Promote your glider operation

[Tom[_9_]]

Glider clubs and commercial operators can contact their local TV
stations and newspapers and give them the following link. Suggest they
are invited to visit your operation where you will give them a free
flight. The media is hungry for human interest stories, so it is very
easy to get outstanding publicity.

In our case, we suggested they make it a first flying lesson. Send
them a copy of Glider Basics From First Flight To Solo (of course) and
tell them to be prepared to take the first written test (Controls and
their functions from The Glider Flight Instructor's Manual.)

http://abcnews.go.com/GMA/Weekend/engineless-planes-humans-soar-birds/story?id=9145409

Tom Knauff

[John Seaborn[_2_]]

Great Public Relations and well done! Have a Coke...

Why Coke? Because they are masters at the pull type of marketing
strategy that should be employed to promote our lovely sport. The
national organization should be the one doing this top level marketing
essentially using the media to pull people into the club and soaring
FBO system. A solid pull strategy, implemented by a paid marketing
communications professional, in concert with the hard working
volunteers, with a real but achievable budget, implemented over a five
year program would go along way towards progress in our numbers.

A pull strategy puts the SSA in charge of actually marketing the sport
on a national basis. In Tom's wonderful scenario the SSA MarCom person
would be pursuing the GMA sports segment with media kits and
opportunities just like the rest of the world does right now. The link
between building national interest and actually going for that first
local flight is key. People can be enticed to try the sport nationally
but they stay in the sport on the local club and FBO level.

An example? What if the SSA had a linked promotion and flight locator
tie in with the GMA segment so it would be easy to translate interest
into action.

The World Gliding Championships are coming to the USA in a few years.
Now there is a news worthy item to promote the sport around. Been to
the movies lately? You know those incessant ads at the beginning of
the movie? How about a 15-20 second dramatic soaring trailer ending in
a special offer to try soaring? This achievable and targeted media buy
would pull people into the world of soaring at the local Club and FBO
level. In a pull strategy the SSA as the national organization is
working to get em in the door while our FBO and clubs would be working
to keep em in the cockpit locally.

The path we are on is not working, the problem is not insolvable, the
resources are not beyond reach. Encourage your SSA Director to start
down the path of a paid Marketing Communications professional who can
help craft a viable pull strategy using the people, resources and
assets we already have. We already have a very beautiful and
interesting product.

John Seaborn

[TS1]

On Nov 22, 3:32*pm, John Seaborn > wrote:
> Great Public Relations and well done! Have a Coke...
>
> Why Coke? Because they are masters at the pull type of marketing
> strategy that should be employed to promote our lovely sport. The
> national organization should be the one doing this top level marketing
> essentially using the media to pull people into the club and soaring
> FBO system. A solid pull strategy, implemented by a paid *marketing
> communications professional, in concert with the hard working
> volunteers, with a real but achievable budget, implemented over a five
> year program would go along way towards progress in our numbers.
>
> A pull strategy puts the SSA in charge of actually marketing the sport
> on a national basis. In Tom's wonderful scenario the SSA MarCom person
> would be pursuing the GMA sports segment with media kits and
> opportunities just like the rest of the world does right now. The link
> between building national interest and actually going for that first
> local flight is key. People can be enticed to try the sport nationally
> but they stay in the sport on the local club and FBO level.
>
> An example? What if the SSA had a linked promotion and flight locator
> tie in with the GMA segment so it would be easy to translate interest
> into action.
>
> The World Gliding Championships are coming to the USA in a few years.
> Now there is a news worthy item to promote the sport around. Been to
> the movies lately? You know those incessant ads at the beginning of
> the movie? How about a 15-20 second dramatic soaring trailer ending in
> a special offer to try soaring? This achievable and targeted media buy
> would pull people into the world of soaring at the local Club and FBO
> level. In a pull strategy the SSA as the national organization is
> working to get em in the door while our FBO and clubs would be working
> to keep em in the cockpit locally.
>
> The path we are on is not working, the problem is not insolvable, the
> resources are not beyond reach. Encourage your SSA Director to start
> down the path of a paid Marketing Communications professional who can
> help craft a viable pull strategy using the people, resources and
> assets we already have. We already have a very beautiful and
> interesting product.
>
> John Seaborn

We have a very beautiful and interesting product indeed!
This last weekend the Tucson Soaring Club held its first ever open
house. We offered half price guest rides, had a very nice program of
events, and ended up fully booked with 40 scheduled rides a day on the
Friday before the event. We had news coverage, including front page of
the local newspaper! On Sunday we were able to accommodate 67 guest
rides operating non-stop from 9am to 5pm. Estimates are over 300
attended to watch or take a ride. Plus our good friends from San Diego
brought over the Roman Winch and Super Blanik and gave rides to the
walk up guests.

We aimed this as an education of the public on soaring and also a
membership drive. So far, so good - we had 4 new members join up this
weekend! Our goal is to go from our current 110 to 150+ by the end of
2010.

And so far this is with volunteers - no one is paid, although lately
I'm feeling like it's a full time job....

Tony

[Frank Whiteley]

On Nov 22, 9:01*pm, TS1 > wrote:
> On Nov 22, 3:32*pm, John Seaborn > wrote:
>
>
>
> > Great Public Relations and well done! Have a Coke...
>
> > Why Coke? Because they are masters at the pull type of marketing
> > strategy that should be employed to promote our lovely sport. The
> > national organization should be the one doing this top level marketing
> > essentially using the media to pull people into the club and soaring
> > FBO system. A solid pull strategy, implemented by a paid *marketing
> > communications professional, in concert with the hard working
> > volunteers, with a real but achievable budget, implemented over a five
> > year program would go along way towards progress in our numbers.
>
> > A pull strategy puts the SSA in charge of actually marketing the sport
> > on a national basis. In Tom's wonderful scenario the SSA MarCom person
> > would be pursuing the GMA sports segment with media kits and
> > opportunities just like the rest of the world does right now. The link
> > between building national interest and actually going for that first
> > local flight is key. People can be enticed to try the sport nationally
> > but they stay in the sport on the local club and FBO level.
>
> > An example? What if the SSA had a linked promotion and flight locator
> > tie in with the GMA segment so it would be easy to translate interest
> > into action.
>
> > The World Gliding Championships are coming to the USA in a few years.
> > Now there is a news worthy item to promote the sport around. Been to
> > the movies lately? You know those incessant ads at the beginning of
> > the movie? How about a 15-20 second dramatic soaring trailer ending in
> > a special offer to try soaring? This achievable and targeted media buy
> > would pull people into the world of soaring at the local Club and FBO
> > level. In a pull strategy the SSA as the national organization is
> > working to get em in the door while our FBO and clubs would be working
> > to keep em in the cockpit locally.
>
> > The path we are on is not working, the problem is not insolvable, the
> > resources are not beyond reach. Encourage your SSA Director to start
> > down the path of a paid Marketing Communications professional who can
> > help craft a viable pull strategy using the people, resources and
> > assets we already have. We already have a very beautiful and
> > interesting product.
>
> > John Seaborn
>
> We have a very beautiful and interesting product indeed!
> This last weekend the Tucson Soaring Club held its first ever open
> house. We offered half price guest rides, had a very nice program of
> events, and ended up fully booked with 40 scheduled rides a day on the
> Friday before the event. We had news coverage, including front page of
> the local newspaper! On Sunday we were able to accommodate 67 guest
> rides operating non-stop from 9am to 5pm. Estimates are over 300
> attended to watch or take a ride. Plus our good friends from San Diego
> brought over the Roman Winch and Super Blanik and gave rides to the
> walk up guests.
>
> We aimed this as an education of the public on soaring and also a
> membership drive. So far, so good - we had 4 new members join up this
> weekend! Our goal is to go from our current 110 to 150+ by the end of
> 2010.
>
> And so far this is with volunteers - no one is paid, although lately
> I'm feeling like it's a full time job....
>
> Tony

Randy share the Intro member program info with you?

Frank Whiteley

[HoUdino]

On Nov 22, 2:32*pm, John Seaborn > wrote:
> Great Public Relations and well done! Have a Coke...
>
> Why Coke? Because they are masters at the pull type of marketing
> strategy that should be employed to promote our lovely sport. >
> The path we are on is not working, the problem is not insolvable, the
> resources are not beyond reach. Encourage your SSA Director to start
> down the path of a paid Marketing Communications professional who can
> help craft a viable pull strategy using the people, resources and
> assets we already have. We already have a very beautiful and
> interesting product.
>
> John Seaborn

John-
I note that Tom encourages clubs and FBOs to attempt this sort of
marketing. His example does not recommend anything from the SSA.

While I am in favor of the SSA spending more resources on marketing, I
would caution against your "pull strategy" via another cost center in
Hobbs. The Coke "pull strategy" involves mass marketing with
millions of dollars employed vs ours is an underfunded niche sport in
competion with every other niche sport. While a national "clearing
house" and more defined "marketing strategy" would be beneficial, the
effort will have to be on leveraging local resources...the GMA spot
shows what a small determined group (with some self-interest) can do
to promote the uniqueness of our sport for all. One needs to avoid
building up an expectation that the Hobbs cavalry will someday arrive
in the nick of time to fix the marketing of soaring...that is the
stategy that has not worked. The concept of building a "tool box" for
local promoters to access is a strategy more along the lines of what
our marketplace positioning and resources can handle...the tool box is
almost complete, it only needs more awareness. Tom's sharing of the
story via RAS is part of that "tool box".

If one could make one "national" recommendation at this time, the cost
of a marketing person should rather be used to fund advertising of a
"third gen" FAST program...that is the missing "next step" in your
pull strategy...and one that would support local efforts across the
entire USA. This limited goal could be accomplished by a volunteer
effort with minor Hobbs staff support. A second recommendation is we
should formally recognize those who successfully market soaring with a
much higher priority and positioning within our soaring culture than
we do today...that could help activate the talent that we have
already...a recognition process that the COBM committee should take
on. Third, if we are so gung ho on hiring another body, would be to
contract (not hire) an outside sports marketing consultant to write a
formal national marketing plan after surveying past efforts/plans,
successful clubs and FBOs, and our competitor niche sports...the
results of that effort would then define who we need to hire/next
steps.

Just 2 cents,

LT

[John Cochrane]

Pull is good, but conversion is harder. The sad fact is that we fail
miserably at converting first rides into long-time pilots. For each
ride, how many get a license? For each license, how many are still
flying 3 years later? Typical numbers I've heard are about one in a
thousand. If that were even one in a hundred, we'd have 10 times more
glider pilots!
John Cochrane

[Omri]

Yeah, conversion is difficult from my experience. At least for short
term conversion, here's a couple of reasons why and how to address
them.

- Misconceptions about safety. I do my best to point out that a glider
is way safer than an airplane and why. I like saying the most
dangerous part of soaring is the drive to the gliderport.
- Misconceptions about price. Everybody who doesn't know anything
about soaring assumes this it's a rich man's sport. I point out that
tow costs are cheap, and with good conditions and well trained pilot
amounts to a whole afternoon's worth of fun. I also point out that my
Libelle is my most prized possession and only cost me around $15,000
and that a 1-26 is considerably cheaper. Oh and that maintenance costs
next to nothing. Soaring if done right, can be cheaper than other
hobbies such as golf or travel.
- Give rides for the customer, not for yourself. Find out about what
your passengers expectations are. Find out if your passenger wants a
smooth ride and if so avoid the thermals, point out local landmarks,
etc... If you passenger is an adrenaline junkie, pull a few loops.
Offer to let the passenger at the controls, and teach them the basics.
Also find out if your passenger has any flight knowledge or experience
(flight simulators count) and adjust accordingly. Thermalling sharply
with a newbie is a sure way to make them sick and ensure they wont
come back.
- Personality counts. Project your passion for the sport, its
contagious. Be friendly and humorous. Be professional enough to
instill confidence in your piloting skills, but not too stiff to suck
the fun out of the experience. Do your best to comfort those who are a
little nervous. Show interest in your passengers.

Happy Soaring,
Omri Kalinsky aka SL

[Matt Herron Jr.]

Here is a practical suggestion:

SSA should provide a section on the site for the media. A press kit,
if you will. This would contain:

* Beautiful high resolution photographs of the sport, with permission
to publish (video as well?)
* Short FAQs geared towards the general public, including "myth
busters" like what happens when the wind dies?
* A section of short quotes that can be dropped into a piece, or
"sound bytes"
* Web tools and "Snippets" that can be imbedded in online articles or
web sites, like html logo with link to SSA "where to fly" or an applet
that lets you type in your zip code to find the closest place to fly.
* explanatory material and artwork for FastPass program
* contact information for media support
* links to recently published articles or events
* what else???

SSA has a "Publicity" section now, but it is targeted at it's members,
not the media. News outlets today are overwhelmed, understaffed, and
underfunded. We need to make it as easy as possible for the media to
produce compelling and accurate stories about our sport. It's
actually a very interesting topic! Every competent corporation does
this. We should too.

Matt

[bildan]

On Nov 23, 9:29*am, HoUdino > wrote:
> On Nov 22, 2:32*pm, John Seaborn > wrote:
>
> > Great Public Relations and well done! Have a Coke...
>
> > Why Coke? Because they are masters at the pull type of marketing
> > strategy that should be employed to promote our lovely sport. >
> > The path we are on is not working, the problem is not insolvable, the
> > resources are not beyond reach. Encourage your SSA Director to start
> > down the path of a paid Marketing Communications professional who can
> > help craft a viable pull strategy using the people, resources and
> > assets we already have. We already have a very beautiful and
> > interesting product.
>
> > John Seaborn
>
> John-
> I note that Tom encourages clubs and FBOs to attempt this sort of
> marketing. *His example does not recommend anything from the SSA.
>
> While I am in favor of the SSA spending more resources on marketing, I
> would caution against your "pull strategy" via another cost center in
> Hobbs. * The Coke "pull strategy" involves mass marketing with
> millions of dollars employed vs ours is an underfunded niche sport in
> competion with every other niche sport. *While a national "clearing
> house" and more defined "marketing strategy" would be beneficial, the
> effort will have to be on leveraging local resources...the GMA spot
> shows what a small determined group (with some self-interest) can do
> to promote the uniqueness of our sport for all. One needs to avoid
> building up an expectation that the Hobbs cavalry will someday arrive
> in the nick of time to fix the marketing of soaring...that is the
> stategy that has not worked. *The concept of building a "tool box" for
> local promoters to access is a strategy more along the lines of what
> our marketplace positioning and resources can handle...the tool box is
> almost complete, it only needs more awareness. Tom's sharing of the
> story via RAS is part of that "tool box".
>
> If one could make one "national" recommendation at this time, the cost
> of a marketing person should rather be used to fund advertising of a
> "third gen" FAST program...that is the missing "next step" in your
> pull strategy...and one that would support local efforts across the
> entire USA. This limited goal could be accomplished by a volunteer
> effort with minor Hobbs staff support. A second recommendation is we
> should formally recognize those who successfully market soaring with a
> much higher priority and positioning within our soaring culture than
> we do today...that could help activate the talent that we have
> already...a recognition process that the COBM committee should take
> on. Third, if we are so gung ho on hiring another body, would be to
> contract (not hire) an outside sports marketing consultant to write a
> formal national marketing plan after surveying past efforts/plans,
> successful clubs and FBOs, and our competitor niche sports...the
> results of that effort would then define who we need to hire/next
> steps.
>
> Just 2 cents,
>
> LT

BTW, 'LT' is one of the best local promoters of soaring in the country
as the Orange County Soaring Association will attest.

I've been studying growth options for a year now. There are many
good ideas but few actions. I think step one is to get a good handle
on just what we can and want to accomplish. Here are a few results of
surveys.

Without changes, we have the capacity of training about 1300 new
glider pilots a year. By operating weekdays and bringing instructors
out of retirement, we might push that to 2000. There are less than
200 tow planes in the US and only about 400 training gliders - most of
them old 2-33's and L-13's. There are about 600 glider instructors
who consider themselves somewhat "active" but of those, 15 -20% do 80%
of the actual instruction. Many clubs only operate 55 days a year.
It takes a while to develop good instructors and new training gliders
come from Europe with big price tags and long waits.

I know many will say "bring it on - we'll find a way". However, there
is no obvious, short term way to increase our 'new-start' training
capacity beyond 2000/year.

If we 'got lucky' with something like the Disney TV shows of the
1960's and .01% of the 300 million US population sought flight
instruction in gliders, 30,000 people would descend on our training
operations. I expect 29,000 of them would be very unhappy with us.
Before we start "pushing" a mass market response into our 'pipeline',
we'd better clean the pipes.

Meanwhile, from just observing, I'd guess we collectively chase 1300
potential new soaring pilots away every year by just not talking to
them when they visit our soaring sites.

The quickest, easiest and cheapest way to get 1300 new student starts
per year is for each of the roughly 15,000 US glider pilots to just
talk to a few people about soaring. Make sure there is an easy way
for them to learn about soaring and an attractive route for them to
become glider pilots. "Easy and attractive" means easy access to
information about soaring, better ride conversion rates as well as a
better, more hospitable training environment.

What could the SSA (meaning SSA volunteers like you and me) do? I'd
also like to see a much stronger presence on 'social media'. See:
(http://nonprofit.about.com/od/online/a/bloggerstwitter.htm) I'd like
to see more bloggers writing about soaring. See: http://blog.aopa.org/letsgoflying/

I'd like to see more interactive on-line training, and on-line FAA
written tests on the SSA web site. I'd like to see every soaring
operation have a formal program to greet visitors and make sure all
their questions are answered.

It's a small thing but there will shortly be inexpensive sheets of SSA
business cards available for members to buy. You'll have to print
your own contact information on them with a ink jet or laser printer
and cut them from the sheet. They'll have the SSA logo and web site
URL plus room for us to add our personal and club contact
information. Just hand these to people you talk to about soaring - it
should lead them to find out more about us.

Bill Daniels
Chairman, SSA Growth and Development Committee

[Matt Herron Jr.]

snip...
> If we 'got lucky' with something like the Disney TV shows of the
> 1960's and .01% of the 300 million US population sought flight
> instruction in gliders, 30,000 people would descend on our training
> operations. *I expect 29,000 of them would be very unhappy with us.
> Before we start "pushing" a mass market response into our 'pipeline',
> we'd better clean the pipes.

> The quickest, easiest and cheapest way to get 1300 new student starts
> per year is for each of the roughly 15,000 US glider pilots to just
> talk to a few people about soaring.

> Bill Daniels
> Chairman, SSA Growth and Development Committee

I agree with most of what you are saying Bill, but I don't understand
why we need to increase our training capacity beyond 2000 pilots/
year. That would be an increase in total soaring pilots of over 13%
per year! (less attrition, of course) I would call that an astounding
success. As rusty as the pipeline may be, I would contend that lack
of capacity is not our biggest problem.

Matt

[bildan]

On Nov 23, 2:37*pm, "Matt Herron Jr." > wrote:
> snip...
>
> > If we 'got lucky' with something like the Disney TV shows of the
> > 1960's and .01% of the 300 million US population sought flight
> > instruction in gliders, 30,000 people would descend on our training
> > operations. *I expect 29,000 of them would be very unhappy with us.
> > Before we start "pushing" a mass market response into our 'pipeline',
> > we'd better clean the pipes.
> > The quickest, easiest and cheapest way to get 1300 new student starts
> > per year is for each of the roughly 15,000 US glider pilots to just
> > talk to a few people about soaring.
> > Bill Daniels
> > Chairman, SSA Growth and Development Committee
>
> I agree with most of what you are saying Bill, but I don't understand
> why we need to increase our training capacity beyond 2000 pilots/
> year. *That would be an increase in total soaring pilots of *over 13%
> per year! (less attrition, of course) *I would call that an astounding
> success. *As rusty as the pipeline may be, I would contend that lack
> of capacity is not our biggest problem.
>
> Matt

Matt, I agree 1300 - 2000 new pilots a year would be a huge success.
A few years from now, I'd like to see that expanded well beyond 2000 a
year. But, those numbers put some scale to the "promotion of soaring"
discussion. It also says that if we want that growth rate, we have to
start thinking about how to deal with it.

If our target is 2000 per year, and I believe that's reasonable, then
mass media isn't the right first line approach. Although, I'll take
all the successes like Tom Knauff's Good Morning America segment we
can get. I think "viral marketing" and social media represent a
better approach.

I hope we can get more grass roots effort. Just tell people about
what we do and send them to web sites with great images and videos.
If they have the "soaring gene" they will become glider pilots no
matter what else happens.

[Kemp[_2_]]

I'd also contend that, in addition to the above good thinking for new
recruits, we emphasize reducing attrition for those who've gone
through training. With greater exposure to cross country soaring,
whether through dual flights, ground school, videos, etc. we can plant
the seed of what really is the allure.

Kemp

[Matt Herron Jr.]

I like the idea of grass roots, and that is certainly where the
enthusiasm lies. But I don't think we have viral marketing potential
here. Viral marketing means I tell ten people and each one of those
people tells ten people, and those hundred tell ten each, etc. so the
numbers grow on their own exponentially. A good example would be a
funny email, easily forwarded to friends. The sport of soaring is
appealing when first seen, but complex, and I am not sure someone
exposed to flying gliders for the first time would muster the
"infectious" enthusiasm needed to evangelize the sport to ten of their
friends. It is probably closer to a more traditional direct marketing
model. That being said, lets say 25% of all US glider pilots really
reached out and personally talked to whopping 50 people each, every
year. That's 187,500 new folks exposed to soaring. And lets say a
person who learns of soaring from a real pilot is ten times more
likely to explore it than someone who sees it on TV. At 1%, that's
1,875 folks that actually try it-- about the numbers we were looking
for. Now contrast that to good morning America whose viewership in
2008 was 4.4 million people. at 1/10th the hit rate of our
evangelical pilots, 0.1% of viewers would actually try it, and that's
4,400 people! All created with the effort of just a few enthusiastic
pilots .

Of course these are all just fabricated numbers until we have some
measurable metrics that tell us what folks really do, but I really
think soaring is invisible to most folks. We need some serious "brand
awareness" to go along with our grass roots efforts. I think John S.
hit the nail on the head.

Matt

[[email protected]]

On Nov 23, 11:45*am, John Cochrane >
wrote:
> Pull is good, but conversion is harder. The sad fact is that we fail
> miserably at converting first rides into long-time pilots. For each
> ride, how many get a license? For each license, how many are still
> flying 3 years later? Typical numbers I've heard are about one in a
> thousand. If that were even one in a hundred, we'd have 10 times more
> glider pilots!
> John Cochrane

Rough statistics from one club- Valley Soaring Club- Middletown NY
Close estimates for '09
About 1600 tows/Yr
About 160 introductory flights(360 the year the NY Times article came
out).
About 40 four flight intro packages which lets prospect see what it's
really about- then they join or find out it's not for them.
About 15 new members
About 10 new solo pilots
About 8 new certificated pilots
FWIW
UH

[MickiMinner]

I think all of the above posters have the right idea...the concept is
to "grow" the sport,
but nobody has any grasp of what the numbers are of active glider
pilots,
instructor pilots, new rides, FAST offers, Calls to local glider
ports,
rate of activity.

I do believe that statistics, numbers need to be compiled.
We can't figure out if we need pull marketing, viral marketing,
publicity campaigns, and any other types of publicity until we know
what we are pushing for!
One Example of what we need to know:
Do we want to approach pilots with power tickets? Do we have better
success with youth? or better success at converting the power pilot,
or do we have a better success rate with the person that calls for a
"joy ride".

Omri has a a great idea that an individual giving the ride should have
the passion and personality to address the needs of the person
enquiring and taking a test ride.

the bottom line for me, is that we need to compile some data. Regular
surveys of the clubs, or reporting of how many calls/rides/instruction
requests/new members. Can't market what you don't know.
just my 2cents
Micki

[Frank Whiteley]

On Nov 24, 10:33*am, MickiMinner > wrote:
> I think all of the above posters have the right idea...the concept is
> to "grow" the sport,
> but nobody has any grasp of what the numbers are of active glider
> pilots,
> instructor pilots, new rides, FAST offers, Calls to local glider
> ports,
> rate of activity.
>
> I do believe that statistics, numbers need to be compiled.
> We can't figure out if we need pull marketing, viral marketing,
> publicity campaigns, and any other types of publicity until we know
> what we are pushing for!
> One Example of what we need to know:
> Do we want to approach pilots with power tickets? *Do we have better
> success with youth? or better success at converting the power pilot,
> or do we have a better success rate with the person that calls for a
> "joy ride".
>
> Omri has a a great idea that an individual giving the ride should have
> the passion and personality to address the needs of the person
> enquiring and taking a test ride.
>
> the bottom line for me, is that we need to compile some data. *Regular
> surveys of the clubs, or reporting of how many calls/rides/instruction
> requests/new members. *Can't market what you don't know.
> just my 2cents
> Micki

Pulling hen's teeth while herding cats;^)

Actually, part of the digital revolution is that we are at the cusp of
such data retrieval. Most operations are likely using some sort of
accounting software from which reports may be derived. How, I've also
heard from COBM that commercial operators will be unlikely to share
such data. Among chapters, many are non-profit entities and must
provide information upon request (though may charge reasonable re-
production costs). However, past performance is not prediction of the
future. Both commercial operations and clubs can change in appeal and
performance, usually to a knee-jerk reaction to some event or a change
in internal politics, so I'm not sure a study will help market, though
it may help define what works.

Part of the problem has been the difficulty to keeping current contact
information for chapter leadership. The clubs & chapters committee
compiled that information and surveyed for about 110 chapters under
Dave Newill. However, club and chapter leadership changes every year
or two. The committee also used the WTF contact info to try and have
chapters complete some online information updates. We eventually got
about forty inputs out of 140 clubs and chapters, yet it remained time
intensive. This year the SSA office included a request for chapter
leadership functions in the chapter renewal process. Response has
been very good, thank you very much. Doug Easton has recently
provided the committee with a leadership view which will help us
communicate better with chapters.

Statistics and data collection is part of that digital media
experience that I've included within my draft proposal for formation
of an SSA Digital Media Working Group. This group will hopefully
examine, propose, and implement actions to leverage audio, video,
imagery, web techniques, social networking, webinars, mentoring, and
story boarding to place some strategic on-target, on-message links to
our sport and organizations. Internal data collection and
introspection is part of the mix. Annually I submit an input to the
world gliding report, but it's very limited due to the lack of
resources available.

As John Seaborn mentions, this will take some aggressive and committed
volunteers. I agree. We have significant individual talent and
effort out there. If we could get those individual to put ten or
twenty percent of that effort into a focused package of strategies
with a national, regional, and local emphasis, we'd move forward
rapidly. Without that framework, I think hiring national marketing
expertise would not give us the results hoped for. We need the
resources first. Yesterday, while sorting through some Soaring
magazines with a soaring friend, he mentioned that the SSA staffed a
marketing expert in the late 1970's. Before my time as an SSA member
(1980), so perhaps someone else can give us a history lesson on Sunny
Vesgo, "The Sunny Side" column, and the eventual outcomes. I'm told
there was much dis-satisfaction at the end of the day.

As far as what may work, see my committee post on the SSA web site
today on Leveraging the SSA FAST and SSA Introductory Membership for
chapter growth.

Frank Whiteley

[Matt Herron Jr.]

So how to we turn these good ideas into tangible action at a national
level? What is the mechanism by which new initiatives are taken up by
the SSA? Who ya gonna call? As a start, I will pledge $100 to any
fund earmarked for gathering some of these statistics and creating an
action plan. I want to save my sport from extinction. Anyone else?

[bildan]

On Nov 24, 10:33*am, MickiMinner > wrote:
> I think all of the above posters have the right idea...the concept is
> to "grow" the sport,
> but nobody has any grasp of what the numbers are of active glider
> pilots,
> instructor pilots, new rides, FAST offers, Calls to local glider
> ports,
> rate of activity.
>
> I do believe that statistics, numbers need to be compiled.
> We can't figure out if we need pull marketing, viral marketing,
> publicity campaigns, and any other types of publicity until we know
> what we are pushing for!
> One Example of what we need to know:
> Do we want to approach pilots with power tickets? *Do we have better
> success with youth? or better success at converting the power pilot,
> or do we have a better success rate with the person that calls for a
> "joy ride".
>
> Omri has a a great idea that an individual giving the ride should have
> the passion and personality to address the needs of the person
> enquiring and taking a test ride.
>
> the bottom line for me, is that we need to compile some data. *Regular
> surveys of the clubs, or reporting of how many calls/rides/instruction
> requests/new members. *Can't market what you don't know.
> just my 2cents
> Micki

Miki, I absolutely agree accurate, current statistics are needed. The
first thing I did was to conduct a survey by calling and e-mailing all
the organizations listed with the SSA. That's where the numbers in my
earlier post came from. The responses weren't universal but there was
enough to extrapolate the rest with pretty good accuracy. It would
really help if soaring organizations kept their data on the "Where to
Fly" list up to date.

What jumped out was our aggregate annual training capacity doesn't
exceed 2000/year and may be as low as 1000. At any given time only
about 300 - 400 new students can be accepted - that's with business as
usual.

Commercial operations generally fly any day the weather is flyable
with northern operations putting in about 180 days a year and southern
operators about 300 days a year with limited opportunity increase that
number.

Clubs tend to only operate on fair weather weekends which averages out
to less than 60 days a year. The big opportunity to expand the
training capacity without adding equipment is for clubs to stage
training camps that run 14 days straight. Some clubs do several of
these camps a year.

I could only find 179 tow planes but I'll allow that I might have
missed a few which is why I said 200 tugs. Winches can increase our
"uphill capacity" significantly and are well suited for training.

We actually have plenty of instructors but a lot of them aren't really
active instructors. The SSA might bring some back to active status by
organizing a group instructor liability policy. I think it would also
help if more attractive training gliders were available. (Some of us
old guys are too creaky to fold ourselves into the back seat of a 2-33
or L-13.)

[HoUdino]

Frank-
Sometimes I think that many SSA members don't know the tools developed
and thus already have in hand!

"Sales" is a hurtle race requiring a sequence of activities to flow
adequately well...Awareness (GMA, Disney, all activities NOT at the
airport), trial Interest (FAST, positve experience via a rides,
convienence, fun website, airshow booths), Qualifiying (safety/
finances/rank against alternatives), Closing ("the ask" to join,
friendly faces, SSA Intro program), and maintaining involvement (SSA
badges, club activities, secondary benefits, clean WC facilities).
Stumble on one of these hurtles or misdiagnois the problem and the
whole process is certainly less efficent. Every organization is
different and thus has different areas to focus on, often fixing one
problem in the waterfall creates a pooling in the next level (aka "The
problem I want to have"). That is why we have so many solutions
because at the field level we who run soaring organizations actually
have many different marketing problems. That's why the solutions can
seem so complicated...it is a complex problem.

Frank W, Dave N, Val P have created many great tools to grow soaring.
The improved SSA Growbook is online...when was the last time you
looked at that? It's all there. It's hard to be "viral" without a
compelling club website, being "social" takes a team of individuals
working in concert..OK make it happen, the whole SSA website is a
media section. Quit wishing and start moving. You have everyones
permission you need. Ask yourself if you could change just one or two
things to grow soaring at your local soaring site, what would they
be? We don't lack solutions, IMHO many lack initiative.

Now ducking behind the soapbox to avoid the tomatoes....

LT

PS- A big congrats to Tucson Soaring for doing something "the first
time"! THAT IS THE BEST THING I HAVE READ IN THIS THREAD. We need
everyone to do something more, different, or "the first time". The
answers are all around us, each local organization just needs to (re)
assemble them. This should be the primary subject for discussion
around the grog bowl at every end of year soaring gathering. Have an
"improved club marketing membership plan" for 2010.

NOTE: OCSA used to have a growing soaring club...now OCSA's problem is
completely different. I'm learning again, see:
http://groups.google.com/group/save-soaring-at-hemet-today?hl=en





>
> As far as what may work, see my committee post on the SSA web site
> today on Leveraging the SSA FAST and SSA Introductory Membership for
> chapter growth.
>
> Frank Whiteley- Hide quoted text -
>
> - Show quoted text -

[Mike the Strike]

I was one of the volunteers at the recent Tucson Soaring Club Open
House and the response from the public was just amazing. We gave over
120 guest rides in two days over the weekend (even managed a couple on
the Friday for folks who showed up early). I have never seen so many
continuous launches - two towplanes on the go intertwined with Roman's
winch. We also did another first - a dual aerotow (two gliders, one
towplane) for a demonstration aerobatics program.

Many people said the same thing - we didn't know that your club was
here or gliding was such a cool sport.

Since then, we have added five new members, two or three more than we
would typically expect. We currently have around 120 members and are
shooting for 150, a goal we expect to meet within the year.

Even better than adding new members, the Open House brought our
existing membership together and we had just a fantastic club weekend.

Pilots are invited to come and experience our wonderful club for
themselves - guest members are always welcome - or just sign up for
Region 9 South, which we are hosting next May.

We also aim to become the number one US cross-country site next year
(at least on OLC score)

Mike

[Frank Whiteley]

On Nov 24, 1:30 pm, HoUdino > wrote:
> Frank-
> Sometimes I think that many SSA members don't know the tools developed
> and thus already have in hand!
>
Yes, mentoring WRT the web site is needed as the member and committee
level (in my draft). The SSA web site is more member resource than
recruit the new person. Much material is in there, but not up front
and in their face.

> "Sales" is a hurtle race requiring a sequence of activities to flow
> adequately well...Awareness (GMA, Disney, all activities NOT at the
> airport), trial Interest (FAST, positve experience via a rides,
> convienence, fun website, airshow booths), Qualifiying (safety/
> finances/rank against alternatives), Closing ("the ask" to join,
> friendly faces, SSA Intro program), and maintaining involvement (SSA
> badges, club activities, secondary benefits, clean WC facilities).
> Stumble on one of these hurtles or misdiagnois the problem and the
> whole process is certainly less efficent. Every organization is
> different and thus has different areas to focus on, often fixing one
> problem in the waterfall creates a pooling in the next level (aka "The
> problem I want to have"). That is why we have so many solutions
> because at the field level we who run soaring organizations actually
> have many different marketing problems. That's why the solutions can
> seem so complicated...it is a complex problem.
>
Good points.

> Frank W, Dave N, Val P have created many great tools to grow soaring.
> The improved SSA Growbook is online...when was the last time you
> looked at that? It's all there. It's hard to be "viral" without a
> compelling club website, being "social" takes a team of individuals
> working in concert..OK make it happen, the whole SSA website is a
> media section. Quit wishing and start moving. You have everyones
> permission you need. Ask yourself if you could change just one or two
> things to grow soaring at your local soaring site, what would they
> be? We don't lack solutions, IMHO many lack initiative.
>
Absolutely, there are many ad hoc opportunities.

> Now ducking behind the soapbox to avoid the tomatoes....
>
> LT
>
> PS- A big congrats to Tucson Soaring for doing something "the first
> time"! THAT IS THE BEST THING I HAVE READ IN THIS THREAD. We need
> everyone to do something more, different, or "the first time". The
> answers are all around us, each local organization just needs to (re)
> assemble them. This should be the primary subject for discussion
> around the grog bowl at every end of year soaring gathering. Have an
> "improved club marketing membership plan" for 2010.
>
On that topic, I sent the AZ SSA governor (and TSC member) the Intro
member concept. I've been in a club that did 130 'rides' during a one
day open house. It did not generate a single member, but the
underlying intent was really fund-raising. Since 1995 in my current
club, I don't recall a single new member resulting from a scenic
ride. However, on the three lesson min-courses we sold, 80% of those
that got a soaring flight or two joined. We stopped doing those for
insurance reasons for a period, but the SSA Introductory Membership
has opened the door again, so we've added a three-month club Intro
membership into the by-laws. So TSC could offer a ride, or the full
monty. The Intro allows a prospective pilot to see if they are a good
fit and gives the club an opportunity to prove what they've said is
true. The price point filters out the drive-bys from the seekers.

Chapters operate under some different constraints than commercial
operators. Some are restricted from giving rides due to IRS rules.
Other clubs have gross receipts limitations and exist where there are
no commercial operations. Under the SSA Group Plan, membership is
required for trial/introductory lessons. This concept solves that
issue.

> NOTE: OCSA used to have a growing soaring club...now OCSA's problem is
> completely different. I'm learning again, see:http://groups.google.com/group/save-soaring-at-hemet-today?hl=en
>
You are quite right to defend access to that public airport.

Frank Whiteley

[[email protected]]

On Nov 24, 10:33*pm, Frank Whiteley > wrote:
> On Nov 24, 1:30 pm, HoUdino > wrote:> Frank-
> > Sometimes I think that many SSA members don't know the tools developed
> > and thus already have in hand!
>
> Yes, mentoring WRT the web site is needed as the member and committee
> level (in my draft). *The SSA web site is more member resource than
> recruit the new person. *Much material is in there, but not up front
> and in their face.
>
>
>
>
>
> > "Sales" is a hurtle race requiring a sequence of activities to flow
> > adequately well...Awareness (GMA, Disney, all activities NOT at the
> > airport), trial Interest (FAST, positve experience via a rides,
> > convienence, fun website, airshow booths), Qualifiying (safety/
> > finances/rank against alternatives), Closing ("the ask" to join,
> > friendly faces, SSA Intro program), and maintaining involvement (SSA
> > badges, club activities, secondary benefits, clean WC facilities).
> > Stumble on one of these hurtles or misdiagnois the problem and the
> > whole process is certainly less efficent. *Every organization is
> > different and thus has different areas to focus on, often fixing one
> > problem in the waterfall creates a pooling in the next level (aka "The
> > problem I want to have"). *That is why we have so many solutions
> > because at the field level we who run soaring organizations actually
> > have many different marketing problems. That's why the solutions can
> > seem so complicated...it is a complex problem.
>
> Good points.
>
> > Frank W, Dave N, Val P have created many great tools to grow soaring.
> > The improved SSA Growbook is online...when was the last time you
> > looked at that? *It's all there. *It's hard to be "viral" without a
> > compelling club website, being "social" takes a team of individuals
> > working in concert..OK make it happen, the whole SSA website is a
> > media section. *Quit wishing and start moving. You have everyones
> > permission you need. Ask yourself if you could change just one or two
> > things to grow soaring at your local soaring site, what would they
> > be? *We don't lack solutions, IMHO many lack initiative.
>
> Absolutely, there are many ad hoc opportunities.
>
> > Now ducking behind the soapbox to avoid the tomatoes....
>
> > LT
>
> > PS- A big congrats to Tucson Soaring for doing something "the first
> > time"! *THAT IS THE BEST THING I HAVE READ IN THIS THREAD. We need
> > everyone to do something more, different, or "the first time". The
> > answers are all around us, each local organization just needs to (re)
> > assemble them. This should be the primary subject for discussion
> > around the grog bowl at every end of year soaring gathering. *Have an
> > "improved club marketing membership plan" for 2010.
>
> On that topic, I sent the AZ SSA governor (and TSC member) the Intro
> member concept. *I've been in a club that did 130 'rides' during a one
> day open house. *It did not generate a single member, but the
> underlying intent was really fund-raising. *Since 1995 in my current
> club, I don't recall a single new member resulting from a scenic
> ride. *However, on the three lesson min-courses we sold, 80% of those
> that got a soaring flight or two joined. *We stopped doing those for
> insurance reasons for a period, but the SSA Introductory Membership
> has opened the door again, so we've added a three-month club Intro
> membership into the by-laws. *So TSC could offer a ride, or the full
> monty. *The Intro allows a prospective pilot to see if they are a good
> fit and gives the club an opportunity to prove what they've said is
> true. *The price point filters out the drive-bys from the seekers.
>
> Chapters operate under some different constraints than commercial
> operators. *Some are restricted from giving rides due to IRS rules.
> Other clubs have gross receipts limitations and exist where there are
> no commercial operations. *Under the SSA Group Plan, membership is
> required for trial/introductory lessons. *This concept solves that
> issue.
>
> > NOTE: OCSA used to have a growing soaring club...now OCSA's problem is
> > completely different. *I'm learning again, see:http://groups.google.com/group/save-soaring-at-hemet-today?hl=en
>
> You are quite right to defend access to that public airport.
>
> Frank Whiteley- Hide quoted text -
>
> - Show quoted text -

Experience my club has had(see VSC above) is that the multiple flight
intro package is very effective in giving the prospect a chance to
really see what it is all about. It also gets them out a couple of
times so they can meet other members and decide if they like the
group. This turns out to be a big selling point.
Interestingly, when we had the big ride activity after the NY Times
article, only a very small number, maybe 10 out of the 350 or so, went
on to become members. We handled them the same way, so out conclusion
was that htis was the "I'm bored what do we do Sunday" crowd.
One other thing we do is pair up the young people immediately with one
of our juniors to show them around. This way, they don't feel like
they are the only kid there. We have lots of juniors so this is easy
to do.
It's quite important, as noted above, to have the right mentality
about intro flights. Our folks see it as a way to sell our sport and
not just a revenue stream.
FWIW
UH

[Mike the Strike]

On Nov 25, 6:58*am, wrote:
> On Nov 24, 10:33*pm, Frank Whiteley > wrote:
>
>
>
> > On Nov 24, 1:30 pm, HoUdino > wrote:> Frank-
> > > Sometimes I think that many SSA members don't know the tools developed
> > > and thus already have in hand!
>
> > Yes, mentoring WRT the web site is needed as the member and committee
> > level (in my draft). *The SSA web site is more member resource than
> > recruit the new person. *Much material is in there, but not up front
> > and in their face.
>
> > > "Sales" is a hurtle race requiring a sequence of activities to flow
> > > adequately well...Awareness (GMA, Disney, all activities NOT at the
> > > airport), trial Interest (FAST, positve experience via a rides,
> > > convienence, fun website, airshow booths), Qualifiying (safety/
> > > finances/rank against alternatives), Closing ("the ask" to join,
> > > friendly faces, SSA Intro program), and maintaining involvement (SSA
> > > badges, club activities, secondary benefits, clean WC facilities).
> > > Stumble on one of these hurtles or misdiagnois the problem and the
> > > whole process is certainly less efficent. *Every organization is
> > > different and thus has different areas to focus on, often fixing one
> > > problem in the waterfall creates a pooling in the next level (aka "The
> > > problem I want to have"). *That is why we have so many solutions
> > > because at the field level we who run soaring organizations actually
> > > have many different marketing problems. That's why the solutions can
> > > seem so complicated...it is a complex problem.
>
> > Good points.
>
> > > Frank W, Dave N, Val P have created many great tools to grow soaring.
> > > The improved SSA Growbook is online...when was the last time you
> > > looked at that? *It's all there. *It's hard to be "viral" without a
> > > compelling club website, being "social" takes a team of individuals
> > > working in concert..OK make it happen, the whole SSA website is a
> > > media section. *Quit wishing and start moving. You have everyones
> > > permission you need. Ask yourself if you could change just one or two
> > > things to grow soaring at your local soaring site, what would they
> > > be? *We don't lack solutions, IMHO many lack initiative.
>
> > Absolutely, there are many ad hoc opportunities.
>
> > > Now ducking behind the soapbox to avoid the tomatoes....
>
> > > LT
>
> > > PS- A big congrats to Tucson Soaring for doing something "the first
> > > time"! *THAT IS THE BEST THING I HAVE READ IN THIS THREAD. We need
> > > everyone to do something more, different, or "the first time". The
> > > answers are all around us, each local organization just needs to (re)
> > > assemble them. This should be the primary subject for discussion
> > > around the grog bowl at every end of year soaring gathering. *Have an
> > > "improved club marketing membership plan" for 2010.
>
> > On that topic, I sent the AZ SSA governor (and TSC member) the Intro
> > member concept. *I've been in a club that did 130 'rides' during a one
> > day open house. *It did not generate a single member, but the
> > underlying intent was really fund-raising. *Since 1995 in my current
> > club, I don't recall a single new member resulting from a scenic
> > ride. *However, on the three lesson min-courses we sold, 80% of those
> > that got a soaring flight or two joined. *We stopped doing those for
> > insurance reasons for a period, but the SSA Introductory Membership
> > has opened the door again, so we've added a three-month club Intro
> > membership into the by-laws. *So TSC could offer a ride, or the full
> > monty. *The Intro allows a prospective pilot to see if they are a good
> > fit and gives the club an opportunity to prove what they've said is
> > true. *The price point filters out the drive-bys from the seekers.
>
> > Chapters operate under some different constraints than commercial
> > operators. *Some are restricted from giving rides due to IRS rules.
> > Other clubs have gross receipts limitations and exist where there are
> > no commercial operations. *Under the SSA Group Plan, membership is
> > required for trial/introductory lessons. *This concept solves that
> > issue.
>
> > > NOTE: OCSA used to have a growing soaring club...now OCSA's problem is
> > > completely different. *I'm learning again, see:http://groups.google..com/group/save-soaring-at-hemet-today?hl=en
>
> > You are quite right to defend access to that public airport.
>
> > Frank Whiteley- Hide quoted text -
>
> > - Show quoted text -
>
> Experience my club has had(see VSC above) is that the multiple flight
> intro package is very effective in giving the prospect a chance to
> really see what it is all about. It also gets them out a couple of
> times so they can meet other members and decide if they like the
> group. This turns out to be a big selling point.
> Interestingly, when we had the big ride activity after the NY Times
> article, only a very small number, maybe 10 out of the 350 or so, went
> on to become members. We handled them the same way, so out conclusion
> was that htis was the "I'm bored what do we do Sunday" crowd.
> One other thing we do is pair up the young people immediately with one
> of our juniors to show them around. This way, they don't feel like
> they are the only kid there. We have lots of juniors so this is easy
> to do.
> It's quite important, as noted above, to have the right mentality
> about intro flights. Our folks see it as a way to sell our sport and
> not just a revenue stream.
> FWIW
> UH

Ten out of 350 sounds like a good conversion rate.

The main benefit of an open house is to publicize the club and its
amenities. A whole bunch of prospective members have never heard of
our clubs. TUSC also has a three-ride program and it is very
successful.

Mike

[[email protected]]

On Nov 25, 12:05*pm, Mike the Strike > wrote:
> On Nov 25, 6:58*am, wrote:
>
>
>
>
>
> > On Nov 24, 10:33*pm, Frank Whiteley > wrote:
>
> > > On Nov 24, 1:30 pm, HoUdino > wrote:> Frank-
> > > > Sometimes I think that many SSA members don't know the tools developed
> > > > and thus already have in hand!
>
> > > Yes, mentoring WRT the web site is needed as the member and committee
> > > level (in my draft). *The SSA web site is more member resource than
> > > recruit the new person. *Much material is in there, but not up front
> > > and in their face.
>
> > > > "Sales" is a hurtle race requiring a sequence of activities to flow
> > > > adequately well...Awareness (GMA, Disney, all activities NOT at the
> > > > airport), trial Interest (FAST, positve experience via a rides,
> > > > convienence, fun website, airshow booths), Qualifiying (safety/
> > > > finances/rank against alternatives), Closing ("the ask" to join,
> > > > friendly faces, SSA Intro program), and maintaining involvement (SSA
> > > > badges, club activities, secondary benefits, clean WC facilities).
> > > > Stumble on one of these hurtles or misdiagnois the problem and the
> > > > whole process is certainly less efficent. *Every organization is
> > > > different and thus has different areas to focus on, often fixing one
> > > > problem in the waterfall creates a pooling in the next level (aka "The
> > > > problem I want to have"). *That is why we have so many solutions
> > > > because at the field level we who run soaring organizations actually
> > > > have many different marketing problems. That's why the solutions can
> > > > seem so complicated...it is a complex problem.
>
> > > Good points.
>
> > > > Frank W, Dave N, Val P have created many great tools to grow soaring.
> > > > The improved SSA Growbook is online...when was the last time you
> > > > looked at that? *It's all there. *It's hard to be "viral" without a
> > > > compelling club website, being "social" takes a team of individuals
> > > > working in concert..OK make it happen, the whole SSA website is a
> > > > media section. *Quit wishing and start moving. You have everyones
> > > > permission you need. Ask yourself if you could change just one or two
> > > > things to grow soaring at your local soaring site, what would they
> > > > be? *We don't lack solutions, IMHO many lack initiative.
>
> > > Absolutely, there are many ad hoc opportunities.
>
> > > > Now ducking behind the soapbox to avoid the tomatoes....
>
> > > > LT
>
> > > > PS- A big congrats to Tucson Soaring for doing something "the first
> > > > time"! *THAT IS THE BEST THING I HAVE READ IN THIS THREAD. We need
> > > > everyone to do something more, different, or "the first time". The
> > > > answers are all around us, each local organization just needs to (re)
> > > > assemble them. This should be the primary subject for discussion
> > > > around the grog bowl at every end of year soaring gathering. *Have an
> > > > "improved club marketing membership plan" for 2010.
>
> > > On that topic, I sent the AZ SSA governor (and TSC member) the Intro
> > > member concept. *I've been in a club that did 130 'rides' during a one
> > > day open house. *It did not generate a single member, but the
> > > underlying intent was really fund-raising. *Since 1995 in my current
> > > club, I don't recall a single new member resulting from a scenic
> > > ride. *However, on the three lesson min-courses we sold, 80% of those
> > > that got a soaring flight or two joined. *We stopped doing those for
> > > insurance reasons for a period, but the SSA Introductory Membership
> > > has opened the door again, so we've added a three-month club Intro
> > > membership into the by-laws. *So TSC could offer a ride, or the full
> > > monty. *The Intro allows a prospective pilot to see if they are a good
> > > fit and gives the club an opportunity to prove what they've said is
> > > true. *The price point filters out the drive-bys from the seekers.
>
> > > Chapters operate under some different constraints than commercial
> > > operators. *Some are restricted from giving rides due to IRS rules.
> > > Other clubs have gross receipts limitations and exist where there are
> > > no commercial operations. *Under the SSA Group Plan, membership is
> > > required for trial/introductory lessons. *This concept solves that
> > > issue.
>
> > > > NOTE: OCSA used to have a growing soaring club...now OCSA's problem is
> > > > completely different. *I'm learning again, see:http://groups.google.com/group/save-soaring-at-hemet-today?hl=en
>
> > > You are quite right to defend access to that public airport.
>
> > > Frank Whiteley- Hide quoted text -
>
> > > - Show quoted text -
>
> > Experience my club has had(see VSC above) is that the multiple flight
> > intro package is very effective in giving the prospect a chance to
> > really see what it is all about. It also gets them out a couple of
> > times so they can meet other members and decide if they like the
> > group. This turns out to be a big selling point.
> > Interestingly, when we had the big ride activity after the NY Times
> > article, only a very small number, maybe 10 out of the 350 or so, went
> > on to become members. We handled them the same way, so out conclusion
> > was that htis was the "I'm bored what do we do Sunday" crowd.
> > One other thing we do is pair up the young people immediately with one
> > of our juniors to show them around. This way, they don't feel like
> > they are the only kid there. We have lots of juniors so this is easy
> > to do.
> > It's quite important, as noted above, to have the right mentality
> > about intro flights. Our folks see it as a way to sell our sport and
> > not just a revenue stream.
> > FWIW
> > UH
>
> Ten out of 350 sounds like a good conversion rate.
>
> The main benefit of an open house is to publicize the club and its
> amenities. *A whole bunch of prospective members have never heard of
> our clubs. *TUSC also has a three-ride program and it is very
> successful.
>
> Mike- Hide quoted text -
>
> - Show quoted text -

Our "normal" conversion rate is about 1 out of 15.
UH

[bildan]

On Nov 24, 12:26*pm, "Matt Herron Jr." > wrote:
> So how to we turn these good ideas into tangible action at a national
> level? *What is the mechanism by which new initiatives are taken up by
> the SSA? *Who ya gonna call? *As a start, I will pledge $100 to any
> fund earmarked for gathering some of these statistics and creating an
> action plan. *I want to save my sport from extinction. *Anyone else?

Mat, get with Frank W. We don't need the $100 as much as we need
someone to call and collect information. There's only about 200
glider operations in the US but it's amazingly difficult to contact
them and get current information. Last winter were never able to
contact about 15% of them.

The "contact difficulty" problem goes a long way to explain our loss
of members. There may be lots of people out there who want to fly
gliders but who can't contact a club near them. We gotta make that
easier.

Bill D

[Frank Whiteley]

On Nov 25, 10:05*am, Mike the Strike > wrote:
> On Nov 25, 6:58*am, wrote:
>
>
>
> > On Nov 24, 10:33*pm, Frank Whiteley > wrote:
>
> > > On Nov 24, 1:30 pm, HoUdino > wrote:> Frank-
> > > > Sometimes I think that many SSA members don't know the tools developed
> > > > and thus already have in hand!
>
> > > Yes, mentoring WRT the web site is needed as the member and committee
> > > level (in my draft). *The SSA web site is more member resource than
> > > recruit the new person. *Much material is in there, but not up front
> > > and in their face.
>
> > > > "Sales" is a hurtle race requiring a sequence of activities to flow
> > > > adequately well...Awareness (GMA, Disney, all activities NOT at the
> > > > airport), trial Interest (FAST, positve experience via a rides,
> > > > convienence, fun website, airshow booths), Qualifiying (safety/
> > > > finances/rank against alternatives), Closing ("the ask" to join,
> > > > friendly faces, SSA Intro program), and maintaining involvement (SSA
> > > > badges, club activities, secondary benefits, clean WC facilities).
> > > > Stumble on one of these hurtles or misdiagnois the problem and the
> > > > whole process is certainly less efficent. *Every organization is
> > > > different and thus has different areas to focus on, often fixing one
> > > > problem in the waterfall creates a pooling in the next level (aka "The
> > > > problem I want to have"). *That is why we have so many solutions
> > > > because at the field level we who run soaring organizations actually
> > > > have many different marketing problems. That's why the solutions can
> > > > seem so complicated...it is a complex problem.
>
> > > Good points.
>
> > > > Frank W, Dave N, Val P have created many great tools to grow soaring.
> > > > The improved SSA Growbook is online...when was the last time you
> > > > looked at that? *It's all there. *It's hard to be "viral" without a
> > > > compelling club website, being "social" takes a team of individuals
> > > > working in concert..OK make it happen, the whole SSA website is a
> > > > media section. *Quit wishing and start moving. You have everyones
> > > > permission you need. Ask yourself if you could change just one or two
> > > > things to grow soaring at your local soaring site, what would they
> > > > be? *We don't lack solutions, IMHO many lack initiative.
>
> > > Absolutely, there are many ad hoc opportunities.
>
> > > > Now ducking behind the soapbox to avoid the tomatoes....
>
> > > > LT
>
> > > > PS- A big congrats to Tucson Soaring for doing something "the first
> > > > time"! *THAT IS THE BEST THING I HAVE READ IN THIS THREAD. We need
> > > > everyone to do something more, different, or "the first time". The
> > > > answers are all around us, each local organization just needs to (re)
> > > > assemble them. This should be the primary subject for discussion
> > > > around the grog bowl at every end of year soaring gathering. *Have an
> > > > "improved club marketing membership plan" for 2010.
>
> > > On that topic, I sent the AZ SSA governor (and TSC member) the Intro
> > > member concept. *I've been in a club that did 130 'rides' during a one
> > > day open house. *It did not generate a single member, but the
> > > underlying intent was really fund-raising. *Since 1995 in my current
> > > club, I don't recall a single new member resulting from a scenic
> > > ride. *However, on the three lesson min-courses we sold, 80% of those
> > > that got a soaring flight or two joined. *We stopped doing those for
> > > insurance reasons for a period, but the SSA Introductory Membership
> > > has opened the door again, so we've added a three-month club Intro
> > > membership into the by-laws. *So TSC could offer a ride, or the full
> > > monty. *The Intro allows a prospective pilot to see if they are a good
> > > fit and gives the club an opportunity to prove what they've said is
> > > true. *The price point filters out the drive-bys from the seekers.
>
> > > Chapters operate under some different constraints than commercial
> > > operators. *Some are restricted from giving rides due to IRS rules.
> > > Other clubs have gross receipts limitations and exist where there are
> > > no commercial operations. *Under the SSA Group Plan, membership is
> > > required for trial/introductory lessons. *This concept solves that
> > > issue.
>
> > > > NOTE: OCSA used to have a growing soaring club...now OCSA's problem is
> > > > completely different. *I'm learning again, see:http://groups.google.com/group/save-soaring-at-hemet-today?hl=en
>
> > > You are quite right to defend access to that public airport.
>
> > > Frank Whiteley- Hide quoted text -
>
> > > - Show quoted text -
>
> > Experience my club has had(see VSC above) is that the multiple flight
> > intro package is very effective in giving the prospect a chance to
> > really see what it is all about. It also gets them out a couple of
> > times so they can meet other members and decide if they like the
> > group. This turns out to be a big selling point.
> > Interestingly, when we had the big ride activity after the NY Times
> > article, only a very small number, maybe 10 out of the 350 or so, went
> > on to become members. We handled them the same way, so out conclusion
> > was that htis was the "I'm bored what do we do Sunday" crowd.
> > One other thing we do is pair up the young people immediately with one
> > of our juniors to show them around. This way, they don't feel like
> > they are the only kid there. We have lots of juniors so this is easy
> > to do.
> > It's quite important, as noted above, to have the right mentality
> > about intro flights. Our folks see it as a way to sell our sport and
> > not just a revenue stream.
> > FWIW
> > UH
>
> Ten out of 350 sounds like a good conversion rate.
>
> The main benefit of an open house is to publicize the club and its
> amenities. *A whole bunch of prospective members have never heard of
> our clubs. *TUSC also has a three-ride program and it is very
> successful.
>
> Mike

Your three ride program is not described on your chapter web site. If
your chapter is insured through the SSA Group Plan, I believe you will
find it contains verbage to the effect that a ride is to be given by a
commercial or higher rated pilot as the sole manipulator of the
controls and that instruction if to be given to members only, who must
also be SSA members. Could be other insurance is in force.

It's interesting to read some reporters online descriptions of taking
a flight with a club and having the controls turned over to them and a
little digging finds that club to be a chapter and group insured.

One chapter, during re-organization, submitted their business plan for
consideration and was rejected for the group plan due to their
description of giving trial lessons. I believe they dropped that
option.

If a prospective full member holds 3-4 lessons logged in a logbook as
real flight training, it's much more substantial than having taken
some rides. It's a vested interested. Clubs (or persons within the
club) that game the system are creating a lot of exposure and the club
leadership has a responsibility to make sure that the membership
understands that. The Intro membership idea was in response to
discovery that chapters needed a way to promote the sport and their
chapter and that several were doing this outside of their insurance
agreement.

Frank Whiteley

[Vsoars]

On Nov 25, 12:11*pm, bildan > wrote:
> On Nov 24, 12:26*pm, "Matt Herron Jr." > wrote:
>
> > So how to we turn these good ideas into tangible action at a national
> > level? *What is the mechanism by which new initiatives are taken up by
> > the SSA? *Who ya gonna call? *As a start, I will pledge $100 to any
> > fund earmarked for gathering some of these statistics and creating an
> > action plan. *I want to save my sport from extinction. *Anyone else?
>
> Mat, get with Frank W. *We don't need the $100 as much as we need
> someone to call and collect information. *There's only about 200
> glider operations in the US but it's amazingly difficult to contact
> them and get current information. *Last winter were never able to
> contact about 15% of them.
>
> The "contact difficulty" problem goes a long way to explain our loss
> of members. *There may be lots of people out there who want to fly
> gliders but who can't contact a club near them. *We gotta make that
> easier.
>
> Bill D


I am in the process of creating a SSA Media Press Kit. It will be a
business card size jewel-case CD that members can send out to media
they have contacted about a story. It will have a variety of
materials. I've attached the tentative Table of Contests:

Welcome Letter from the Chairman

Discover Soaring- The SSA’s brief introduction to the sport

Background on Soaring
A US Team background pieces that provides a concise fact filled
resource on soaring.

• Sailplanes & Gliders - What is a sailplane?

• Soaring Competitions
An insider’s look at soaring competitions (From the US Team's web
site)


• History of Soaring
A concise historical look at the critical role of gliders and soaring.

• Soaring FAQ
Glider or Sailplane? Find the answers to the most Frequently Asked
Questions about soaring.

• Is It Magic?
Some of the most amazing current soaring records

The People Who Soar
• Military academies
• Youth
• Adventurers of any age

The Best Bargain in Aviation
“Cheap thrills”

Press Clips

Photo Gallery
Photographs that they are free to use

THE SSA MEDIA KIT and a Business card size CD of THE SOARING PUBLICITY
HANDBOOK will be available at the convention.

Right now I need people to send me PDFs of great media coverage of
their clubs. I would also appreciate any prepared materials you have
that would fit into an "idea" section of the HANDBOOK. Publicity is an
organization wide commitment. Even a Texan can't do this all by
herself!

Additionally, I need a member of the racing community to up-date the
Contest section of the US Team's Contest booklet that is on the SSA
web site. We will use this document. It would be a pity to not
include information about Uvalde.

Soaring has received some fantastic local coverage. All of us who love
soaring need to make a commitment to continue to build interest in our
sport. Contact me at and send me materials for these
CDs. Production will begin in Dec.

Responding to a web group posting is fun, but it doesn't make anything
happen. Let's make your great ideas a reality. Email me to get it
started.

[Darryl Ramm]

On Nov 25, 4:43*pm, Vsoars > wrote:
> On Nov 25, 12:11*pm, bildan > wrote:
>
>
>
> > On Nov 24, 12:26*pm, "Matt Herron Jr." > wrote:
>
> > > So how to we turn these good ideas into tangible action at a national
> > > level? *What is the mechanism by which new initiatives are taken up by
> > > the SSA? *Who ya gonna call? *As a start, I will pledge $100 to any
> > > fund earmarked for gathering some of these statistics and creating an
> > > action plan. *I want to save my sport from extinction. *Anyone else?
>
> > Mat, get with Frank W. *We don't need the $100 as much as we need
> > someone to call and collect information. *There's only about 200
> > glider operations in the US but it's amazingly difficult to contact
> > them and get current information. *Last winter were never able to
> > contact about 15% of them.
>
> > The "contact difficulty" problem goes a long way to explain our loss
> > of members. *There may be lots of people out there who want to fly
> > gliders but who can't contact a club near them. *We gotta make that
> > easier.
>
> > Bill D
>
> I am in the process of creating a SSA Media Press Kit. *It will be a
> business card size jewel-case CD that members can send out to media
> they have contacted about a story. *It will have a variety of
> materials. I've attached the tentative Table of Contests:
>
> Welcome Letter from the Chairman
>
> Discover Soaring- The SSA’s brief introduction to the sport
>
> Background on Soaring
> A US Team background pieces that provides a concise fact filled
> resource on soaring.
>
> • * * Sailplanes & Gliders - What is a sailplane?
>
> • * * Soaring Competitions
> An insider’s look at soaring competitions (From the US Team's web
> site)
>
> • * * History of Soaring
> A concise historical look at the critical role of gliders and soaring.
>
> • * * Soaring FAQ
> Glider or Sailplane? Find the answers to the most Frequently Asked
> Questions about soaring.
>
> • * * Is It Magic?
> *Some of the most amazing current soaring records
>
> The People Who Soar
> • * * Military academies
> • * * Youth
> • * * Adventurers of any age
>
> The Best Bargain in Aviation
> “Cheap thrills”
>
> Press Clips
>
> Photo Gallery
> Photographs that they are free to use
>
> THE SSA MEDIA KIT and a Business card size CD of THE SOARING PUBLICITY
> HANDBOOK will be available at the convention.
>
> Right now I need people to send me PDFs of great media coverage of
> their clubs. *I would also appreciate any prepared materials you have
> that would fit into an "idea" section of the HANDBOOK. Publicity is an
> organization wide commitment. Even a Texan can't do this all by
> herself!
>
> Additionally, I need a member of the racing community to up-date the
> Contest section of the US Team's Contest booklet that is on the SSA
> web site. We will use this document. *It would be a pity to not
> include information about Uvalde.
>
> Soaring has received some fantastic local coverage. All of us who love
> soaring need to make a commitment to continue to build interest in our
> sport. Contact me at and send me materials for these
> CDs. Production will begin in Dec.
>
> Responding to a web group posting is fun, but it doesn't make anything
> happen. Let's make your great ideas a reality. Email me to get it
> started.

That all sounds great but this content belongs on a media section of
the web site. Encourage the media to go to a media section on the
site, and it can be kept up to date with the latest information. Sorry
but physical press kits are pretty dead in this day and age.

Reporters carrying around laptops may not have a CD-ROM drive and in
many situations won't want to wait for snail mail or face to face
meetings to hand over physical media.

In those media links, providing links to interesting YouTube videos
etc. online can encourage those links to be used in online stories.

Darryl

[Tom[_9_]]

Great idea. Could this be placed on one inexpensive disc we could give
to people who take a glider ride?

Tom

[bildan]

On Nov 26, 6:50*am, Tom > wrote:
> Great idea. Could this be placed on one inexpensive disc we could give
> to people who take a glider ride?
>
> Tom

I think a giveaway CD or DVD has great potential for promoting
soaring.
The SSA promotion committee has been thinking of something like this.
I don't think it would take much 'demand' to get it done.

How about one of those business card sized, "hockey rink" shaped CD's
that can be carried in a wallet? There's about 50MB of space on
them. In volume they cost around $.50. The digital media content
could be universal with local contact information printed on the disk
label.

However, realistically, no piece of hard plastic is going to sell
soaring as effectively as a warm, friendly person talking about their
enthusiasm for the sport. We still have to talk to people when they
visit our operations.

Bill D

[Frank Whiteley]

>
> However, realistically, no piece of hard plastic is going to sell
> soaring as effectively as a warm, friendly person talking about their
> enthusiasm for the sport. *We still have to talk to people when they
> visit our operations.
>
> Bill D

Bingo, the other factor in Cleveland Soaring Society's success in
2009.

Frank W

[Tom[_9_]]

Perhaps we only need a gliderport business card with the web link on
it so a ride customer could look at it when they go home.

Tom

[Mike Schumann]

There is something wrong when we are organizing task groups to look at
digital media, but we don't think it's worth our time and/or resources to
have a significant presence at the largest aviation event in the world -
Oshkosh.

If we really want maximum exposure for our sport, we should make the SSA
convention part of the annual Oshkosh event. Not only would we have all of
the displays there for non-glider pilots to see, but we would also be able
to network with all of the key people in the FAA, AOPA, etc. who are going
to be there anyway.

Mike Schumann

"Frank Whiteley" > wrote in message
...
On Nov 24, 10:33 am, MickiMinner > wrote:
> I think all of the above posters have the right idea...the concept is
> to "grow" the sport,
> but nobody has any grasp of what the numbers are of active glider
> pilots,
> instructor pilots, new rides, FAST offers, Calls to local glider
> ports,
> rate of activity.
>
> I do believe that statistics, numbers need to be compiled.
> We can't figure out if we need pull marketing, viral marketing,
> publicity campaigns, and any other types of publicity until we know
> what we are pushing for!
> One Example of what we need to know:
> Do we want to approach pilots with power tickets? Do we have better
> success with youth? or better success at converting the power pilot,
> or do we have a better success rate with the person that calls for a
> "joy ride".
>
> Omri has a a great idea that an individual giving the ride should have
> the passion and personality to address the needs of the person
> enquiring and taking a test ride.
>
> the bottom line for me, is that we need to compile some data. Regular
> surveys of the clubs, or reporting of how many calls/rides/instruction
> requests/new members. Can't market what you don't know.
> just my 2cents
> Micki

Pulling hen's teeth while herding cats;^)

Actually, part of the digital revolution is that we are at the cusp of
such data retrieval. Most operations are likely using some sort of
accounting software from which reports may be derived. How, I've also
heard from COBM that commercial operators will be unlikely to share
such data. Among chapters, many are non-profit entities and must
provide information upon request (though may charge reasonable re-
production costs). However, past performance is not prediction of the
future. Both commercial operations and clubs can change in appeal and
performance, usually to a knee-jerk reaction to some event or a change
in internal politics, so I'm not sure a study will help market, though
it may help define what works.

Part of the problem has been the difficulty to keeping current contact
information for chapter leadership. The clubs & chapters committee
compiled that information and surveyed for about 110 chapters under
Dave Newill. However, club and chapter leadership changes every year
or two. The committee also used the WTF contact info to try and have
chapters complete some online information updates. We eventually got
about forty inputs out of 140 clubs and chapters, yet it remained time
intensive. This year the SSA office included a request for chapter
leadership functions in the chapter renewal process. Response has
been very good, thank you very much. Doug Easton has recently
provided the committee with a leadership view which will help us
communicate better with chapters.

Statistics and data collection is part of that digital media
experience that I've included within my draft proposal for formation
of an SSA Digital Media Working Group. This group will hopefully
examine, propose, and implement actions to leverage audio, video,
imagery, web techniques, social networking, webinars, mentoring, and
story boarding to place some strategic on-target, on-message links to
our sport and organizations. Internal data collection and
introspection is part of the mix. Annually I submit an input to the
world gliding report, but it's very limited due to the lack of
resources available.

As John Seaborn mentions, this will take some aggressive and committed
volunteers. I agree. We have significant individual talent and
effort out there. If we could get those individual to put ten or
twenty percent of that effort into a focused package of strategies
with a national, regional, and local emphasis, we'd move forward
rapidly. Without that framework, I think hiring national marketing
expertise would not give us the results hoped for. We need the
resources first. Yesterday, while sorting through some Soaring
magazines with a soaring friend, he mentioned that the SSA staffed a
marketing expert in the late 1970's. Before my time as an SSA member
(1980), so perhaps someone else can give us a history lesson on Sunny
Vesgo, "The Sunny Side" column, and the eventual outcomes. I'm told
there was much dis-satisfaction at the end of the day.

As far as what may work, see my committee post on the SSA web site
today on Leveraging the SSA FAST and SSA Introductory Membership for
chapter growth.

Frank Whiteley

[Frank Whiteley]

There is someone in Wisconsin (near Oshkosh) who showed interest in
organizing a soaring presence, suggesting the Learn to Fly Pavilion
with CAP, USAFA, etc.. His name was given to the SSA (AOPA) board
member and to the chair of the Growth and Development Committee. I
believe there is interest, but involvement will probably continue come
from voluntary efforts, like many other initiatives and programs
within the SSA. Many are done by groups, a few as individuals. I've
previously suggested Sun 'n Fun. Not as large, much cheaper for large
display areas which sailplanes need, but still a good sized event.
Soaring was represented at the AOPA summit in FL earlier this month.
No idea if a local interests were served, but the SSA Governor for
Florida was there with a DG-1000 on display. I know Philadelphia
Glider Council made good use of a local AOPA meeting a few years
ago.

As for me, I've never been to Oshkosh nor Sun 'n Fun. However, I was
the vendor relations person for three good-sized EAA Regional Fly-ins
and helped with two others, and had a soaring presence at each.
During those five years, I'm aware of one father and son pair that
joined a local club, dropping out within the first year. Done mall
displays and other presentations, too. There's a place for mall
action. Don Ingraham has pretty much figured that out and it takes a
bit more than a display, you need to be offering something else, rides
as gifting options. I've seen his concept video. The finished one
should attract attention on a good sized projection screen. Local
efforts generate local results. National efforts are a bit harder to
measure. Even 800soaring.com says interest is waning on the glider
ride action, but I think that's because fewer operations, both clubs
and commercial, are willing to redeem these rides. So he sells
balloon rides.

Soaring was represented at Oshkosh for several years, mainly through
voluntary efforts and donations, sometimes with SSA backing. Can
someone point us to a bump in growth of the sport as a result? If so,
that would help close the loop on the effectiveness of being there.
Should soaring be there? Yes. However, if we could be half a dozen
other places for the same expense, which way should we go? Tough
choices all around. After all, it really comes down to money, and
there are competing proposals and a rather limited budget. Only one
of the digital media factors involves an expense, the online webinar
service. Up to now, SSA has not expended anything. I have a service
that I've offered to particular soaring seminars and presentations.
So far the only taker has been the one we tested last spring here in
Colorado. They are available on a subscription basis at a fraction of
the cost of the Oshkosh soaring booth. Perhaps soon we will do both
and much, much more.

Frank Whiteley

On Nov 26, 3:22*pm, "Mike Schumann" <mike-nos...@traditions-
nospam.com> wrote:
> There is something wrong when we are organizing task groups to look at
> digital media, but we don't think it's worth our time and/or resources to
> have a significant presence at the largest aviation event in the world -
> Oshkosh.
>
> If we really want maximum exposure for our sport, we should make the SSA
> convention part of the annual Oshkosh event. *Not only would we have all of
> the displays there for non-glider pilots to see, but we would also be able
> to network with all of the key people in the FAA, AOPA, etc. who are going
> to be there anyway.
>
> Mike Schumann
>
> "Frank Whiteley" > wrote in message
>
> ...
> On Nov 24, 10:33 am, MickiMinner > wrote:
>
>
>
> > I think all of the above posters have the right idea...the concept is
> > to "grow" the sport,
> > but nobody has any grasp of what the numbers are of active glider
> > pilots,
> > instructor pilots, new rides, FAST offers, Calls to local glider
> > ports,
> > rate of activity.
>
> > I do believe that statistics, numbers need to be compiled.
> > We can't figure out if we need pull marketing, viral marketing,
> > publicity campaigns, and any other types of publicity until we know
> > what we are pushing for!
> > One Example of what we need to know:
> > Do we want to approach pilots with power tickets? Do we have better
> > success with youth? or better success at converting the power pilot,
> > or do we have a better success rate with the person that calls for a
> > "joy ride".
>
> > Omri has a a great idea that an individual giving the ride should have
> > the passion and personality to address the needs of the person
> > enquiring and taking a test ride.
>
> > the bottom line for me, is that we need to compile some data. Regular
> > surveys of the clubs, or reporting of how many calls/rides/instruction
> > requests/new members. Can't market what you don't know.
> > just my 2cents
> > Micki
>
> Pulling hen's teeth while herding cats;^)
>
> Actually, part of the digital revolution is that we are at the cusp of
> such data retrieval. *Most operations are likely using some sort of
> accounting software from which reports may be derived. *How, I've also
> heard from COBM that commercial operators will be unlikely to share
> such data. *Among chapters, many are non-profit entities and must
> provide information upon request (though may charge reasonable re-
> production costs). *However, past performance is not prediction of the
> future. *Both commercial operations and clubs can change in appeal and
> performance, usually to a knee-jerk reaction to some event or a change
> in internal politics, so I'm not sure a study will help market, though
> it may help define what works.
>
> Part of the problem has been the difficulty to keeping current contact
> information for chapter leadership. *The clubs & chapters committee
> compiled that information and surveyed for about 110 chapters under
> Dave Newill. *However, club and chapter leadership changes every year
> or two. *The committee also used the WTF contact info to try and have
> chapters complete some online information updates. *We eventually got
> about forty inputs out of 140 clubs and chapters, yet it remained time
> intensive. *This year the SSA office included a request for chapter
> leadership functions in the chapter renewal process. *Response has
> been very good, thank you very much. *Doug Easton has recently
> provided the committee with a leadership view which will help us
> communicate better with chapters.
>
> Statistics and data collection is part of that digital media
> experience that I've included within my draft proposal for formation
> of an SSA Digital Media Working Group. *This group will hopefully
> examine, propose, and implement actions to leverage audio, video,
> imagery, web techniques, social networking, webinars, mentoring, and
> story boarding to place some strategic on-target, on-message links to
> our sport and organizations. *Internal data collection and
> introspection is part of the mix. *Annually I submit an input to the
> world gliding report, but it's very limited due to the lack of
> resources available.
>
> As John Seaborn mentions, this will take some aggressive and committed
> volunteers. *I agree. *We have significant individual talent and
> effort out there. *If we could get those individual to put ten or
> twenty percent of that effort into a focused package of strategies
> with a national, regional, and local emphasis, we'd move forward
> rapidly. *Without that framework, I think hiring national marketing
> expertise would not give us the results hoped for. *We need the
> resources first. *Yesterday, while sorting through some Soaring
> magazines with a soaring friend, he mentioned that the SSA staffed a
> marketing expert in the late 1970's. *Before my time as an SSA member
> (1980), so perhaps someone else can give us a history lesson on Sunny
> Vesgo, "The Sunny Side" column, and the eventual outcomes. *I'm told
> there was much dis-satisfaction at the end of the day.
>
> As far as what may work, see my committee post on the SSA web site
> today on Leveraging the SSA FAST and SSA Introductory Membership for
> chapter growth.
>
> Frank Whiteley

[Vsoars]

As my earlier posted stated, as Chairperson of the SSA Publicity
Committee, I have the project under way now. I am preparing two of
the "hockey rink" shaped CDs. One Cd is a SSA Media Kit and the other
is The Soaring Publicity Handbook. (One for members to give the media
and one to assist members.) There is no replacement for a smiling
person .But we need to put the materials, including photos that can
instantly be used, in the hands of the media. There is currently no
way to do all we need to do from the web site as it is set up. The CDs
will be available at the convention and after that, at the SSA office.

How about some of you volunteering to make contributions to this
project? It would be even more fun than chatting on this group site
and will actually accomplish something worth doing.


On Nov 26, 9:36*am, bildan > wrote:
> On Nov 26, 6:50*am, Tom > wrote:
>
> > Great idea. Could this be placed on one inexpensive disc we could give
> > to people who take a glider ride?
>
> > Tom
>
> I think a giveaway CD or DVD has great potential for promoting
> soaring.
> The SSA promotion committee has been thinking of something like this.
> I don't think it would take much 'demand' to get it done.
>
> How about one of those business card sized, "hockey rink" shaped CD's
> that can be carried in a wallet? *There's about 50MB of space on
> them. *In volume they cost around $.50. *The digital media content
> could be universal with local contact information printed on the disk
> label.
>
> However, realistically, no piece of hard plastic is going to sell
> soaring as effectively as a warm, friendly person talking about their
> enthusiasm for the sport. *We still have to talk to people when they
> visit our operations.
>
> Bill D

[Vsoars]

On Nov 27, 7:16*pm, Vsoars > wrote:
> As my earlier posted stated, as Chairperson of the SSA Publicity
> Committee, I have the project under way now. *I am preparing two of
> the "hockey rink" shaped CDs. One Cd is a SSA Media Kit and the other
> is The Soaring Publicity Handbook. (One for members to give the media
> and one to assist members.) *There is no replacement for a smiling
> person .But we need to put the materials, including photos that can
> instantly be used, in the hands of the media. *There is currently no
> way to do all we need to do from the web site as it is set up. The CDs
> will be available at the convention and after that, at the SSA office.
>
> How about some of you volunteering to make contributions to this
> project? *It would be even more fun than chatting on this group site
> and will actually accomplish something worth doing.
>
> On Nov 26, 9:36*am, bildan > wrote:
>
>
>
> > On Nov 26, 6:50*am, Tom > wrote:
>
> > > Great idea. Could this be placed on one inexpensive disc we could give
> > > to people who take a glider ride?
>
> > > Tom
>
> > I think a giveaway CD or DVD has great potential for promoting
> > soaring.
> > The SSA promotion committee has been thinking of something like this.
> > I don't think it would take much 'demand' to get it done.
>
> > How about one of those business card sized, "hockey rink" shaped CD's
> > that can be carried in a wallet? *There's about 50MB of space on
> > them. *In volume they cost around $.50. *The digital media content
> > could be universal with local contact information printed on the disk
> > label.
>
> > However, realistically, no piece of hard plastic is going to sell
> > soaring as effectively as a warm, friendly person talking about their
> > enthusiasm for the sport. *We still have to talk to people when they
> > visit our operations.
>
> > Bill D- Hide quoted text -
>
> - Show quoted text -

My comments are NOT directed to Bill , who writes a great blog on
AOPA's "Lets Go Flying." I highly recommend his blog to anyone who
flies power.

[Darryl Ramm]

On Nov 27, 5:16*pm, Vsoars > wrote:
> As my earlier posted stated, as Chairperson of the SSA Publicity
> Committee, I have the project under way now. *I am preparing two of
> the "hockey rink" shaped CDs. One Cd is a SSA Media Kit and the other
> is The Soaring Publicity Handbook. (One for members to give the media
> and one to assist members.) *There is no replacement for a smiling
> person .But we need to put the materials, including photos that can
> instantly be used, in the hands of the media. *There is currently no
> way to do all we need to do from the web site as it is set up. The CDs
> will be available at the convention and after that, at the SSA office.
>
> How about some of you volunteering to make contributions to this
> project? *It would be even more fun than chatting on this group site
> and will actually accomplish something worth doing.
>
> On Nov 26, 9:36*am, bildan > wrote:
>
> > On Nov 26, 6:50*am, Tom > wrote:
>
> > > Great idea. Could this be placed on one inexpensive disc we could give
> > > to people who take a glider ride?
>
> > > Tom
>
> > I think a giveaway CD or DVD has great potential for promoting
> > soaring.
> > The SSA promotion committee has been thinking of something like this.
> > I don't think it would take much 'demand' to get it done.
>
> > How about one of those business card sized, "hockey rink" shaped CD's
> > that can be carried in a wallet? *There's about 50MB of space on
> > them. *In volume they cost around $.50. *The digital media content
> > could be universal with local contact information printed on the disk
> > label.
>
> > However, realistically, no piece of hard plastic is going to sell
> > soaring as effectively as a warm, friendly person talking about their
> > enthusiasm for the sport. *We still have to talk to people when they
> > visit our operations.
>
> > Bill D
>
>

If there is no way to put this stuff on the web site the SSA has more
problems than publicity. I'd really hope that is not the case.

Many journalists use Macintosh, especially amongst the magazine/
newspaper industry (where I've worked on software/technology), and
that has spilled over to many folks in the professional blogosphere.
Your funky CDs won't work in their slot loading CD-ROM drives, are
likely to get stuck/not eject or worse. Even in non-slot loading
drives you'll have maybe more more problems with the mini-CD's that
full size ones. Many journalists on the road now are likely to be
carrying ultra potable laptops and may not have immediate/easy access
to a CD-ROM drive.

Once a CD-ROM ships, you've got to keep it up to date, manage
revisions (how do you track who has got the out of date versions?),
allow timely revisions etc. Worse you have not encouraged the media to
go to a consistent location on the SSA Web, so if something timely,
either a good PR opportunity for soaring, or worse case an accident or
some public black-eye then the SSA does not have that Web portal to
reach the media through. But media portals are not one-way and the
simple ability to track the access patterns with Google Analytics or
other tools can be useful. Or go the next step and ask jounalists to
register to access their portal. This can be very simple to
implement.


I agree that journalists/editors likes access to high-quality media
(with clear ownership/rights attributions) and in the right high-
resolution formats (e.g. photos in TIFF or well done high resolution
jpg, with color space tagged, and preferably some decent gamut like
AdobeRGB, not sRGB, even better tag the image metadata with the
copyright/usage information, that will make art editors happy.). But
journalists also like the absolutely most up to date information and
contacts to people who can provide specialist answers/attributable
quotes etc. Things like explanations of technical terms/correct usage
guides if done properly are usually appreciated (how many times have
we seen the pilot of a glider called the glider, or seen hang-gliders
and sailplanes confused?). Long introductions for executives, a bunch
of info about organizations etc. are often ignored and a turn-off -
the media usually have very little time to wade though stuff and want
quick answers and especially things that will help them produce the
most correct/well informed articles. Bullet list of facts and common
Q&A work well. A few pages at most. All this stuff is all much better
served via the Web.

Darryl

[bildan]

On Nov 27, 8:30*pm, Darryl Ramm > wrote:
> On Nov 27, 5:16*pm, Vsoars > wrote:
>
>
>
> > As my earlier posted stated, as Chairperson of the SSA Publicity
> > Committee, I have the project under way now. *I am preparing two of
> > the "hockey rink" shaped CDs. One Cd is a SSA Media Kit and the other
> > is The Soaring Publicity Handbook. (One for members to give the media
> > and one to assist members.) *There is no replacement for a smiling
> > person .But we need to put the materials, including photos that can
> > instantly be used, in the hands of the media. *There is currently no
> > way to do all we need to do from the web site as it is set up. The CDs
> > will be available at the convention and after that, at the SSA office.
>
> > How about some of you volunteering to make contributions to this
> > project? *It would be even more fun than chatting on this group site
> > and will actually accomplish something worth doing.
>
> > On Nov 26, 9:36*am, bildan > wrote:
>
> > > On Nov 26, 6:50*am, Tom > wrote:
>
> > > > Great idea. Could this be placed on one inexpensive disc we could give
> > > > to people who take a glider ride?
>
> > > > Tom
>
> > > I think a giveaway CD or DVD has great potential for promoting
> > > soaring.
> > > The SSA promotion committee has been thinking of something like this.
> > > I don't think it would take much 'demand' to get it done.
>
> > > How about one of those business card sized, "hockey rink" shaped CD's
> > > that can be carried in a wallet? *There's about 50MB of space on
> > > them. *In volume they cost around $.50. *The digital media content
> > > could be universal with local contact information printed on the disk
> > > label.
>
> > > However, realistically, no piece of hard plastic is going to sell
> > > soaring as effectively as a warm, friendly person talking about their
> > > enthusiasm for the sport. *We still have to talk to people when they
> > > visit our operations.
>
> > > Bill D
>
> If there is no way to put this stuff on the web site the SSA has more
> problems than publicity. I'd really hope that is not the case.
>
> Many journalists use Macintosh, especially amongst the magazine/
> newspaper industry (where I've worked on software/technology), and
> that has spilled over to many folks in the professional blogosphere.
> Your funky CDs won't work in their slot loading CD-ROM drives, are
> likely to get stuck/not eject or worse. Even in non-slot loading
> drives you'll have maybe more more problems with the mini-CD's that
> full size ones. Many journalists on the road now are likely to be
> carrying ultra potable laptops and may not have immediate/easy access
> to a CD-ROM drive.
>
> Once a CD-ROM ships, you've got to keep it up to date, manage
> revisions (how do you track who has got the out of date versions?),
> allow timely revisions etc. Worse you have not encouraged the media to
> go to a consistent location on the SSA Web, so if something timely,
> either a good PR opportunity for soaring, or worse case an accident or
> some public black-eye then the SSA does not have that Web portal to
> reach the media through. But media portals are not one-way and the
> simple ability to track the access patterns with Google Analytics or
> other tools can be useful. Or go the next step and ask jounalists to
> register to access their portal. This can be very simple to
> implement.
>
> I agree that journalists/editors likes access to high-quality media
> (with clear ownership/rights attributions) and in the right high-
> resolution formats (e.g. photos in TIFF or well done high resolution
> jpg, with color space tagged, and preferably some decent gamut like
> AdobeRGB, not sRGB, even better tag the image metadata with the
> copyright/usage information, that will make art editors happy.). But
> journalists also like the absolutely most up to date information and
> contacts to people who can provide specialist answers/attributable
> quotes etc. Things like explanations of technical terms/correct usage
> guides if done properly are usually appreciated (how many times have
> we seen the pilot of a glider called the glider, or seen hang-gliders
> and sailplanes confused?). Long introductions for executives, a bunch
> of info about organizations etc. are often ignored and a turn-off -
> the media usually have very little time to wade though stuff and want
> quick answers and especially things that will help them produce the
> most correct/well informed articles. Bullet list of facts and common
> Q&A work well. A few pages at most. All this stuff is all much better
> served via the Web.
>
> Darryl

Darryl, the CD content doesn't have to be up to date. All you have to
put on the CD label, "Contact us and we'll do the leg work to get you
the latest stuff in whatever format you like." The rest of the
content is just to generate interest and it doesn't change much.

FWIW, I too think a press kit should be on the web page - feel free to
volunteer.

I don't agree that the little CD's are a big headache. They've been
around a long time and they're going stronger than ever. Most people
have access to a 'drop-in' CD drive. Most media types I know can't
afford one of those fancy "Air Macs" anyway.

Val, it didn't occur to me to take offense. Thanks for the plug.

Bill D

[HoUdino]

>
> Ten out of 350 sounds like a good conversion rate.
>

While 1 in 35 sounds may sound weak, it is not completely out of line,
it can depend on the "filter" that is put IN FRONT of "the ride" (as
well as AFTER). By "filter" I mean how/where did you recruit this
group for rides...general public, airshow, or Boy Scouts? Each group
has a different natural maximum conversion rate. From your message it
sounds like they came from the general public, so from my experience
your conversion rate is as expected...and 10 new members all at once
would have choked my small club's training program (aka "The problem
I'd like to have")!

IMHO (experts may differ...) we need to accept the low conversion rate
as a "given" in our marketing plans...thus the need for a relatively
high number of "trials" in order to achieve success in "new
membership". You either accept it or work various schemes, pre/during/
post "ride". OCSA's technique has been to go fishing where the fish
are as we were not set up to handle a large number of rides...thus we
use "booths at airshows" to create an email list of potential members,
we do a low-cost ground school as a secondary filter...the result is a
high conversion rate with a fairly low trial rate. In OCSA's case we
were precluded from doing "rides" at our airfield by the FBO...rather
than gripe about it, we worked around it...also we derived no revenue
from the FBO's toplane ops.

The use of a "pre-ride filter" may be of benefit if the goal is new
pilots rather than ride revenue...the club's marketing plan is built
around its goals, opportunities and capacities. We are all the same
and different...examine your process waterfall "as is" and "could be".
Close the gap.

Happy Holidays,

LT