State society membership

[Excel-Lentes]

I am wondering how many of you are involved in your local opticianry organization. Does anyone have any numbers in regards to membership dues vs. licensed opticians for any given state?

What kind of activities or promotions have worked well for increasing membership> education days, fundraisers etc....?

Please give some feedback.

Thank you!

PS: if you are not involved in your state society, what prevents you from doing so? ex. Cost, time, etc......

[Joann Raytar]

if you are not involved in your state society, what prevents you from doing so?

Mostly, I am currently just an idiot. I have the application but every time I intend to send it in something else in life turns up and eats the money set aside. (Translated, I just had to buy a new car and take the old one out and shoot it.)

I think that should be my New Year's resolution, to join the Connecticut Opticians Association. They are really turning things around and working to benefit all state opticians. Actually, Skip Rivard's ideas would benefit Opticians in all states. I know that the state societies need more support and involvement from their optical communities.

[Excel-Lentes]

Jo,

I am on the Board of Directors and believe me, I know it isn't easy to spend the money to join the COA but it is very important. We need every licensed optician to join. After all, your job depends on it. Most employers would rather hire cheaper labor and train them to be opticians.

Skip, being the executive director, has done a really great job organizing us. It is an exciting time for the COA because we are really strong right now. We are focusing on a lot of positive things so you should jump on board and support your profession.

It is an admirable New Year's resolution!
:cheers:

PS I traded my car in for a bicycle.

[Don Lee]

State Organizations

I was active in ours until lack of interest caused it ot fold. I was President of a regional organization, SWODA, until the lack of interest led to ending it's 25+ year service.

I don't know what is is in Oklahoma but there is so little local interest that it looks like there won't be one for a long time.

Don

[Joann Raytar]

Don Lee,

If you read my above post, "Mostly, I am currently just an idiot," I am probably the last person who should be commenting on this one but ...

I have one problem with the direction CT may be headed in. There have been a couple of smaller organizations popping up and one of them has apparently criticized the Connecticut Opticians Association openly. I don't see this as a good trend. Take a look at my case. I didn't join the state's biggest organization yet, it is unlikely that I will join two or three of them right now. Since not everyone is independently wealthy, this creates a problem; folks have to choose who they want to belong to. Membership gets divided among a couple of groups and instead of there being one strong association you end up with a few weeker ones. This limits what the organization do and in the end members give up on it.

Excel-Lentes, somehow, the COA needs to get the word out about what its purpose is to more people. The new Connecticut Opticians Association website is an excellent start but what else can be done to encourage new membership?

[Excel-Lentes]

Jo,


Right now we have a record membership but it still could get bigger. It seems that most people join to get the CE credits which is a pretty sad reason. The COA does a whole lot more than put on CE events. It protects the interest of all opticians and also protects the interest of consumers.

The COA is the ONLY organization that represents ALL CT opticians. If this other "organization" splinters opticianry in CT there won't be two weaker groups, there will be no group. If the COA ever ceased to exist it would be a matter of time before licensing of opticians in CT ceases to exist.

Joining your state optician organization should be something that every optician should budget for. If you don't support it, it can't support you.

Happy Holidays to all.

[Don Lee]

Originally posted by Excel-Lentes


Joining your state optician organization should be something that every optician should budget for. If you don't support it, it can't support you.

And it really bothers me that opticians don't care about joining their state org. and for some of the most ridiculous reasons. One optician actually said she didn't want everybody learning how she did business and copy it. Good Grief! It's a fact that what works for one doesn't work for another but we ALL use the basic skills of opticianry.

Some say that Tulsa isn't a part of Oklahoma and the way they participate, even if the meeting was in Tulsa, it must be so. ;)

Don

[Joann Raytar]

The COA is the ONLY organization that represents ALL CT opticians.

Yes, I have to admit. After learning who many of the members are, the COA is a very diverse group. It appears to be the only state organization representing lab opticians, chain and independent opticians, not just firm members.

It seems that most people join to get the CE credits which is a pretty sad reason.

One optician actually said she didn't want everybody learning how she did business and copy it.

CE credits are a great benefit of most state organizations but it is not the best reason to join. A person cannot complain about pay scales and legislation when they are skirting the organizations that will keep them informed about what is going on and that will only be able to fully represent them if those associations can get their membership numbers up. If a state has 700 Opticians, all 700 of them carry a much louder voice than only 200 of them.

On the count of the gal who didn't want to leak business secrets. Sure, what a great way to further your profession. Don't share or teach anything valuable to other Opticians that way the work force can become unskilled and licensing unecessary. Once that happens she can complain about not being paid enough. More education and experienc = higher pay.

[mbabc]

I'm a long time member of 'The Society of Dispensing Opticians of Kentucky" (whew, long name, but that's what they came up with all most 50 years ago)

We've had a very active membership over the years. Some years better, some less. What's increased interest recently you ask... we passed requirements for continuing education thru our state legislature in the mid 90's. It wasn't easy, but our leadership with a motivated membership did the job.

Check out the SDOK at www.gosdok.com.

Mark M. Babcock
Louisville, KY.

[MVEYES]

I have been a trustee of our state society since 1994 and education chairman for the last three years. We have about 800 members out of 3000 licenses in the State of Ohio. We have concentrated on continuing education as our major means of support. I would certainly like to find some other methods of funding our projects. Our dues are a small portion of our budget at $75/year. Any ideas for funding?

[Judy Canty]

I am the Immediate Past President of our state association and have spent years touting the necessity of such organizations at the state and national level.
The network that I have become a part of has provided me with expert assistance when necessary and more than a few referrals to and from other members, so active membership has both professional and business benefits.

BTW, it was nice to see some OAA members profiled and quoted in the current issue of "Lenses & Technology" magazine.

[Don Lee]

Originally posted by MVEYES
...We have concentrated on continuing education as our major means of support...

The last organization I belonged to was totally education centered. That may have been the down fall of the org. We would love to have opticians licensed in Oklahoma but, as I've said in past posts, the optoms have fought us for 40 years. The only reason is that they don't want think opticians can be a credible group because we don't have a college degree.

BUNK!

Don

[Excel-Lentes]

In CT our licence requires 7 hours of CE per year. Our membership to the state association includes 7 CE's per year therefore a large portion of our membership is due to the mandatory CE's. I question if there was no CE required would our membership be so large?


I feel that in order to be recognized as licensed professionals college education should be mandatory. I am not saying that we can't learn on the job through good leadership and self discipline, but a standardized curriculum delivered at the community college level will be the only way we will have a solid description of what an optician is. This is what licensing boards look for. Personally, I feel that college should be coupled with some apprenticeship in order to take a state licensing exam.

Apprenticeship today rarely works well due to the demands of many dispensing situations. For example, imagine one licensed optician teaching 6 apprentice opticians. It just is'nt going to happen. There needs to be more structure with quality instructors. Good opticians aren't necessarily good teachers.

[ts]

college rducationA

A college dedgree would be great for opticians to sit for their license, but what must be done first.
Get all states licensed? have the optical owners agree that it is okay for their personal who are licensed to have a college degree
and pay them their rightful salery but let the O.D.'s and M.D.'s that despense employ high school only educated employees and claim that they are working under the doctor's license.
I do not think so.
How do we fix that.
1. we work together as a group of states to get all states licensed, one at a time but we work together. this may require opticians to all join their state societies and check some ego's at the door.
2. we then require all specticle or contact fitters to be licensed no matter whom their employer is.
3. we then go after associate degrees to sit for your license.
number 2 could be worked on in licensed states while we work on getting other states licensed.
We must have a plan and stick to it, this me me me just is not working. we must work together a choose leaders wisely,
you can not jump from ther ground to the roof you must climb the ladder step by step but that ladder must be built before you can climb it.
lay out a plan and then exictue it.

[Laurie]

AS degree in Opticianry could be the norm.

HI ts,

We have the steps in place to make an AS degree in opticianry the new norm.

People interested in opticianry can work in the field while taking their optical classes via Internet. People already in the field would be grandfathered in for their license w/0 the AS degree.

I teach opticianry full time, and have seen enrollment take a nose dive all around the country. A couple of years ago, I was calling friends in large lens companies incase I needed a new job!

Now, with the available technology, we can provide quality opticianry education via Internet. Today, our enrollment is triple what it was a few years ago. Our first round of Internet students just took the ABO and scored in the mid-high 90's. I expect all of them to do well on the Florida state boards next fall.

We now have complete access to opticianry education all over the country. Now we need to convert the opticians already in the field to this concept and it is slowly starting to happen.

Who will be attending the leadership meeting in Georgia next month? Alot of this stuff can be hashed out there, and more people are needed to get involved with this undertaking.

Laurie