Discussion: Club Website (forum , blog, bulletin board, whatever)
in: Orienteering; General
Jan 10, 2010 7:18 PM
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Here are a lot of open ended questions...
If this applies to your club, how has having a place to post comments enhanced your particular club's website? Has it led to increased event participation, membership, event planning, whatever?
Or is it just a useless embelishment that sees little traffic?
Can people become members on-line?
How has AP helped your club?
What do you believe is the single most effective way to increase club memebership and event participation?
If this applies to your club, how has having a place to post comments enhanced your particular club's website? Has it led to increased event participation, membership, event planning, whatever?
Or is it just a useless embelishment that sees little traffic?
Can people become members on-line?
How has AP helped your club?
What do you believe is the single most effective way to increase club memebership and event participation?
Jan 10, 2010 11:13 PM
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DVOA has an eboard for discussion and it is used a lot by our club members. It is used to put out info about a local event, to ask for help in the local event, to thank the volunteers that put on that day's event. It is used to share information of all kinds such as good airfare to an A event coming up, road closures, problems going to a local event, training info, injury help, etc. Has it increased our membership, I don't have that information but I do know that it is a useful tool for our club and new people can post questions and get answers. We also have a page on our web that is for volunteering for jobs at local events that have been very useful. I know that we have talked about being able to join on-line or renew our membership on-line but I'm not sure if that has been added to the site or not.
I'm not sure if AP has helped DVOA or not but I do know that a lot of us post here and use it as least once a week if not daily.
DVOA strides to have a really great website, user friendly and very informative to all that use it, old or new. We also stride to make any one that comes to our events feel welcome. From the registration table to the finish, of a newcomer's race we work hard to make sure that they had a great experience and that all of their questions are answered and that they feel good about their day in the woods and that they will want to come back again. We use person to person contact to make sure our newcomers feel welcome. To get them to events we use Newpaper releases is a number of papers in our area, we just designed new business like cards that we can hand out to people we meet and to leave at a number of sporting good type stores. We stride to make new contacts for our club in our everyday life.
I'm not sure if AP has helped DVOA or not but I do know that a lot of us post here and use it as least once a week if not daily.
DVOA strides to have a really great website, user friendly and very informative to all that use it, old or new. We also stride to make any one that comes to our events feel welcome. From the registration table to the finish, of a newcomer's race we work hard to make sure that they had a great experience and that all of their questions are answered and that they feel good about their day in the woods and that they will want to come back again. We use person to person contact to make sure our newcomers feel welcome. To get them to events we use Newpaper releases is a number of papers in our area, we just designed new business like cards that we can hand out to people we meet and to leave at a number of sporting good type stores. We stride to make new contacts for our club in our everyday life.
Jan 11, 2010 4:17 AM
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Since my club (OCIN) has started putting all events on Route Gadget, we've seen an increase in post-event discussion . But I don't think that's helped attendance.
And repeated prods to get more people to join attackpoint haven't done much, although I can think of one regular logger who started after my encouragement, and at least one non-posting "lurker" who reads AP regularly.
Point-of-event notices (color posters at park bulletin boards and trailheads) have brought in a couple people, but not a lot. A big display with dvd and literature handouts at the start/finish of a huge (15,000+ runners) 10 km road race drew lots of interest, but few if any have actually come to an O' event).
More frequent events in the last year (12-13 event school league from Nov-Mar, and 12-13 week sprint series in summer) have increased participation numbers a little, but not as much as I'd hope. We seem to now have more regulars who come most weeks.
O' programs for school classes generate some interest, but unless there is regular follow-up (eg someone at the school to run a "club" and get kids to events, we usually don't see returnees.
Our best publicity seems to be 1. events themselves. Other park users who show up and either try that day or come to a future event. 2. word of mouth recruitment of family and friends. Our school league has generated two or three parents who have become more avid orienteers than their kids.
And repeated prods to get more people to join attackpoint haven't done much, although I can think of one regular logger who started after my encouragement, and at least one non-posting "lurker" who reads AP regularly.
Point-of-event notices (color posters at park bulletin boards and trailheads) have brought in a couple people, but not a lot. A big display with dvd and literature handouts at the start/finish of a huge (15,000+ runners) 10 km road race drew lots of interest, but few if any have actually come to an O' event).
More frequent events in the last year (12-13 event school league from Nov-Mar, and 12-13 week sprint series in summer) have increased participation numbers a little, but not as much as I'd hope. We seem to now have more regulars who come most weeks.
O' programs for school classes generate some interest, but unless there is regular follow-up (eg someone at the school to run a "club" and get kids to events, we usually don't see returnees.
Our best publicity seems to be 1. events themselves. Other park users who show up and either try that day or come to a future event. 2. word of mouth recruitment of family and friends. Our school league has generated two or three parents who have become more avid orienteers than their kids.
Jan 11, 2010 4:43 PM
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> What do you believe is the single most effective way
> to increase club memebership and event participation?
the OCIN experience resonates with what WPOC experienced in the Pittsburgh area
used several channels:
- email notification to email list
- local newspaper event listing
- local blog event listing
- local outdoor group event listing
- public library community boards
- sporting goods stores community boards
- storefronts
- flier handouts at other sporting events
- newsletter of other outdoor clubs
- personal conversation and word-of-mouth
- posting of flier at the venue site
At a "Venture Outdoors" festival, handed out 500 fliers, resulting with only two new people showing up in following meets.
Folks that are active within the "confines" of a club rarely venture out and try to go into the confines of another club.
Folks that are artsy-fartsy don't trust sporting events.
Folks that are sportsy don't trust artsy events.
Changed the flier to "Scavenger Hunt" for the artsy folks.
There are several thousands that will do big 10K race, but of those, maybe five will go to an O-meet later in the year.
In Europe, hundreds of middle and high school students show up at municipal parks for an O-meet. Just like cross-country running. But in the US, it hasn't taken a "hold" in coaches minds in schools.
Scouts: lots of interest at first, but then, when it's meet time, very few show up. Also, they like to plan months in advance, and never detour from the scheduled plan. So, if on a Wednesday, you tell a parent of this cool thing called map & compass orienteering in the woods this Sunday, they will tell you they can't because they got scout activities (which can never be changed).
We found that several factors affect attendance:
- location of the venue, relative to how close is it to an urban center. Many parents and kids have busy schedules, who has soccer, who as a birthday party, who has this and that. If the venue is 50 miles out, that's an all-day event to them, and they will not show up. It it is a county park within 25 miles, they see it has taking just a third of a day, and they will show up, do a quick course, and leave. Everybody seems happy.
- "if you go, I will go". That really applies to children. If their friends are there, so will these other friends... and parents are then coaxed into going too.
- talking to several hundred folks at a crowded event at an urban park, realized that many in the age 16-20 do not have vehicular transportation. No longer depending much on their parents, they move around within 5 miles of home, and that is why having an event at a city park very close to a thick residential neighborhood is sometimes effective. Once they try it, they might find it they like it, and next time, they'll convince someone to drive them to a meet farther away.
Technology such as e-punching and Route Gadget would be of interest for adventure racers, but then, the local adv racing clubs are still not using it.
Of all the new shows, it turned out that the most effective method was word of mouth, personal conversation, smalltalking at a party. Participating at other outdoor events as mountain biker, geocacher, hasher, adventure racer, caver, climber, hiker, skater, you name it, helps break into the "confines" border club-mindset and earn a "trust". Once they know you, and they know you, then one or two might peel off their routine and try out what you've been telling them for months.
> to increase club memebership and event participation?
the OCIN experience resonates with what WPOC experienced in the Pittsburgh area
used several channels:
- email notification to email list
- local newspaper event listing
- local blog event listing
- local outdoor group event listing
- public library community boards
- sporting goods stores community boards
- storefronts
- flier handouts at other sporting events
- newsletter of other outdoor clubs
- personal conversation and word-of-mouth
- posting of flier at the venue site
At a "Venture Outdoors" festival, handed out 500 fliers, resulting with only two new people showing up in following meets.
Folks that are active within the "confines" of a club rarely venture out and try to go into the confines of another club.
Folks that are artsy-fartsy don't trust sporting events.
Folks that are sportsy don't trust artsy events.
Changed the flier to "Scavenger Hunt" for the artsy folks.
There are several thousands that will do big 10K race, but of those, maybe five will go to an O-meet later in the year.
In Europe, hundreds of middle and high school students show up at municipal parks for an O-meet. Just like cross-country running. But in the US, it hasn't taken a "hold" in coaches minds in schools.
Scouts: lots of interest at first, but then, when it's meet time, very few show up. Also, they like to plan months in advance, and never detour from the scheduled plan. So, if on a Wednesday, you tell a parent of this cool thing called map & compass orienteering in the woods this Sunday, they will tell you they can't because they got scout activities (which can never be changed).
We found that several factors affect attendance:
- location of the venue, relative to how close is it to an urban center. Many parents and kids have busy schedules, who has soccer, who as a birthday party, who has this and that. If the venue is 50 miles out, that's an all-day event to them, and they will not show up. It it is a county park within 25 miles, they see it has taking just a third of a day, and they will show up, do a quick course, and leave. Everybody seems happy.
- "if you go, I will go". That really applies to children. If their friends are there, so will these other friends... and parents are then coaxed into going too.
- talking to several hundred folks at a crowded event at an urban park, realized that many in the age 16-20 do not have vehicular transportation. No longer depending much on their parents, they move around within 5 miles of home, and that is why having an event at a city park very close to a thick residential neighborhood is sometimes effective. Once they try it, they might find it they like it, and next time, they'll convince someone to drive them to a meet farther away.
Technology such as e-punching and Route Gadget would be of interest for adventure racers, but then, the local adv racing clubs are still not using it.
Of all the new shows, it turned out that the most effective method was word of mouth, personal conversation, smalltalking at a party. Participating at other outdoor events as mountain biker, geocacher, hasher, adventure racer, caver, climber, hiker, skater, you name it, helps break into the "confines" border club-mindset and earn a "trust". Once they know you, and they know you, then one or two might peel off their routine and try out what you've been telling them for months.
Jan 16, 2010 9:46 PM
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rm:
Before I moved to Britain, I looked into local orienteering clubs. One club, mostly south of where I live, has a nice web site with a forum, which I was able to join and post questions on. Another club, just northwest of here, had a dumpy unkempt web site, with a link for sending inquiries...which were not responded to. Guess which club I joined. (Which also seems to be a growing, thriving club.)
This discussion thread is closed.