Important news from SEG America

The Segway Enthusiasts Group of America is undergoing a significant transformation.

As you know, volunteer organizations rely on consistent stewardship and activity in order to prosper. While both our membership and general interest has continued to grow throughout the years, the volunteer effort has not. In fact this year we did not receive enough nominations for the SEG America Executive Board to remain in compliance with our bylaws. Simply put, we no longer have the volunteer resources necessary to maintain and grow SEG America.

Because of this, the current entity of SEG America will officially retire on August 31, 2007. There is a silver lining, however. Segway Inc. believes in this community and would like to continue nurturing it in a new way. It sees an opportunity working with and for Segway enthusiasts and hopes to come up with practical and creative ways to grow membership and involvement.

We expect this transition to take some time and we hope you will support their efforts and continue your involvement. We believe our group and its founding objectives will be well served under a more consistent and motivated stewardship via Segway Inc., a company that has always supported our efforts and is now ready to take them to the next level. Your SEG America membership will be one of the starting points for the launch of this new effort.

What will happen to SEG America’s assets? Remaining assets will be reallocated within the Segway Enthusiast community.

It has been our honor as the Executive Board of SEG America to serve this organization over the last three years. We have made many friends, and we have all had some good times. We thank you all for that.

For more news about the SEG America transition, stay tuned to Segway Inc.’s “The Last Mile” blog at http://www.segway.com/blog. We encourage all of you to continue to glide with pride, be good and responsible Segway citizens, find opportunities to glide with your friends, and continue a long and successful life in the Segway community.

Karl Ian Sagal, Fred Kaplan, Stan Dobrowski, Will Hopper

Nominations are now Open! July 07 President’s Message Part 2

It is time for members to decide on the management of this organization for the next year. Nominations for elected office open now! Any Advanced or Individual member can nominate any Advanced or Individual member for any office, by simply sending an email to elections@segamerica.org . All nominations must include the full name and email address of the person making the nomination, and the full name and email address of the person being nominated. If we cannot contact you or the potential nominee, then that action will not be valid.

The elected officers of SEG America are, President, Vice President, Treasurer, Secretary, and Local Group Coordinator.

I will send another email with the voting procedures, which you can expect shortly. If you are not current, it is a good time to renew your membership. Many have already done it, and to those members, thanks! To those of us who have yet to do it, the time is here. Go to www.segamerica.org and get it done.

We have had some issues regarding databases and websites, and are well on our way to resolving many of them, and while we are still dealing with them, we are much more able to respond to the issues that come up. We are installing a number of new features at the same time as the reconstruction, and I still hope to be able to announce many of the improvements soon.

But first…I want to remind everyone that we here at SEG America are all about enjoying the segway experience. Last week I reminded you to go find someone and glide with them. Group glides are a blast!

This week I am going to tell you to go and find something else to do with your seg. Visit a local seg dealer, many are Business members and offer discounts and perks for members. Check out the new t-shirts, and local accessories. Find out if they have some interesting events coming up… Maybe you should go and find or go and start a polo team. If you want to play, and you make it known, you will gather other polo players to you…

We are still looking for The WOZ Cup Challenge in September, and although I have no new news on it, I hope to have some soon. Lots of people have had a great time at local parades, festivals, and glides. If you have some good stories to relate, send them to me, and I will mention them in the next message. You can send them to President@SEGamerica.org .

As a reminder, this year, the election of officers will follow this schedule:

Elections Committee formation : April 30 (Done – Will Hopper chairman)
Nominations for Club officers : July 15 to 28 (Open Now)
Compile Ballot : July 29 to July 31
Voting : Aug 1 to Aug 13
Tabulations : Aug 14 to Aug 15
Results Announced : Aug 15
New Term starts : Sep 1

SEG America merchandise is for sale. We have polo shirts, tee shirts, and much more…

At this point, I want to speak of the rebuild that is currently going on at our website. We are completely reformatting it. We want input. We need images, logos, original artwork, and ideas. Specifically, among other images, we want candid shots of people on segs doing things. The person on the seg need not be the topic or star of the photo. We want interesting shots, with a seg somewhere in it. Send in suggestions and things you want to see on the site. We want to use your ideas and images… Send a note with what attachments you like to President@segamerica.org and I will bring all work to the board… We have special gifts for the contributors, mostly memorabilia from segway history. Be sure to include a mailing address and your permission to use anything you send us.

Keep looking for new action and activity. We will be sending you news as we have it…

Karl Ian Sagal, President, SEG America
848 North Rainbow Boulevard # 559, Las Vegas, Nevada 89017

July 07 President’s Message

Summer is in full swing, and I hope this letter finds itself to people fully engaged in all sorts of segging activities. If not, print this letter to read later, and go out now and take a glide. Make up for lost gliding miles…

2007 has been full of behind the scenes activity and lots of local activities as well. We are looking forward to International Events like the WOZ Cup Challenge in September, but also have been attending lots of local parades, festivals, and local glides. If you are not doing so, you are missing a great deal of fun.

It is almost time for members to decide on the management of this organization for the next year. Nominations for elected office are right around the corner. You can expect an email specifically on elections next week. Nominations open on July 15, and are open to any current paid Advanced Member, who can nominate any current Advanced Member for office. If you are not current, it is a good time to renew your membership. Many have already done it, and to those members, thanks! To those of us who have yet to do it, the time is here. Go to www.segamerica.org and get it done.

As a reminder, this year, the election of officers will follow this schedule:

Elections Committee formation : April 30 (Done – Will Hopper chairman)
Nominations for Club officers : July 15 to 28
Compile Ballot : July 29 to July 31
Voting : Aug 1 to Aug 13
Tabulations : Aug 14 to Aug 15
Results Announced : Aug 15
New Term starts : Sep 1

This year we opened up the organization to Business Members and the response was great, but we are still installing the structure that will best take advantage of their support.

This year very well may be the year. In the life cycle of any product, there is a point that the number of users gets to the point where owning and using one is no longer a novelty, and becomes recognized as cutting edge. $3.00 and more for a gallon of gas, Police and security agencies all over using them, and more and more commuters using them and keeping them in the public’s eyes, Most major cities and tourist areas with rental and tour groups may be factors to drive this home…

SEG America encourages responsible uses of all kinds. We encourage everyone who enjoys gliding to go out and do it. We encourage all to gather with others and glide, as that is a great aspect of this activity, there are lots of very interesting folks who are doing it. I have yet to be in a group of segway gliders where they were not all having a good time.

While we encourage people to gather together, and are very happy to help facilitate that, we recognize that there are many more formats for these activities than just SEG America. There are many local and international groups and polo clubs in the segway world, and we wish them all well.

There are also some big changes here at SEG America. We are in the process of having our website overhauled, and it will have a bold new look, and many new features. We will announce the developments as they become ready to come online. There are other big doings in the works as well. Keep watching for more announcements! (tease, tease)

SEG America merchandise is for sale. We have polo shirts, tee shirts, and much more…

Karl Ian Sagal, President, SEG America

848 North Rainbow Boulevard # 559, Las Vegas, Nevada 89017

The summaries of the last two Executive Board meetings have been approved and posted:

January 17, 2007.

January 31, 2007.

Meeting Summaries can always be found after they are approved by clicking on the “Executive Board Meeting Summaries” link on the left.

We have a new permanent mailing address:

SEG America, Inc.
848 North Rainbow Boulevard #559
Las Vegas, NV. 89017

The New York city address will no longer be used.

The voice and fax phone number remains the same at 1-888-224-6502.

Balance Sheet Previous Year Comparison
	Dec 31, 2006	Dec 31, 2005
ASSETS
Checking - Bank of America	$9,400.50	$14,910.23
PayPal	$813.57	$95.72
TOTAL ASSETS	$10,214.07	$15,005.95
LIABILITIES & EQUITY
Liabilities
Credit Card - Bank of America	$337.59	$0.00
Total Liabilities	$337.59	$0.00
Equity
Unrestrict (retained earnings)	$15,005.95	$8,926.98
Net Income	$-5,129.47	$6,078.97
Total Equity	$9,876.48	$15,005.95
TOTAL LIABILITIES & EQUITY	$10,214.07	$15,005.95

Profit & Loss Previous Year Comparison
	Jan - Dec 2006	Jan - Dec 2005
ORDINARY INCOME/EXPENSE
Income
Membership Dues	$5,465.00	$795.00
Memoribilia Sale	$0.00	$1,925.00
Sacremento, CA SegwayFest	$0.00	$5,840.00
Bedford, NH SegwayFest	$0.00	$14,237.00
Washington, DC SegwayFest	$0.00	$12,190.50
Long Beach, CA SegwayFest	$28,107.00	$0.00
Total Income	$33,572.00	$34,987.50
Expense
Bank Charges	$0.00	$0.00
Fest - Bonita Springs, FL	$0.00	$139.95
Fest - Sacramento, CA	$0.00	$6,817.95
Fest - Bedford, NH	$0.00	$10,406.23
Fest - Washington, DC	$0.00	$9,520.09
Fest - Long Beach, CA	$30,988.29	$0.00
Interest Expense	$0.89	$0.00
Internet	$212.45	$0.00
Licenses & Fees	$100.00	$500.00
Office	$1,051.39	$189.99
PayPal Fees	$505.81	$588.35
Postage & Shiping	$946.15	$40.78
Printing & Graphics	$1,538.46	$0.00
SEG Polo	$658.38	$0.00
Telecommunications	$240.65	$705.19
Unsold Fest Inventory	$2,459.00	$0.00
Void Checks	$0.00	$0.00
Total Expense	$38,701.47	$28,908.53
NET INCOME	$-5,129.47	$6,078.97

Most members’ Advanced memberships expired at the end of the 2006. As per the by-laws that were ratified last year, the new name for this is the Individual Membership. The cost for a one year subscription or extension is just $15.

It is very easy to renew. Just put in your Email address and password on the left side of the screen.

Once inside, you will see the link to Edit Personal Profile. We encourage everyone to go there to make sure we have the proper snail mail address for you (to send the membership cards) and to answer a few more questions about yourself for our records. We’d like to know if you attended any of the first two SegwayFests so that we can include that info on the new membership cards.

After you have saved your updated Profile info, just click on the “Membership Information Page” link or the “My Membership Area” link in the masthead of the screen.

On your membership info screen, you can see all of the subscriptions (and Fest) tickets you have purchased from us. There is a checkbox to check for “Individual Membership ($15)” to renew. Then press “Place Order“.

You will be taken to PayPal to pay the money and then returned back to the SEG America site. Your subscription renewal will start the day after your current one runs out.

We’ll be sending out new-style membership cards along with an extra goody starting in February.