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Subject: 
Re: Train Posters, yes again
Newsgroups: 
lugnet.trains
Date: 
Mon, 9 Feb 2004 21:18:03 GMT
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"L. Andrew Reynolds" <andrew_reynolds@uhc.com> wrote in message
news:Hso9MH.xwn@lugnet.com...
  How dose a LEGO® club get train posters from ILTCO® without being a
member?

Unfortunately, you can't.

The Train Posters were a collaborative effort between ILTCO and LTC and have
been made available to ILTCO members clubs as a resource for those clubs to
use at Train Shows.  I completely understand your desire to have something
available to hand out at train shows, it is one of the things which
separates the experience of people who visit your LEGO layout compared to
traditional model train layouts.

When TLC discontinued their practice of sending out S@H catalogs and/or
Train Catalogs to LTCs and LUGs (a little more than a year ago) many train
clubs were unhappy with TLC's decision.  It was important enough to the
train clubs to have something like a catalog that ILTCO took up an
initiative with TLC to find a suitable replacement which met the needs of
the train clubs and fit within TLC budget constraints.  The results of that
effort are the Train Posters (1) which feature the ILTCO logo and web site
on the back side along with pictures of several member club layouts.

When ILTCO started the handout (initially a catalog) initiative with TLC,
one of TLC's concerns was knowing who was actually repesenting TLC at trains
shows and other public events.  With the rapid growth of LUGs and LTCs,
keeping track of the various clubs became nearly impossible for TLC to
handle.  ILTCO provides TLC with a first pass assurance that a club is
indeed who they say they are and can be trusted with TLC's marketing
collateral (2).  Once the posters leave TLC's wharehouse, they are out of
their control which is a concen of theirs and a perfectly valid one.

The end result of this initiative is the process we currently have in place.
The process requires clubs to be registered with ILTCO as either an
Affiliate or Active Member in order to place an order for the posters (3).
All of the information necessary to order the posters is available to a
club's representative(s) via the ILTCO web site.

I have tried to have our club registered, but was told that we need a • website and
more of a train presents in our club.  Well we have 4 active members and • all
have very different LEGO® likes, and at some time we might have a web • site, but
we are all very busy and can not devote the time others do.

[ ... snipped ... ]

The requirements for Affiliate membership in ILTCO are pretty straight
forward and do not require a significant amount of work for a club to meet.
There are fundamentally three things you need - a web presence, verifiable
members (4), and either a show history or a near term show on the horizon.
That's about it. The web site requirement doesn't require a fancy web
presence either.  If you look at the current ILTCO clubs (5), the web
presence ranges from the very simple, to the very complex.

ILTCO has a set of policies and procedures in place to allow clubs to join
ILTCO at two different levels. While I admit the 'Active' level takes some
work to achieve and will be difficult for clubs just starting out, the
'Affiliate' level doesn't take a lot of effort. ILTCO can't (and won't)
selectively apply the rules - it isn't fair to clubs who are following the
rules.

Hope this clears things up.  Feel free to follow up with questions if not.

Thanks,

Mike

1 - See images of the posters here:
http://www.iltco.org/sneakpeek/TrainPoster/

2 - Unfortunately there have been several incidents where requests to TLC
have been made on behalf of a club which actuall turned out to be one or two
people requesting things for their own benefit.

3- Unlike S@H catalogs in the past, the train posters are not free.  There
is a cost to the LTCs to obtain them from LEGO although it isn't a
significant amount of money.

4 - You don't have to have a large membership in order to join ILTCO.  But
the members you do have must be verifiable in some manner. Unfortunately,
there have already been instances in TLC's history where groups
psuedo-formed in order to receive "goodies" from TLC. It turns out these
groups are actually one or two people misrepresenting a larger group for
their own benefit.

5 - http://www.iltco.org/clubs/


--
Mike Walsh - mike_walsh at mindspring.com
http://www.ncltc.cc - North Carolina LEGO Train Club



Message has 1 Reply:
  Re: Train Posters, yes again
 
Convenient (20 years ago, 10-Feb-04, to lugnet.trains)

Message is in Reply To:
  Train Posters, yes again
 
How dose a LEGO® club get train posters from ILTCO® without being a member? I have tried to have our club registered, but was told that we need a website and more of a train presents in our club. Well we have 4 active members and all have very (...) (20 years ago, 6-Feb-04, to lugnet.trains)

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