30 <strong>July</strong>
Inside Look: PCA Zone 5 Presidents’ Meeting By Carey Spreen he Porsche Club of America is made up of T over 140 individual Regions in the US and Canada. Those Regions are grouped into 13 Zones. Zone 5 covers all of Arkansas and Louisiana, all of Oklahoma except the Panhandle, and the eastern two-thirds of Texas. You can find a map showing the boundaries of the 12 Regions on the Zone 5 website: www.zone5.pca.org. You can also find a lot of other useful information on that website, and I encourage you to visit it early and often! Each PCA Zone has regular meetings of the Region Presidents. The most recent Presidents’ Meeting in February was held in Grapevine, with Zone 5 Representative Jon Jones (from Cimarron Region) running the meeting. PCNA perspective The first presenter was Steve Krysil, Regional Manager for Porsche Cars North America (and Maverick Region member), who always has lots of facts and figures for us, and didn’t disappoint this time. Two of those interesting facts were that 72% of all Porsches sold in the US last year had four doors, and 64% were SUVs. Whether you are a fan of the non-sports-car Porsches or not, it is clear that these models are what allows Porsche to keep making those sports cars and supercars that are so near and dear to us. Steve noted that, contrary to rumor, Porsche will continue to offer a manual transmission in its GT cars. Demand from us has shown Porsche AG that there are still, and will continue to be, buyers for the stick-shift for years to come. Steve touched on the all-electric Mission E, which is still about three years from production, but will be able to recharge to 80% capacity in less than 30 minutes. Additionally, upcoming high-performance Porsches of the sporting variety will top 500 hp, and don’t be surprised to see a non-turbo 718 GTS model as well. He reported that the Porsche Experience Centers in Atlanta and Carson, CA are doing well. For a threefigure entry fee you can experience 90 minutes in just about any current Porsche model in a variety of settings, including off-road, complete with driving coach. From the President Next up was PCA National President Caren Cooper, who hails from Hill Country Region (and a few others for good measure!). Caren described the Vision 2020 program, which establishes a goal of 100,000 primary PCA members (i.e., households) from the current total of about 77,000 by the end of the year 2020. To reach that goal, the club intends to increase PCA brand awareness by demonstrating available member benefits and improving member services without increasing the workload on our volunteer base. PCA wants to be the number one independent source for all things Porsche, and to make it clear that PCA membership is the most important option you can buy for your Porsche. PCA brings you into an entire community, even a lifestyle experience. Additionally, PCA is keenly aware of the potential of social media as well, and is beefing up its presence on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. There are currently 678 Porsche clubs worldwide, and all are owned and run by Porsche AG -- except PCA. This unique independence is very important to PCA and will continue to be maintained. Caren identified these future areas of improvement: • Developing programs to involve owners of Porsche four-door models • Streamlining the procedure for dealers to purchase and provide PCA memberships to new buyers • Improving the PCA Test Drive 6-month program (formerly known as Quest) to allow prospective owners to experience what PCA membership provides • Formalize multi-generational memberships (membership option for children of PCA members) In closing, Caren shared with us that PCA has an operating budget of about $9 million per year, with approximately 5,000 events per year, 2,000 of those being “moving car” events that require insurance notification. Ken Laborde, PCA National Insurance and Risk Management Chair, discussed this at length, which you can read about in the May <strong>2017</strong> issue of <strong>Slipstream</strong>. Other PCA business Jon wrapped up the day by recommending RegionFocus magazine as a good resource for those who are new to running Regional events and activities. It contains hints and suggestions for attracting and retaining new members – something that all Regions struggle with from time to time. Another handy resource is the Region Procedures Manual (RPM), which is available both online and in print form. The RPM contains information about Club resources, subsidies, event promotion, communication, social media, crisis management, national awards, minimum safety standards, and Porsche Clubs worldwide. A great way to keep up with Zone 5 news and events is by following the Zone 5 Facebook page. As the day wrapped up, Jon presented certificates for Regional anniversaries, one of which was to Maverick Region on its 55th anniversary. In summary, a lot of useful information gets exchanged at these meetings, which is why Maverick Region always tries to have someone in attendance representing you! 31