To all APMM members and our extended community, I hope this article finds you well. If you’re reading this, then you already know about the lovely new website that your board of directors and the good folks over at ClubExpress have been working on for the past several months. As with most things, there are still a few details left to iron out, but we’re overjoyed with the look and interface. We hope you’ll find the new site far easier to navigate, and a bit easier on the eyes as well.
(If the type on this page is too small, click on the tab with the arrow on the right side of this page, then click the "Text Size" button and it will get bigger.)
The new site comes with enhanced features for members. Here are a few examples:
-The membership renewal process is easier to use and lets you have more control. Please make sure you like how it's set up for you, and add information to your Profile while you're there.
-We're building a document library to make sharing handy reference materials easier among the board and members. You can submit information or point us to where it is online.
-(Coming soon) The APMM mobile app! With live chat functions so members have even more methods for staying in touch with their model making peers. The website and forums will be optimized to view on a phone. Ask the other members which product is best for cleaning parts while you're at the store looking for some.
-The forums themselves will be easier to use. You'll be able to attach images. Take a picture of something like your hand tool storage solution and post it now...
And for those of you who miss the MILE (Modelmakers Internet List Exchange aka Meltdown Imminent, Lend Expertise), you’ll be pleased to know that the new forums permit you to reply directly to email notifications of forum posts, and your comments will automatically be posted to the relevant post as a comment.
If you end up getting too many notifications, you can go into your communication settings and choose which forums you’re interested in receiving notifications for. When you have this set up the way you like, you’ll probably never have to physically visit the forums on the website if you don’t want to. It’ll act more-or-less exactly like the MILE for you, except better for you and everyone else, because the shared knowledge from those messages remains on our forums for members to refer back to in the future.
Sadly, there was no way for us to bring the old forum contents into the new site while maintaining the original structure, commentor details, images, etc. If you've been checking old forum posts for information, don't despair! The board heroically went through and copy+pasted all the comments off the old forum, one-by-one, but it will take us some time to curate that content and structure it in a presentable format. Once done, that will live in the new document library for our members to refer back to. That said, if there were any important subjects on the old forum that you’d like to see discussed further, or you’re currently pondering any interesting model making or custom fabrication problems, by all means, go begin the discussion anew and help us repopulate the new forums!
In keeping with the theme of new things in the new year, the board has decided to make another adjustment to the way we distribute information to the membership. Rather than a quarterly newsletter, we’re going to release more regular articles of interest, right here on the homepage of the website. Coupled with our Model Maker Meetup series, LinkedIn and Facebook dispatches, we believe this change will help keep our community engaged throughout the year, more so than the quarterly newsletters did. Please (re)share our link on your own professional pages. We think our new page might draw new members. Also, remember you can submit articles or ideas for articles.
All members will still receive time-sensitive and important notifications via email distribution, when appropriate.
In our Organization Updates space on the homepage, you’ll not only find these recent featured articles, but also upcoming events, which tie into an organization event calendar. In the future, you’ll find information about upcoming Model Maker Meetups here, and right now you can find information about our upcoming Virtual Conference in April! You can RSVP for events through these calendar entries, and register for the event as well. And yes, please share your model making-related events with us and we'll post them.
To sum up, 2023 has been a busy and exciting year for the Association. We’ve gained almost 80 new members this year, with all membership categories represented (community, professional, educational institutions, large shops and vendors). We produced 10 Model Maker Meetups, covering a wide range of topics. We increased our social media presence through Facebook and LinkedIn. We built this awesome new website, which it turns out is a fairly massive undertaking even IF you have a web design team working with you!
We did all this and more, with a 100% volunteer board of directors. Retired and actively employed full-time model makers, all.
The loss of our part-time Executive Director (Sam Martinez) created a huge challenge for the board, yet we persevered and are very proud of all we’ve accomplished. It’s still my hope that with a revitalized community and board dedication, offering value to our members and a network of talented members to serve as a braintrust, we’ll raise our membership numbers sufficiently to bring Sam back as Executive Director, a title she held (and richly deserved) for over 20 years.
I want to close this message with a summary of my requests for our members and community at large. Do you like what you see with the new website and offerings? Tell your fellow professionals about us! Have them come check out the new website! Help rebuild the forums by raising topics of interest, questions you have, tool reviews, anything that you think model makers and custom fabricators would find fascinating or engaging! When the new mobile app goes live, download it and give it a whirl! Got a topic you’d like to share with the community? We’re accepting submissions for articles for the homepage. Got an idea for a Model Maker Meetup? Pitch it to us at info@modelmakers.org! We’re always looking for new people, places, and things that might make for an interesting meetup, and you good folks are our eyes and ears in the model making world at large.
Finally, the Virtual Conference in April will also mark the end of the current term for the board of directors. Some of us will continue on (pending re-election by the membership), but we have a few openings on the board to fill. This organization continues to exist only because of the ongoing work and dedication of the board. If you appreciate the efforts and value we provide to the model making community, please consider stepping up and giving us a few hours a month of your free time to help guide this organization into the future as a board member or committee volunteer (who would help one or more board members with tasks like conference planning.) Reach out to me at president@modelmakers.org if you’d like to learn more, or throw your hat in the ring to become a board member, and thank you for your consideration.
I wish you all a happy, full, and prosperous new year, and thank you for your continued support and interest in the APMM!
Michael Scribner
APMM President