it really is confusing as an acronym and when spelled out. I admit that I feel embarrassed whenever I mention it to anyone.

Ditto here. It always takes an explanation of what the acronym stands for. And that is awkward as well.
Something that rolls off the tongue, is memorable, and stands for the basics of what we do is ideal.
So far MAMBA has it for me. Madison Area Mountain Bikers leaves things open to what we are. Sounds like a fun group that you should join if you are in the Madison area and like to mountain bike
Agreed we have more pressing issues. Also agree we need to move carefully on this. And there is never a good time to do it. We also need to always be looking forward if we are going to stay viable in the long term.
This also should not devolve into a large segment of the meeting discussing it tonight. Sounds like something that should be researched and brought back to another meeting.

Agree.  I think it is sufficient to note that we are considering a name change and that it will be discussed at future meetings. Also agree the change (if it will happen) should occur before the club makes any investment towards brochures or other marketing materials.  Thus, it may be better to do the change sooner rather than later.

CORP is a stupid legacy hang on from the beginnings of this club in the 90's.  It was dumb then and it is dumb today.  That said, changing our brand at this point in time is a distraction.  Maybe over the winter but lets try to stay focused on a migration towards revising the board structure, getting our events attended and our current trail obligations attended to.  Perhaps a renaming campaign this fall.