By Chris Smith
FMCA Executive Director/CFO
October 2017
FMCA Executive Director/CFO
It’s looking like October will be a very busy month in the Smith household. By the time this magazine reaches you, we either will be searching for our forever home or settling into it. We have an exciting reason for this new home search: my wife, Jill, and I are expecting the third, and likely last, addition to our family. Our new son is due to arrive on or around December 6.
As I have shared in a past column, we currently have a 4-year-old daughter, Lyla, and a son, Miles, who recently turned 1. Miles and our expected baby boy will be only a year and a half apart. This makes me think back to my childhood. I am the oldest of four boys. There is an almost six-year gap between me and my next oldest brother. The three of them are each about a year and a half to two years apart in age. They used to drive me crazy, because they were all wild and so close in age. Wish me luck!
Speaking of awaited arrivals, staff has been working on a plan to overhaul the FMCA website. The expected completion date is December 1. The goal is to provide a clean, attractive, and easier-to-use site. The current website that members see once they sign in hasn’t been revamped in quite some time. It is not easy to navigate or to find information one might be looking for. The new concept is to have “mini websites” for key FMCA areas. For instance, if you are looking for information about FMCA events, you will be directed to a page that has all the information you need and has the look/feel of a website within a website. The new FMCA.com will have a social element as well. FMCA is a community, a social network of the best kind, and the new format will make it easier to connect with fellow members and friends online.
To go along with the new website, we also will unveil a new FMCA mobile app. As you may have noticed, we discontinued the old FMCA app. It was outdated and, frankly, the quality was embarrassing. The new, improved app will be available for both iPhone and Android users, so be on the lookout for that as well.
One new feature of our current website that I’m excited about is a chat function. It is the perfect solution for those who happen to be online and have a question or need assistance from FMCA but do not want to pick up the phone. Ask a question via the chat screen, and an FMCA membership representative will provide an answer. You will receive an immediate response if you use the chat option between 8:00 a.m. and 5:00 p.m. Eastern Time, Monday through Friday. If you use the chat window outside of those hours, staff will view and answer your message first thing on the following business day.
The chat function is very easy to use. You can find it at the bottom right side of every FMCA.com page. The button says “Have a Question?” It looks like this (circled in red below):
Once you click on the button, a box will pop up with a few questions to get things started. Complete the short form, click on Start Chatting, and you will be connected to a membership rep. We hope you enjoy this tool for communicating with the Cincinnati office!
Your magazine.I’d also like to encourage you to communicate with the FMCA national office staff in another way. Family Motor Coaching magazine continues to rank as one of FMCA’s most popular benefits. In order to make it an even better magazine, we need input from you, the members. Members can contribute in a variety of ways.
For one, each month we send a magazine-related survey via email to a sampling of members. If you receive a survey, please take the time to fill it out. It shouldn’t take too long, and it provides the staff valuable feedback about the content of the magazine.
We rely on readers to provide us some of that content. For instance, we share member feedback in the “Readers’ Forum” column, our version of letters to the editor. Members who write to us with questions help us to share valuable information via the “Tech Talk” and “House Calls” Q&A columns.
We’re always looking for member contributions for the “Tech & Travel Tips” column. If you’ve discovered a creative or unusual way to make life on the road easier, please share that with us and include a photo. If your tip is chosen for publication, you’ll be rewarded with a check for $25. That should give you a start anyway on a nice dinner out. The “Tech & Travel Tips” column rates very highly with members, but in order to keep it going, we need your tips!
We also reward members with a $25 check if their answer to a “Rear View” question is selected for publication. This column appears on the very last page of the magazine, and the questions vary from month to month. Or, if you’ve been wondering what other motorhome owners think about something, feel free to suggest a question we might ask for a future “Rear View” column.
As you receive this issue, we will be embarking on a project to redesign the magazine, so this would be a great time to share ideas with us about things you’d like to see in the magazine, or things you no longer want to see, for that matter. Tell us what you think! Send us an email at magazine@fmca.com.
Also note that we are seeking participants for the Magazine Panel. Details appear on page 8 of this issue.
The staff loves hearing from members, so please reach out to us anytime you have suggestions for ways to make your magazine more valuable and appealing.
Enjoy the journey!