Great Scott—The President Writes

by Scott Hutchings, President

When you first get to read this article, we will likely have just finished our Annual General Meeting and I will not be President. That is just a matter of due process though and not desire. At each AGM, all of the elected members will either stand for re-election or step aside. As you know from last month’s Gryphon, I will be standing for re-election, both to the Board and as club President.

This past year as President has been an eye opener. We didn’t have our Enhanced Driving Schools last year for the first time in recent memory, if ever at all, and we successfully put together a team and schedule for the 2007 EDS program. We had a Director resign mid-term. We adopted a new url for the club web site and have created a new look to our web site. Saab Canada asked the club if we would support them at their customer event at Deerhurst and asked us to return for the 2nd year in a row to help out at the Auto Show. We also held 2 very successful meetings at different dealerships and had Magnus come out to see us on a separate occasion.

All in all, a very busy year for the club and the folks who make this all happen. Without them, it would just be the same thing month after month.

This coming year could see even more activity going on. Some of the things that you have told the Board that you are interested in are:

· A members-only section of the web site.

· On-line registration and renewal for membership.

· On-line registration for driving schools.

· More social activities and a variety of them. Ideas have ranged from car washes to BBQs to continuing the annual winery tour to putting together brewery tours.

· Discounts with more dealers and other vendors from across the country.

· Electronic versions of the Gryphon.

· Archived version of Gryphons available on the web site (in a members-only section of course).

· Varied and interesting monthly meeting topics and speakers.

Of course, there is a similar list of things that the Board has put together for the members in hopes of being able to provide some (or all) of these things:

· Help. Simply put, we need more people involved in running the club and putting various things together. The more people we have involved the less work everyone will have to do, and the more that we will be able to accomplish. Don’t feel that you if didn’t get elected to the Board or one of the Chair positions that you can’t help. As a matter of fact, it is the committee Chairs that need the help most. For example, if the Social Committee is only made up of the Chair-person, we will likely see a very limited choice in terms of social events. Planning a winery tour or an organized trip to watch JL Racing takes a little bit of work. If we can get even just a couple of more people involved in the various parts of the club, the less everything will seem like work to those who are doing it. There is supposed to be an atmosphere of fun involved in being part of a club like this …

· We also need more input from you. This is your club … please don’t hesitate in letting any member of the Board know what you are thinking or what you would like to see in the future.

· We would also like to hear if you have any ideas on topics or speakers for our monthly meetings. As much as we all have enjoyed having Sgt. Alan Benton talk to us about his field of expertise, he’ll get tired of us if we invite him back more than twice a year. Unless the new Board has any issues or if members start to complain, we will likely continue having 1 or 2 meetings a year at different dealers around the greater GTA (May will be at Midtown Saab if you didn’t see it in the calendar). And if we count on Magnus attending at least one of our meetings, that still leaves up to 8 meetings (AGM will always take a spot) that we need to fill with something interesting.

There are also activities happening outside of our club that will certainly be of interest to many of you.

Saab enthusiasts in North America have a premiere event coming up in August. The 2007 Saab Owners Convention. This year it is being held just outside of Detroit Michigan from August 23-26. You can get more details at http://www.saabconvention.org. There are a number of club members who are planning on going (including myself) and I would anticipate that the new Social Committee Chair would pull together some additional information on this and make it available as it is released. They are using the Detroit/Troy Hilton and have arranged rooms from $89 USD per night … a fantastic rate to be sure. They are estimating the turn out between 1000 and 1500 people! Having never been to an SOC event, I can only imagine what this will be like.

And of course, there is JL Racing. This year should be even more exciting with a second 9-3 on the track and a bigger team working with John. They may just be going head to head with members our club … who shall we be cheering for? Let’s get out to the track this year and find out which team will come out on top!

I’m looking forward to seeing a great turn out at the AGM … see you there!

Until we meet again, Happy Saabing!

Scott