Chesapeake Bay (CBC) is one of the oldest and largest chapters of the ACBS, an international organization dedicated to the preservation of antique & classic boats and their role in maritime history. Although CBC had a Web site, its hard-coded HTML was almost impossible for the members to update. The prior administrator was no longer actively involved, and the languishing site some said had become an embarrassment instead of an asset. It certainly wasn’t a “public face” that accurately reflected the classiness of this organization or the quality of its membership.
CBC hosts a significant fundraiser every Father’s Day weekend that draws thousands of attendees up and down the Eastern Seaboard, and from as far away as Texas. When we offered to take on this project we were already behind the 8-ball. The Chapter needed ASAP to line up this more sponsors as well as over 100 vendors for the upcoming event. Plus they needed to generate publicity. We clearly had to create a go-to online destination that would attract everyone who should be connected with this critically important event, from Chapter members and Festival visitors, to exhibitors and vendors.
In a less than a month I selected a team and we redesigned the site, converting all the content management to Joomla for easy updates and maintenance. Suddenly we were attracting a steady stream of new vendors as well as visitors who wanted to be involved in this event just based on what they saw and read on the new site.
It’s now been about 18 months since we launched the “new” CBC website and its impact has been far-reaching:
- CBC had ”the best ever” Antique & Classic Boat Festival last summer, according to President & Festival Chair, Maryann Fiaschetti. The boost in new vendors, increased festival attendees, and new member sign-ups was 12% higher than last year, despite a tough economy.
- This site is also the go-to online resource for Mid-Atlantic ACBS activities, especially for some of the smaller “sister” chapters that don’t yet have a Web site. www.chesapeakebayacbs.org also attracts new members to join the Chesapeake Bay Chapter even when anotherACBS chapter is physically closer to where they live.
- There’s been a behavioral shift for the members, who admittedly trend older and had been totally conditioned to paper-based communications. In addition to checking the site regularly now for news and upcoming events, CBC’s members now rely on email broadcasts for club communications. Since the launch of the new Web site, CBC also had its first and extremely successful online registration for the St. Michaels Antique & Classic Boat Festival. In addition to having a more informed membership, CBC has also reduced its volunteer time and expenditures for a wide variety of member communications.
