If you recruit 5 members in 2006, your 2007 dues will be full paid… that’s 100%! See LiveWire for details!

Membership recruiting is not a one-shot deal, with a well-placed radio ad, or a single guest night. It is a relentless activity that must be tended to daily. Figure out what motivates you to want to bring in a new member to the Society. It's a great feeling when a new guy says, "Where have you guys been all my life? I love this!"

1. More members means more tenor singers.

2. More members means more quartet singers.

3. More members means more tag singers.

4. More members means more people to sell show tickets, bigger show audiences and louder applause for your performance.

5. More members means more future role models. Imagine being the genius who recruited guys like Jim Clancy, Dave LaBar, Dave Stevens and Jim Kline. Imagine the countless lives your protégés might influence.

6. More members means more future coaches for your chorus or quartet. The new guy you recruit might eventually be the one who brings out your inner champion.

7. The average chapter loses about 11% of its members each year. The average chapter must recruit four new members each year just to replace the members it loses.

8. Operating without a plan to replace these lost members can have a devastating impact on your chapter and your barbershop experience.

9. More members means more dynamic and talented music and administrative leaders to grow existing chapters or start new chapters.

No new members yet, but some promising guests. Talk to somebody about barbershop this week! Our target for members this year is for a 7 member NET INCREASE by the end if 2006.

We are performing at the Manoir Montefiore, 5885 Cavendish (Corner of Mackle), Cote St-Luc on Wednesday evening. Plan to be there at 6:45 PM in your tux.

This is the residence where Howard Zingboim’s father lives. [The absent Editor will be there!]

The show is only 10 weeks away! That means we have a bunch of new music to learn, tickets to sell and advertising to sell for the show program. We have budgeted to make a profit on this year’s show – something we haven’t done for the past four years. One way we can do that is to sell enough advertising that we pay for the costs of the show.

It can be done, and there is no time like the present to start. See Murray or Steve! We will be taking orders for tickets at the same time. So, start to talk up our show with your friends and acquaintances. The price of the tickets will be $25.00 CDN or $21.00 US.

Alan Kenley has a supplier that has sent us coffee and hot chocolate on consignment. We sell the units at $5.00 each and we make $2.50 per unit for the Chapter. It is good quality coffee and hot chocolate, too! A bunch of members already took some, and If you can, take some to sell at your work, or church, or …

Alan Mackenzie reports that we are registered in the ThinkGreen printer cartridge-recycling program. We should be receiving shipping boxes within two weeks and can get started on this easy fundraiser.

If you want to learn more about the program, you can find a lot of information on their web site ThinkGreen.com

He is back from vacation and will be collecting cartridges the on Monday. A list of eligible cartridges is available on the web site.

This is free and there is no cost to the Chapter, so a little effort on the part of each of us can reap some good financial gain for the group. There is also promotional material available (posters, etc), so you can advertise our program at work, church, bowling league... you get the picture.

Your goal in all of this is to keep Alan busy packing and shipping cartridges!

The chapter can benefit from your car repairs, your groceries, your clothes, even lunch and coffee! [Harvey’s and Second Cup]… all you have to do is get the cards to buy at the outlets from FundScrip.

The weekly deadline to order is on Monday and you receive the cards or certificates the next Monday. It is easy to sign up, and now you can charge the orders to your credit card, although the Chapter only gets half the amount, but it is still better than nothing!

The Editor was away on vacation in Nova Scotia from February 7 to 28, and didn’t get a chance to find out what was happening here in Montreal, so The Pitch didn’t appear for that three weeks.

I am back, but I will be in Detroit this Monday and Tuesday on Society business. The Site evaluations are being conducted for potential International Convention sites for 2012, 2013 and 2015.

Here is our current repertoire list: [mp3] means that the mp3 file is on the Members' Only web site