Re: Solutions for Indoor FF

From: John Kagan <john_kagan_at_hotmail.com>
Date: Tue, 02 Jun 2009 19:26:50 -0000

--- In Indoor_Construction_at_yahoogroups.com, "Don DeLoach" <ddeloach@...> wrote:
>
> What does this have to do with my core message--that indoor FF has some serious problems that need fixing?

That one sentence captures the crux of our disagreement. You see the activity of Indoor FF as having the problem (the people are too old / mean, the models are too hard / light, the events are ruined by experts, etc.). You see a poor product that needs to be "adjusted" to appeal to some perceived market.

I don't. I see younger people getting involved yearly. I see some events that are accessible to beginners, and others that are a challenge for the more experienced. I see an activity that never fails to intrigue spectators who see it (and is also never grasped by anyone who I merely try to tell about it). In other words, I see a good product that just needs to be marketed better.

I think the reason you might perceive the participation issue with Indoor as being a problem with the activity itself is a bit of the "black box" syndrome. You know Outdoor FF, so it looks easy and accessible to you. When I look at it, I see lots of expensive rubber, new winders, new stooges, new expensive models, a new expensive motorcycle, a decent chance of crashing said motorcycle while chasing my expensive model, and no place nearby to actually do any of it if I went ahead and bought all that stuff.

You say that Outdoor FF isn't suffering from a lack of participation but, without knowing the details, I'd be willing to bet that the difference isn't related to some intrinsic product appeal that Outdoor has and Indoor is missing. I'd guess that it has more to do with things like Indoor participation being directly related to being able to afford the required Indoor sites.

You asked how many spectators think, "I can do this". Of the 10 people I got to talk to last week – the ones that actually came out to see it and weren't just dragging kids around for something different - I'd say about 6 or 8.

Terry Fox drove a motorcycle down from another state (I wish I remembered which one, because it makes the anecdote sound better). He asked actual insightful questions, not just "where can I buy one" and "don't sneeze!" He bought some raffle tickets and won a couple of kits. I think there's a decent chance that he will build them.

Jeff McCord started Indoor FF a few months ago and came to the Nats with a pretty decent looking F1L. He apologized profusely for "not being better", but was actually a whole lot more advanced that I was at 3 months in. With a little more experience he'll be right in the thick of things.

One guy was into R/C sailboats. It was apparent that his taste in non-mainstream activities had him pretty enamored with Indoor.

Not a single person told me that they would be flying if only EZB's were three tens of a gram heavier. Jeff McCord didn't say he was giving up because the "experts" finished better than him in F1L.

It is apparently human nature to lament that nobody does our activity anymore (Video games! Kids don't care! The old guys are dying off!).

I read a letter to the editor in MA recently that cried about electric R/C coverage pushing the writer's preferred activity out of the magazine, and how he was going to un-subscribe. What was the writer's preferred activity, you might ask? C/L Carrier? Old Time Rise-off-Water? No…it was freaking glow powered R/C!!!!

I don't think that kind of attitude is going to prompt us to do the things that will actually boost participation.

As NFFS PR guy, I implore you to ditch the "Indoor FF has a problem" attitude. Can the "Indoor needs NFFS more than NFFS needs Indoor" antagonism. Skyhook into a wastebasket the "Indoor needs to change or it will die" propaganda of yesteryear.

Instead, help me and the other Indoorists:

- figure out how to obtain sites in which to fly our already great activity.
- get pockets of self sustaining critical-mass going, like the groups anchored by the late Doc Hacker, Doc Martin, and the non-late Andrew Tagliafico.
- expose Indoor to more people so that the ones who would do it actually know it exists

*That's* how we will increase participation.
Received on Tue Jun 02 2009 - 12:27:41 CEST