CEO REPORT

PITTSBURGH, PA

MARCH 2005

 

 

 

To:              ACBL Board of Directors

                    ACBL Board of Governors

 

cc:               Peter Rank

 

 

MEMBERSHIP:

 

As of March 1, 2005 ACBL had 150,548 paid members, an increase of 688 members over 2004 paid memberships of 149,860.  This year we have 5,797 active unpaid Life Members, a decrease of 378 members for a grand total of 156,345 total active members (vs. 156,035 active members in 2004).

 

New members during 2005 have reached 2,095 compared with the two month new membership figure in 2004 of 1,761, or a gain of 334 new members. 

 

We were able to develop the following exhibit showing historical data that is consistent with our current method of counting members.

 

 

MARKETING:

 

The ACBL member portal continues to grow and receive good reviews.  From November 15^th through February 2^nd new member enrollment increased 63.5% from the same period a year ago.  744 new members have joined on the site.

 

Renewals on the site also increased from 1,290 to 1,945, a 50% increase.  We currently have nearly 51,000 members that have joined, My ACBL.  The site has also captured over 16,000 new e-mail addresses from members who have not yet joined the site.

 

A representative of SyberWorks will be in Pittsburgh to attend the Club Director Courses.  The firm has been retained to help launch online director education.  The first online course will be the update course with full director training following.  In our latest club officials survey 86% of the respondents felt it was very important (46%) or somewhat important (40%) that ACBL provide online club director education.

 

Representatives of Simpson Communications met with staff in Memphis March 3^rd to review youth marketing strategies and share the early results of K – 12 surveys.  Two Simpson representatives will be joining us this week to meet with members and observe Bridge in action.

 

Eight teams qualified to compete in the North American College Bridge Teams Championship during the Summer 2005 NABC in Atlanta.  The qualify rounds were held Saturday, February 19 on Bridge online.  The qualifying drew 25 teams, an increase of 17 from last year.  Nice work by the Junior,  Education and Marketing departments in the promotion of this growing event.  The qualifying teams are from Stanford, UCLA, MIT, Harvard, University of Michigan, University of Nebraska Lincoln, University of Toronto, and Yale.

 

A team from Thomas Jefferson High School in Alexandria VA placed first in the online High School competition.  Team members will receive a $250 scholarship each.

 

The early planning stages of ACBL’s 75^th Anniversary (2012) are starting.  We have an archivist helping identify, catalog and preserve our books, photographs and artifacts.  Plans for making the Encyclopedia of Bridge a living document are in development and we intend to be able to release the new edition to coincide with the Anniversary.

 

 

TOURNAMENTS:

 

January and February tournament tables are lagging 2004’s record year.  Regionals were down 20% and per table average was down 285 tables per regionals.  Sectionals lagged by 8%, however the table average per tournament was down only slightly at 6.7 tables.  STaCs also suffered a 7% decrease from last year and the table per event drop was 79 tables per tournament.  Some of this was due to severe weather and a change of dates by regionals.  We expect this to reverse starting in March.

 

Online tables in February will pass the 17,000 mark with e-Bridge and BridgeBase Online leading the way. 

 

 

ACBL PRODUCT STORE:

 

All references to ACBL sales are now “ACBL Product Store”.  Due to space limitations and other factors for 2005 NABCs, the ACBL Product Store will be the primary vendor this year.  We will offer all saleable items at each of the tournaments.  In addition, Shop ACBL web page is in the finishing stages of a face lift.  The look of this page will be coordinated with the ACBL web site.

 

 

GENERAL POPULATION SURVEY:

 

In mid-February ACBL conducted a survey to determine participation in Bridge by the general population in the U.S. (We were not able to include Canada, Mexico or Bermuda in this survey due to the database that was used).

 

The survey was done to match U.S. census for gender, age, income, and ethnicity.  There are a number of findings that will be helpful for us.  Of greatest importance is the number of people that play bridge (11.6%).  The final cross tabulations are being finished and the completed survey will be available later this month.

 

 

PRIVACY POLICIES:

 

All of ACBL privacy policies are now complete and available for members on the web site.

 

 

HUMAN RESOURCES:   

 

Evaluations by managers have been completed and 2005 goals have been established for ACBL employees.  The utilization of software for evaluations has helped to standardize and streamline the process.

 

We are pleased to announce the addition of Zhigian Xu and Ronald Montgomery to the computer division.  They are replacing positions created by the recent departure of James Lowes and Randall Smith.   The technology department is still looking for one additional programmer.

 

 

EDGE TV:

         

We are waiting for an official on-air start date from Edge TV.  They are slated to launch in the 2^nd quarter of 2005.  Edge TV will be the first 24-hour multi-platform entertainment channel dedicated to games of skill, strategy and chance.

 

 

ACBLscore:

 

The windows version of ACBLscore is nearing completion and a beta test version will be in selected clubs in June.  We should have the final version finished and distributed before the January 2006.

 

 

ACBL STRATEGIC PLAN:

 

Upon approval of the Board of Directors, the action items necessary to carry out the long range strategic plan will be developed with the some implemented this year.  Thanks to all of you for your guidance, input and support for this project.  Management is excited about having this as our road map for the future.