Geoff Kidd wrote:
Terry
The points you have made are valid ..
so come back here near the fan, but I would counter with the following:
We don't need to excite the "general
population". All we need to do is excite 3000 people OZ-wide and we've
just about doubled the size of the sport.
It's a good equation Geoff.
Perhaps I need to briefly explain my current somewhat gloomy outlook.
It's fostered in
part by some aspects of the discussion which took place at my own
club's AGM last Saturday night. Two things struck me.
The first was that a significant part of our flying income goes
straight back into insuring our aircraft fleet. Most members would, I
think feel that we are
charging
enough for flying at present. It's evident that most of our members
(or their wives)
will have set a limit as to how much they can spend on gliding.
Putting up fees again is not the answer; people then fly less hours to
meet their limits. Hence the gloom about the costs.
The other topic - namely publicizing our sport and increasing our
membership also got a very good airing, and this has some bearing on
what you have just contributed.
One of the points raised in this discussion was the reported statistic
that somehow we do attract 1,000 new
members to the sport each year. The problem is apparently that we
also lose
1,000 members each year. Now I'm not prepared to stake my life on
those figures,
but I accept that they are presented in good faith by someone who is
concerned enough about the situation to glean them. If they
are correct, it shows that we need to set a focus in retaining
more of the members after we go to all the trouble to recruit them.
Perhaps that too will
affect the trend of this again very useful discussion.
For the "satisfaction now" generation,
if they are also the "money now" generation, why wouldn't you just
shunt them off to Sportavia or Keepit and they can be solo in a week?
One option that we have is to narrow
the marketing target a tad. One example is that while I was at
Sportavia last Feb/March, the standout was that the most keen Glider
Pilots who had shipped their machines and selves from overseas, were
current or ex airline pilots, who were bored to death with their normal
flying but kill-to-fly passionate about Cross-Country Soaring. So that
group in OZ are a good place to start ............ BUT would you really
expect to keep them all if you suggest to a 5000 or 10000 hour airline
pilot that they should just go out to their local club for lessons?
I wouldn't. I feel pretty sure that they wouldn't either. Again
these are all valid points and need to be kept in the picture as we
wrestle with the best ways of dealing with the situation.
There
certainly appears to be good case on the face of it for retaining an
"all frills
included" training operation near to each of the major population
centres. However the initiative for going in this direction almost
certainly rests with the existing operators in the appropriate
location(s). Even then, it's a difficult challenge to manage such an
operation, and financially it's a venture which history shows has not
always been
entirely sucessful. There are compelling reasons why it might be even
more fraught in the current socio-ecconomic climate.
Regards,
Terry
Regards Geoff
-----
Original Message -----
Sent:
Tuesday, August 30, 2005 12:54 PM
Subject:
Re: [Aus-soaring] A NEW APPROACH TO GFA PROMOTION & MEMBERSHIP??
Geoff Kidd wrote:
<>See http://www.glidingmagazine.com/FeatureArticle.asp?id=485
for the NZ article titled "Membership: It’s not a pretty picture".
It may however be totally accurate - for here - as well as for New
Zealand.
That's the scary thing about writing out a blank cheque for a group of
consultants, as some are advocating. Some 100+K$ later they will
almost certainly come up with the conclusion that gliding doesn't
really interest, much less excite the general population, and that
other "competing" pastimes come easier and/or cheaper.
We already know that, and it hasn't cost us anything (in monetary
terms).
One of the things that the combined magazine should have taught us is
that gliding is pricing itself out of the sporting aviation scene, or
at least putting itself at the higher end of the options. Compare the
prices in the hang gliding classifieds with those of our kind, and you
soon get a picture of the relative costs of the equipment.
Furthermore, the price of the basic equipment sets the base line for
the cost of the complete operation. The simply fact is that a K-21
costs more that (say) a Jabiru, and if you want to put an engine in the
K-21 - surely the only way to really set up even a basic training
regime for the "Satisfaction Now!!" generation - it gets even worse.
There isn't really much we can do about that.
I don't particularly like to see this in print myself, but all the
publicity, promotion and research doesn't change the basic facts of the
equation. Gliding these days is expensive; it also takes time, effort
and a certain dedication to 'make it'. Only an enthusiast is going to
see it through - even to solo stage - much less to go on to greater
things.
Most people will make easier and cheaper choices - no matter what we
do, and how many consultants we hire, and what they tell us.
Of course we still promote the sport we love, and we need to do so
with the same enthusiasm and passion we show in our inner circle here.
Terry Cubley and the others who are working in this area are doing
well, and should be supported with ideas and action. However we need
to keep our expectations and ambitions within the parameters of our
product. Almost everyone I speak to about gliding expresses the wish
to "go for a flight sometime". However I just know that even if they
do - and I give every encouragement for them to go to their nearest
club and give it a try - that they probably won't be seized with the
elusive addiction that keeps the rest of us going over the years and
even decades.
That's just how it is.
Now standing well clear of the fan .....
Terry
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