Volunteer Role Description – JEC Model Section Coordinator
The essence of the Model Section Coordinator role is to be the recognised ‘go to’ individual within the club for a particular model or model range, i.e. the prime JEC contact source for specific model knowledge. Model enthusiasm is the key ingredient for the role. To perform it successfully a Model Coordinator should be familiar with the day to day running of the model concerned, typically through personal ownership. The Model Coordinator is not expected to be a technical expert although he/she should be able to direct members in timely fashion to appropriate sources of information/technical experts in response to model queries received by email, letter and phone.
Key Activities
The single most regular activity is to ensure there is some form of copy available each month for the Jaguar Enthusiast magazine. Copy can be based upon correspondence from other members, passing on articles received by the editor, be generated purely by the Coordinator from his/her own ownership experience or from a mixture of sources relating to the cars covered by the Model Section. Typically, the coordinator’s own contribution should be a minimum of 1000 words used to introduce the news about models, the topics sent in by fellow members and to encourage contributions and feedback. There is a strict timetable of dates for the supply of copy which ensures the magazine can be produced on time each month. To avoid disappointing members who expect to see something every month about the model in which they have an interest, it is vital to liaise with the magazine editor at the earliest if ever the coordinator is unable to submit monthly material. Liaising with the editor on a regular basis will ensure that, in one form or another, something will appear every month in the magazine relating to those cars.
A second important thread of coordinator activity is to monitor the Model Section of the JEC website where members raise queries and comment. It is particularly valuable for the coordinator to assist development of the online forum by pump-priming its discussions, especially when online traffic is thin. This activity maintains members’ interest in the model, in visiting the other sections of the JEC website and influences their willingness to participate in club activities.
Once there is enough interest in a model, members with that interest are keen to meet, compare cars and exchange information in person. Model specific runs, breakfast, lunch and dinner meetings and similar social activities are all potential ways for Model Coordinators to facilitate such informal information exchanges. To create interest in model section meetings, gatherings can be organised locally or nationally with the minimum of coordinator input using the platforms provided by the online Forum, the magazine and social media for coordinators who are regular users of it.
From time to time, the JEC organises Model Seminars where the Model Coordinator may participate or simply attend as the ‘club face’ of the model to meet fellow Model Section members. Similarly, Model Sections are sometimes featured at JEC national events and the knowledge of appropriate Model Coordinators may be called upon to assist in finding cars to display and to answer members’ queries at these events.
Fancy lending a hand? Contact us at [email protected] .