Re: Solutions for Indoor FF
F1L is an AMA event (has been for several years).
----- Original Message -----
From: Don DeLoach
To: Indoor_Construction_at_yahoogroups.com
Sent: Tuesday, June 02, 2009 12:25 PM
Subject: [Indoor_Construction] Solutions for Indoor FF
Hi John
John
Thanks for engaging in this discussion. I should say that as soon as I hit
"send" last night I knew I would catch hell for my rant. Just please
understand it was sent in the spirit of trying to find solutions to the
problems inherent with our hobby/sport. If in trying to be constructive by
stirring the pot I came across as a bit abrasive, well, I apologize!
Now, to your arguments:
I'm big and you are puny, so you should get on board with me. Not a great
way to earn support. Especially since, in the big picture, "you" are pretty
small too.
--the fact is that the Big Tent of Outdoor Free Flight is around 3-4 times
bigger than the participant base of indoor FF. Indoor flyers need NFFS a lot
more than NFFS needs them. Too many guys look at NFFS membership as a
magazine subscription. It is not!
And, while we are on Nats numbers, let's take a peek at your claim that
Indoor FF is "the smallest of all of the tiny factions of aeromodeling".
2008 Nats Registration: Control Line Scale: 20, RC Combat: 35, RC Electric:
24, RC Helicopter: 27, RC Scale: 38.
--point taken...glad to learn that! But in the AMA membership surveys I'll
bet the breakdown still looks something like this: RC 90% CL 5% FF 4% Indoor
FF 1%. Indoor flyers NEED the clout of NFFS!
How about we use this message instead: We are all in the same boat. We
need to do the same kinds of things to boost participation. Let's work
together.
--yes, right on. Thanks for capturing that!
>>`--virtually every indoor event has been loopholed to death and taken over
by expert flyers. The only remaining rays of light are A-6 and LPP, and
perhaps F1L. Two of those three are not AMA events.'
Actually, two of those three *are* AMA events - but that's nitpicking.
--LPP is an AMA event but F1L and A-6 are not. A-6 needs to be an AMA event.
It is the event that Easy B used to (and was intended) to be!
Your common theme is that we have to change the activity to make it more
appealing, and I couldn't disagree more. Indoor FF has inherent appeal. In
16 years I haven't met a person yet who wasn't awestruck.
--This is an interesting question for sure. As a marketer I am trained to
believe that you tailor your product to the demands of the marketplace.
Tailoring the marketplace is a helluva lot harder. Think hard about this. Is
indoor FF willing to be so esoteric that we only have a target market of
engineers/PhDs? That is how things are now, largely because the genre is so
technically demanding. As to your observation about the appeal by outside
observers, I agree, but how many of them are thinking "I can do this. It
seems accessible"? Not very many, IMO. Most are thinking, "These guys are
nuts. I don't have the time or patience for something so difficult!"
Changing this perception might be indoor's biggest problem. Contrast this
with the visitor to the average outdoor FF contest. There are guys flying
fast and loud airplanes, and they are riding motorcycles! This *seems* a lot
more accessible and fun to the average Joe.
There are plenty of events to get a newcomer hooked, and the harder events
are waiting when they are ready. Worrying about the minimum weight of EZB
is barking up the wrong tree, as least as far as this topic is concerned.
Especially since F1L is a 1.2 gm EZB.
--You are right in that F1L has supplanted EZB as the everyman's lightweight
indoor event, but EZB is still festering in the rulebook as an event gone
wrong. Just my opinion!
What we *do* need to do is work on exposure and flying sites.
Everyone loves Indoor FF. A small fraction has the whatever-it-takes to
actually pursue it. The more people you expose, the larger number that
"small fraction" generates - a la Science Olympiad. A simple concept, but
one that helps us focus in the right direction.
--absolutely true. It is a numbers game. Out of 5000 kids 1000 will be
interested in airplanes, and perhaps 10 of those will actually build an
indoor model. One out of those 10 will be named Brett Sanborn. It's a lot of
work!
BTW - as an outsider, the concept of driving a motorcycle around in circles
under an F1A ship and flapping is freaky. Do you feel you guys need to cut
that cr*p out to attract new participants?
--This only happens in California where people are generally weird anyway,
Besides, outdoor FF is generally not having trouble attracting new
participants. That's just my observation!
I read an article that lamented the rubber situation, declining
participation, lack of flying sites - and predicted the complete demise of
Indoor FF within a few years. The interesting part was that the article was
in a 30 year old issue of INAV!! (I just searched through my stack of junk
in the basement to try to find it, but I'm way too messy, unfortunately).
--too true. The same thing was being said in MAN and AAM about outdoor FF,
during the heyday of the sixties! Sites disappearing, the Junior problem,
yada yada. The kind of "leaders" that make these predictions need to shut
up. "If you think you can't succeed, you're right."
My prediction is, and you can mark my words: Indoor FF will never die.
--I love this attitude and I wholeheartedly agree. Free Flight in general is
just too cool to die. The challenge is, are our rules-makers and leaders
paying enough attention to the realities of the marketplace in which we
operate? This is a constant fight.
My second reaction is, Yeah.we need to plan ways to communicate with
visitors that fulfills their curiosity - without negatively impacting what
we like to do.
--Very well said. Perhaps a nice brochure or something. Let me know your
ideas and how I can help.
We also need to continue exposing ourselves (well, exposing our activity
anyway). I've tried to do my small part by writing stuff, but we need lots
more. People love Indoor FF when they see it. They just need to see it
more.
-- I think Romash has found the best solution to the problem of indoor
recruitment: He just forces planes into the hands of interested spectators.
Romash is the insurgent terrorist of indoor PR/marketing...I love it!
We also also need to continue obtaining flying sites. The site is the
chicken to the participation egg, but that's the part we have direct control
over.
--this seems like the easy part to me. Indoor site are everywhere, compared
to good outdoor sites.
Rgds
Don
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Received on Tue Jun 02 2009 - 09:29:29 CEST
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