Discussion: Thanks for the write up

It is great to hear reflections on the terrain and the general atmosphere. Inspiring for future WMOCers.

I didn't have anything to add so was mostly lurking on this end, but very much appreciated the ongoing commentary as well as maps that you provided. Many thanks for putting the effort in to do that. Would love to get to Europe myself in a few years...

I enjoyed the write ups, it's fun to see what the old fogeys are up too. ;-)

Curious what kind of involvement you expect from the ED.

I really enjoyed your write-ups too.

If we were home (or I had brought my computer), I would have posted more news on the OUSA site; that will have to wait, as will JWOC. I'll be home in time to post WOC comments.

Curious what kind of involvement you expect from the ED.

Something. Anything. Conceivably a little enthusiasm. Or a little interest.

And that pertains, at least it has in the past, to his involvement with all the teams.

There is no official Masters Team, so no real expectation, but a little interest or enthusiasm would have been a pleasant surprise.

My expectation would be that if someone is in his position and is going to post a congratulatory post to the usof board, then he would have at least done his research and congratulated more than the one person he did in his "shout out."

No kidding. Not that it matters, but a lot of the good will I've been trying to maintain just disappeared.

Veering into eddie's territory? :-D

No.

But think about the following -- what's the possibility that a press release as professionally done as this one would be issued by the OUSA office within a couple of hours of the end of the event?

That is cool.

Selling a kid with a medal is a lot easier than selling a 50 yo without.

Charlotte and Adrian have a professional mindset, through and through.

It extends further down than Charlotte and Adrian and will take even more time to perculate down further, but it is very on the ball to get that press release out asap. OOC should get that to local media very quick (although it might around be done by Sport Canada).

@GuyO: no one is veering into no-ones territory, every one has a right to their opinion, we are as members of Orienteering USA are biting a bullet here, third year in a row; almost, like Orienteering USA is one thing and all teams are on their own, money wise, logistics support, etc. I want to see, how quick they will jump on a bang wagon when Sam or Ali will score big at worlds.

It would be interesting to see how some of the people responsible for the OUSA ED as we know it feel today.

I've tried to be supportive of the ED, and I think that we are definitely better off having one than not having one. No desire to go back to the past.

However, I think there are two questions that should be asked at least on an annual basis as part of a normal review of the federation's operations --

1. Do we have the right person for the job? This is not an easy question to answer, because you are comparing a known individual to an unknown one. And furthermore, there is a learning curve for any replacement, as there has been for the current person.

2. Do we have the right structure for our paid staff? I phrased this rather broadly because I think it should be (i.e. to include the structure of both Glen's and Robin's positions in the review). There are other options than the current structure. One example might be to split the ED position into a less than full time ED supplemented by a part time office assistant with good computer skills. Another might be similar, but add to the duties of the OA those that Robin takes care of now. I'm sure there are other options.

The problem with thinking about possible change is that you need a good understanding of how the current structure is working. And I don't know enough. I don't know what the priorities for the ED are. I don't know how he is doing at making progress on those priorities. I don't know what he gets done each month, and whether that output is appropriate to the federation's needs. Likewise with Robin. I hope someone does know this stuff, but I'm not sure.

My guess is that there is mixed opinion among the powers that be as to what to do, and mixed opinion often leads to nothing being done at all.

I just wish I had more positive feelings about the current situation.

I do not use USOFclubnet on a regular basis. This thread prompted me to look into the recent activity.

"Re: JWOC

Word from the juniors. Check it out!!! Glen

Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
From: Barb Bryant
Date: Sun, 8 Jul 2012 02:47:10 -0400
To: Schorr, Glen; Jim Paschetto
Subject: JWOC

Glen & Jim:

Hits to the US Team blog have been hovering around 40 for the junior posts. You'll probably do it anyway, but if you can find ways to guide more people to it, that would be great!

usa-orienteering.blogspot.com

Thanks,
Barb"

"Congrats to DVOA's Angelica Riley for her 25th place finish in the "A" class at
the World Masters Champs!

Have a good weekend.

Glen
GOUSA!
Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry
"

barb - 40 hits seems kind of low. I wonder if that only counts people that actually go 'to' the blog URL. I keep tabs on it, but get a feed through my news reader. Blogspot may not tally visitors via newsfeeds. Just food for thought... Great job over there, thanks for all the updates and to Dave for photos.... and awesome job by the junior team of course!

It would be interesting to see how some of the people responsible for the OUSA ED as we know it feel today.

If memory serves me right j-man is one of those people...

@GregBalter - Differing opinions are a good thing; it's just that until I read this thread, eddie seemed to be the only vocal critic of the ED's performance (although I am relatively new to the PG log).

I have heard several people vocally criticize the ED, and I think a lot of times they have valid comments. I also think that communication is a problem - are people just complaining, or are they sending feedback to the appropriate people? If they think the ED is being unresponsive, or if you cringe when you see certain things sent over email, then maybe he (or someone on the BoD who can give him feedback) should know about it.

We have an ED who has done a lot of good things (and I think communication could be better in that direction, too) so I hope he's being given a chance to develop necessary skills rather than just condemned. I also don't know enough about the details (again with the communication) to know what's best here, but agree with PG that structure is worth looking at. It strikes me that the ED is expected to deal with/know about a lot of nitty gritty things that are maybe best left to someone else.

It strikes me that the ED is expected to deal with/know about a lot of nitty gritty things that are maybe best left to someone else.

May well be. And the reason for setting priorities -- these things are important and we expect progress on them, and (either explicitly or by default) these other things are not important and don't waste your time on them. Sometimes emphasizing the latter -- you've got too much to do, forget about certain things -- is as important as the former.

Okay, let's suppose the priority is setting up schools orienteering programs, or getting state support for orienteering development. What ways can good Team results be used to promote this goal in far-off states?

- Newspaper clippings showing that this is a sport, and that people train
- Top orienteers turning up to meetings and charming local officials
-
-

Can someone suggest more? How would a tenth place at WOC help develop Arkansas orienteering? It's not going to get in the sports section of the national papers without some prior work, but it might make some news features.

So planning ahead. We'll need a press release ready for WOC, so we're not caught with our pants down when something special happens.

...

Regarding the press release for Emily, it was written by myself and Charlotte in our capacity of Communications for the Canadian High Performance Program, not in Charlotte's capacity as ED. This is part of a wider and ongoing strategy by the High Performance Committee to communicate elite O to the Canadian O community, and, in a way, to the public at large. This is one of a series of press releases we send out during the year, not a one off. Because orienteering is not terribly well recognized nationally we get better success with local media (all interview requests for Emily came from Ottawa media, nothing national), but we send the release via Sport Canada, so it does start to build awareness.

Nice mention of AR's 25th place, but no mention of a 50 yr olds two (non medal)4th place finishes. It may not help develop orienteering in Arkansas, but possibly here in CT or even Katonah, NY.

http://www.faculty.fairfield.edu/rdewitt/wcoc/ ?

And speaking of professional design, I've been terribly disappointed with the posters material here - http://orienteeringusa.org/club-leaders/promo-mate...

I could do stuff of that standard... :(