Re: Growing Indoor FF in general and at USIC (was Solutions for Indoor FF)

From: Bill Gowen <b.gowen_at_comcast.net>
Date: Wed, 3 Jun 2009 17:03:52 -0400

John
I like all parts of your plan except the (ugh) banquet. I missed several opportunities to go out with friends due to extreme fatigue. When you fly until 10:00 at night or later there's not much left in the tank for socializing.

I especially like the effort to make the contest friendlier for glider fliers. (can you make the BBB go away?)

  ----- Original Message -----
  From: John Kagan
  To: Indoor_Construction_at_yahoogroups.com
  Sent: Wednesday, June 03, 2009 1:47 PM
  Subject: [Indoor_Construction] Growing Indoor FF in general and at USIC (was Solutions for Indoor FF)





  Don D, Let's start with the part where we do agree:

  - We want more people participating in Indoor FF, especially contests like USIC where the facility rental depends on having enough people to cover the cost. Whether or not the "future of Indoor FF" depends on increased numbers, it is certainly more fun with more people involved.

  I tried to think of a good way to discuss and evaluate our various "plans" for growing participation, and the best that I've come up with is for us to start with a separate thread for each plan. It is going to get messy, there will be overlap, and the separate threads will surely start to merge.

  Also, based on past experience here, and in other communities, we won't reach an agreement on all - or probably even any - of the issues. But I think the exercise will be valuable to the people who choose to take on the challenge, forge ahead, and make change in a benevolent dictatorship kind of way.

  BTW - since I'm presenting my own plan, I am going to feel warranted to say what I think is wrong with parts of the other plans.

  The "Kagan" plan:

  1) Continued effort on the "three ingredients":
  a. Make information available - so newcomers can get themselves going (Internet, youtube, magazines, books, TV, etc.)
  b. Obtain and retain flying sites - requires a special sales-guy personality (the "Places to fly" ingredient)
  c. Develop local critical-mass groups - requires a special leader personality (the "People to fly with" ingredient)

  2) Give newcomers a feeling of accomplishment to keep them hooked. Specifically: a 5 and 10-minute medal/award/certificate for achieving a 5 and 10 minute flight with any model.

  3) Make USIC back into an event-of-the-year
  a. Tune up the schedule to, for example, encourage the glider guys to invest in the trip (I'm working on that now)
  b. Keep a site record list and make it prestigious (Cat IV AMA records are not likely at ETSU)
  c. Banquet? (ugh.)
  d. Think of other reasons to make people *want* to come (not feel like they have to)



  


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Received on Wed Jun 03 2009 - 14:03:56 CEST