Friday, November 17, 2017

How to View Official GNI Photo Albums

This is a How-To guide for Joining and viewing the official GNI photo albums posted in the Member's area of the GNI web site.

The ALBUMS are found within CIRCLES. A CIRCLE is like a collection or a gallery. You will have to JOIN a CIRCLE prior to viewing the ALBUMS contained within each CIRCLE.

Please follow the following steps to access the CIRCLES feature and JOIN the CIRCLES which contain the official GNI photos.

__________________________________________________________________________

1. Log in the Member's Area within the GNI site

2. Access the Social Network feature from the main-tab-bar. 



3. Click MY FEATURES tab on main menu bar:



4. Click to Select MY CIRCLES


 5. Click ALL CIRCLES

6. Choose the CIRCLE you wish to JOIN






Monday, October 23, 2017

Mr. GNI Leather Travels West

...Wearing Only A Sash!!

San Francisco has a nude beach! Before you decide to go yourself, there are a few things to consider. I suggest that you plan to make it an afternoon activity because the beach is located below cliffs. The beach is only hit directly by sun after noon. More importantly, you do want to check the time for high tide. When I went, high tide was at 1:45pm so I didn't arrive until that time. Although you can take public transportation, I suggest making it easy on yourself. Take Uber or Lyft and ask to be taken to Marshall's Beach. Typically, the taxi/car service will drop you into a neighborhood but you want one of the roads closest to the ocean - look for a parking lot. DO NOT try to go down any way other than the stairs. Many locals take the dirt paths and it is VERY dangerous. Keep looking because the stairs ARE there.

At the bottom of the stairs you will most likely be at Baker Beach. This is also a nude beach. The gay nude beach is at Marshall's Beach, also known as Bad Boys Beach, more north and easier to access once tide has gone out. If you arrive not long after high tide you can climb over a few rocks to get around a 'point' and you will see more guys hanging out. I did spend the afternoon with a local guy who assured me that the police never come down to visit. However, as I almost climbed back up to the top at the conclusion of the visit, two officers were going down. So chose your 'activities' on the beach with caution. Oh and in addition to the water being really cold (I only went in to my knees), it is very rough. I do not suggest going into the water very far.

Brian Ballone at Gunnison Beach, NJ
Just a few days prior to going to San Francisco, I spent my Sunday afternoon on the Jersey Shore on my nude beach, Gunnison. I was super excited to get a few pictures on the west coast while wearing the Mr GNI Leather sash. As the tide went, out I was able to get closer and closer to the Golden Gate Bridge to capture some awesome shots. I was so happy! Unfortunately, due to the location, tide, setting sun...I reluctantly had to go. It's a great beach that you definitely want to check out if you can as long as you are aware that the temperature rarely gets into the high 70s especially at this beach. Overall it was a quiet crowd of maybe a dozen guys. Even on Baker Beach, I saw less than a dozen and there was only one woman. The beaches were very laid back but then again, it IS San Francisco!





2018 Registration for The Gathering is Open

We are pleased to announce that registration for the 2018 Gathering is OPEN and as offered for the past few years, Early Bird rates are now in effect until December 31, 2017
Gay Naturists International (GNI) is delighted to announce that registration is open for our 33rd annual 2018 GNI Gathering located in the Pocono Mountains of eastern Pennsylvania (USA)! Join us August 17 - 26, 2018; shorter attendance options are also available. GNI also provides optional bus transportation to/from both Newark International (EWR) and downtown Manhattan for $50 each way.

The registration fee covers housing in dormitory-style cabins (camping, RV's and offsite-housing optional), all meals and beverages, and events, activities, and entertainment. The Gathering is open to men aged 21 or over, regardless of orientation.

GNI is once again offering the Celebrating the Body Erotic (CBE) introductory workshop by The Body Electric School during the Early Arrival weekend (August 17-19, 2018). We've offered CBE for the past five Gatherings and they've been a huge success! We are also offering our optional Whitewater Rafting excursions and back by popular demand, our New York city tour from August 15 - 17, 2018!

2018 Gathering Rates:

Dates
Attendance Option
Early
Regular
Late


To Dec 31, 2017
Jan 1 - Jun 30
Jul 1 - Aug 17
Aug 17-26
Early Arrival & Full Week *
$1225
$1261
$1325
Aug 19-26
Full Week
$1010
$1040
$1092
Aug 17-22
Early Arrival & First Half Week *
$772
$795
$835
Aug 19-22
First Half Week
$520
$536
$563
Aug 22-26
Second Half Week
$662
$683
$717
Aug 17-19
Early Arrival Weekend *
$520
$536
$563
* = Body Electric Eligible.  If you are planning to attend the Body Electric workshop, you must choose one of these options marked with an asterisk.

Do none of these attendance options work with your schedule? If not, you are welcome to customize your own attendance option. Come for 1, 2, or 3 days; add or subtract days to the above attendance options and create your own schedule. Each day is for $155 per day per person to customize your own attendance option. And you’ll be able to do this on our registration form.
Registration is OPEN now! Make your reservations and start planning your naked vacation with us! 
Click here to registerGNI Gathering 2018 Registration Form

Sunday, October 22, 2017

GNI Hires Marketing Director

GNI Marketing Director
By Peter Karlovich

For an organization to thrive and grow, it needs many things. First, you must offer a quality product that provides value and is delivered consistently. Having attended the GNI Gathering 18 times, as well as a GNI-sponsored cruise, I can say that GNI delivers on this requirement, and Rick Johnson, our Executive Director, makes it look effortless (which it is not). However, as I have painfully learned through building and operating my own business ventures, it is not enough to simply have a superior product. It is equally important to constantly promote your offering and attract new audiences, adjust to the changing times, all while maintaining and strengthening your existing loyal fan base.

As many of you know, GNI has had, at best, a “challenging” history with our marketing effort. For various reasons, promoting and growing an organization such as GNI poses new challenges that did not exist a decade ago. While attendance at The Gathering has ticked up slightly the past two years, the Board believes that to ensure the long-term viability of the organization, we must place new emphasis on promotion and marketing. We must recruit new members, lure back ones who may have drifted away and keep our “regulars” coming back for more.

To that end, earlier this year the Board approved a new, paid staff position (the only paid position other than Executive Director), that of Marketing Director. This engagement is treated as a non-employee contractor. While it is expected that the Marketing Director will be engaged with GNI on a year-round basis, the position is not full-time and is targeted towards an individual who performs other, similar free-lance work for various organizations.

In May and June of this year, I, along with Ian L., a GNI member living in London and a brand manager for a major multi-national steel company there, drafted a Job Description that outlines the challenges facing the organization, along with duties and responsibilities for this new position. After review and approval by the Board, in early July, the Job Description was posted on BuffBuzz, Facebook, Twitter, and Monster.com; a copy can be found here: Marketing Director Job Description.
Over the next month we received approximately 25 inquires for this position, from as close as Pittsburgh, PA (where I live) to as far away as South Africa. Of those, about half were “junk” applications (no resume, a “skeleton” resume or no relevant experience). Of the remainder, about half were good to strong candidates that deserved further review. Through September and early October, Ian and I conducted conference call interviews with the 6 strongest candidates. Each interview lasted approximately one hour and consisted of some standardized questions and criteria that Ian and I established in advance, followed by a free-form discussion of the challenges facing GNI and some solutions each candidate might propose. To say the least, even the interview process was very productive in that we consistently identified several agreed-upon areas of focus as well as some common ideas for ways to approach the problems.
Gene Evangelist, GNI Marketing Director

After the interviews, we narrowed the list down to the three strongest candidates. After a thorough review of qualifications, answers to interview questions and discussion, we decided on a candidate. In mid-October, we presented our choice to the Board, and the Board approved our recommendation of 6-year GNI member Gene Evangelist as the new Marketing Director. The Board will be holding our winter board meeting at the end of October which will be
Gene’s first activity in an official capacity with our organization.

Gene brings with him a 20-year track record of marketing, sales management, and business development experience, along with technical expertise in ad networks, mobile apps, mobile advertising and web development. He holds a BA in Communications from St. Vincent College and earned an MBA from the University of Miami, Coral Gables. He has been an entrepreneur as well as a senior executive for various internet, social media and technology companies. I’m sure many of you have met Gene at one of the recent Gatherings and I ask that you join me in welcoming him as he takes on this new challenge. Welcome Gene!