Standards for competition reporting

[acehu11]

As a low-time SEL private pilot with interest in soaring and obtaining a glider rating, I often follow the news of soaring competitions on the SSA website, Facebook, rec.aviation.soaring, the FAI site, and others. Some competitions have been very communicative with status updates multiple times per day, promoting the event, posting results shortly after completion, which really gives remote spectators like me an opportunity to experience the event virtually via the internet. Other events have included morning updates with pilot meetings, weather outlooks, expected plans for the day, launching news, and timely results. And then there are other events with very little to no news updates daily, and results potentially not updated for hours or days.

During the events with frequent status updates and heavy reporting, I very much feel connected to what is happening. I have the opportunity to dissect what the reporter has communicated, to try and understand what and why in the decision making process. These have been excellent opportunities for me to understand the logistics behind a competition and the decision making that goes on. Following the results, reporting, and pilot interviews pre and post each competition day also affords me the opportunity to hear what the plans were, decisions that were made, why they were made, how they created an advantage or disadvantage against the competition field, and the final outcome. For events with little to no communication or status updates online, there's very little opportunity for me to learn from the soaring community virtually, which really seems like a shame, given the immense talent that attends these events.

I recognize these competitions are ran voluntarily, and the time and dedication it takes to put on a successful and safe event should be commended. All the volunteers should be proud of themselves and thanked for the time they have given to help put on a successful event. Communications may not seem an integral part of the completion, but I'm hopeful, however, that the soaring community and SSA would consider adoption of a set of communication standards for future soaring competitions. Standards that define the frequency of online updates, types of communication (written, photo, video, etc), timeline for reporting of results, interviews of top competitors & notable pilots/events of the day, or other noteworthy happenings that help benefit the sport of soaring, and potentially help teach folks like me.

On a related note, congratulations to the competitors of the 18m nationals in Uvalde, TX. What I read of the event sounds like it really tested your experience and risk/reward decision making some days.

Thanks

-adrian

[Roy B.]

Adrian
You make an excellent point. Part of the problem in the reporting of contests seems to be a reluctance for the "official" SSA contest page (which sometimes carries Contest Director reports and sometimes not) to reference or advise the reader of "unofficial" reports that may be also be available. For example I was frustrated by the absence of daily reports about the Uvalde 18m Nationals until somebody directed me to Sean Fidler's Facebook page - which had lots of good information, videos and write-ups. Similarly, some competitors (Tom Kelley, Dave Nadler) also post blogs that are interesting. But if you don't know that these exist or how to find them, it is frustrating. We need to do a better job in informing people as to what reports are out there and a starting point would be for contests to inform us about where alternative channels of information are.
ROY

[[email protected]]

Excellent point Adrian. Contest reporting usually falls on the shoulders of the CD who gets worn down as the contest proceeds and reporting is the last item on his long "must do" list. A good way to go is to pick someone with knowledge of what's going on, but isn't directly involved with the contest to handle the contest reporting. I asked Matt Herron to do the reporting at this years Air Sailing Sports and he did some good timely reporting on what was happining. Leigh Zimmerman did the reporting at the 2014 nats held at Minden and made several reports every day, telling me exactly what was going on...........she answered the questions I had and made me feel like I was actually flying the contest.
JJ

[Dan Marotta]

Perhaps there is or could be a page on the SSA website where the owners
of the various blogs, etc. could post links to their writings.

On 8/12/2017 8:07 AM, wrote:
> Excellent point Adrian. Contest reporting usually falls on the shoulders of the CD who gets worn down as the contest proceeds and reporting is the last item on his long "must do" list. A good way to go is to pick someone with knowledge of what's going on, but isn't directly involved with the contest to handle the contest reporting. I asked Matt Herron to do the reporting at this years Air Sailing Sports and he did some good timely reporting on what was happining. Leigh Zimmerman did the reporting at the 2014 nats held at Minden and made several reports every day, telling me exactly what was going on...........she answered the questions I had and made me feel like I was actually flying the contest.
> JJ

--
Dan, 5J

[Frank Whiteley]

On Saturday, August 12, 2017 at 8:47:33 AM UTC-6, Dan Marotta wrote:
> Perhaps there is or could be a page on the SSA website where the owners
> of the various blogs, etc. could post links to their writings.
>
> On 8/12/2017 8:07 AM, johnsinclair wrote:
> > Excellent point Adrian. Contest reporting usually falls on the shoulders of the CD who gets worn down as the contest proceeds and reporting is the last item on his long "must do" list. A good way to go is to pick someone with knowledge of what's going on, but isn't directly involved with the contest to handle the contest reporting. I asked Matt Herron to do the reporting at this years Air Sailing Sports and he did some good timely reporting on what was happining. Leigh Zimmerman did the reporting at the 2014 nats held at Minden and made several reports every day, telling me exactly what was going on...........she answered the questions I had and made me feel like I was actually flying the contest.
> > JJ
>
> --
> Dan, 5J

Adrian makes a good point. There is a place where the CD can post links to other reporting links, a report during the practice days would suffice. Although three SSA FB editors had liked the recent 18m FB page, no one shared a post to the SSA FB page until the contest was over. The 18m FB page has 148 likes and 161 following, which is a couple more than last night. Had I known, there would have been additional SSA FB shares and probably 3X those numbers. Certain contest sites have poor infrastructure. Some regular posters were noticeably quiet during the Uvalde contest. IIRC, additional efforts were made during the world's in 2012, but those were temporary enhancements. Other contest hosts provide WIFI, but it is often soon overloaded by PC's and phones and bandwidth becomes a struggle. I know, because our social media editors tell me this is the case and sometimes have to give up during peak hours. Those who sync their devices and have IMAP e-mail accounts suck an incredible amount of bandwidth. Those running a contest can't spend the time if they are working against this. Still the framework for reporting probably needs a fresh look. The BGA recently was looking for help with similar issues. SSA is also looking at this, but the contest committee needs to address contest reporting going forward.

Frank Whiteley

[Ron Gleason]

On Friday, 11 August 2017 20:27:31 UTC-6, acehu11 wrote:
> As a low-time SEL private pilot with interest in soaring and obtaining a glider rating, I often follow the news of soaring competitions on the SSA website, Facebook, rec.aviation.soaring, the FAI site, and others. Some competitions have been very communicative with status updates multiple times per day, promoting the event, posting results shortly after completion, which really gives remote spectators like me an opportunity to experience the event virtually via the internet. Other events have included morning updates with pilot meetings, weather outlooks, expected plans for the day, launching news, and timely results. And then there are other events with very little to no news updates daily, and results potentially not updated for hours or days.
>
> During the events with frequent status updates and heavy reporting, I very much feel connected to what is happening. I have the opportunity to dissect what the reporter has communicated, to try and understand what and why in the decision making process. These have been excellent opportunities for me to understand the logistics behind a competition and the decision making that goes on. Following the results, reporting, and pilot interviews pre and post each competition day also affords me the opportunity to hear what the plans were, decisions that were made, why they were made, how they created an advantage or disadvantage against the competition field, and the final outcome. For events with little to no communication or status updates online, there's very little opportunity for me to learn from the soaring community virtually, which really seems like a shame, given the immense talent that attends these events.
>
> I recognize these competitions are ran voluntarily, and the time and dedication it takes to put on a successful and safe event should be commended. All the volunteers should be proud of themselves and thanked for the time they have given to help put on a successful event. Communications may not seem an integral part of the completion, but I'm hopeful, however, that the soaring community and SSA would consider adoption of a set of communication standards for future soaring competitions. Standards that define the frequency of online updates, types of communication (written, photo, video, etc), timeline for reporting of results, interviews of top competitors & notable pilots/events of the day, or other noteworthy happenings that help benefit the sport of soaring, and potentially help teach folks like me.
>
> On a related note, congratulations to the competitors of the 18m nationals in Uvalde, TX. What I read of the event sounds like it really tested your experience and risk/reward decision making some days.
>
> Thanks
>
> -adrian

Valid points but IMHO the best way to address this is immerse yourself and attend a competition as a volunteer. There are always the need for more volunteers, you can rub shoulders with the greats of the sport, learn tons, get showered with praise and gratitude's, get dirty and sweaty with the best and then write up your thoughts, observations and experiences.

[Jonathan St. Cloud]

Or contact a local college and see if they want to give credit for an internship reporting on a contest. The might also interest another young person to get involved in our sport.

On Saturday, August 12, 2017 at 8:47:33 AM UTC-7, Frank Whiteley wrote:
> On Saturday, August 12, 2017 at 8:47:33 AM UTC-6, Dan Marotta wrote:
> > Perhaps there is or could be a page on the SSA website where the owners
> > of the various blogs, etc. could post links to their writings.
> >
> > On 8/12/2017 8:07 AM, johnsinclair wrote:
> > > Excellent point Adrian. Contest reporting usually falls on the shoulders of the CD who gets worn down as the contest proceeds and reporting is the last item on his long "must do" list. A good way to go is to pick someone with knowledge of what's going on, but isn't directly involved with the contest to handle the contest reporting. I asked Matt Herron to do the reporting at this years Air Sailing Sports and he did some good timely reporting on what was happining. Leigh Zimmerman did the reporting at the 2014 nats held at Minden and made several reports every day, telling me exactly what was going on...........she answered the questions I had and made me feel like I was actually flying the contest.
> > > JJ
> >
> > --
> > Dan, 5J
>
> Adrian makes a good point. There is a place where the CD can post links to other reporting links, a report during the practice days would suffice. Although three SSA FB editors had liked the recent 18m FB page, no one shared a post to the SSA FB page until the contest was over. The 18m FB page has 148 likes and 161 following, which is a couple more than last night. Had I known, there would have been additional SSA FB shares and probably 3X those numbers. Certain contest sites have poor infrastructure. Some regular posters were noticeably quiet during the Uvalde contest. IIRC, additional efforts were made during the world's in 2012, but those were temporary enhancements. Other contest hosts provide WIFI, but it is often soon overloaded by PC's and phones and bandwidth becomes a struggle. I know, because our social media editors tell me this is the case and sometimes have to give up during peak hours. Those who sync their devices and have IMAP e-mail accounts suck an incredible amount of bandwidth. Those running a contest can't spend the time if they are working against this. Still the framework for reporting probably needs a fresh look. The BGA recently was looking for help with similar issues. SSA is also looking at this, but the contest committee needs to address contest reporting going forward.
>
> Frank Whiteley

[Juanman[_2_]]

On Friday, August 11, 2017 at 10:27:31 PM UTC-4, acehu11 wrote:
> As a low-time SEL private pilot with interest in soaring and obtaining a glider rating, I often follow the news of soaring competitions on the SSA website, Facebook, rec.aviation.soaring, the FAI site, and others. Some competitions have been very communicative with status updates multiple times per day, promoting the event, posting results shortly after completion, which really gives remote spectators like me an opportunity to experience the event virtually via the internet. Other events have included morning updates with pilot meetings, weather outlooks, expected plans for the day, launching news, and timely results. And then there are other events with very little to no news updates daily, and results potentially not updated for hours or days.
>
> During the events with frequent status updates and heavy reporting, I very much feel connected to what is happening. I have the opportunity to dissect what the reporter has communicated, to try and understand what and why in the decision making process. These have been excellent opportunities for me to understand the logistics behind a competition and the decision making that goes on. Following the results, reporting, and pilot interviews pre and post each competition day also affords me the opportunity to hear what the plans were, decisions that were made, why they were made, how they created an advantage or disadvantage against the competition field, and the final outcome. For events with little to no communication or status updates online, there's very little opportunity for me to learn from the soaring community virtually, which really seems like a shame, given the immense talent that attends these events.
>
> I recognize these competitions are ran voluntarily, and the time and dedication it takes to put on a successful and safe event should be commended. All the volunteers should be proud of themselves and thanked for the time they have given to help put on a successful event. Communications may not seem an integral part of the completion, but I'm hopeful, however, that the soaring community and SSA would consider adoption of a set of communication standards for future soaring competitions. Standards that define the frequency of online updates, types of communication (written, photo, video, etc), timeline for reporting of results, interviews of top competitors & notable pilots/events of the day, or other noteworthy happenings that help benefit the sport of soaring, and potentially help teach folks like me.
>
> On a related note, congratulations to the competitors of the 18m nationals in Uvalde, TX. What I read of the event sounds like it really tested your experience and risk/reward decision making some days.
>
> Thanks
>
> -adrian

The problem is that reporter extraordinaire John Good is at the Junior Worlds :) His reports are always great reads. And would have undoubtedly reflected some of the challenging flying at Uvalde this year.
Sean Fidler's posts were great but focused mostly (logically) on his flights. And Sean Franke offered the pilots briefings, but you needed plenty of time to go through those.

[JS[_5_]]

Just got home from Uvalde.
Mark Huffstutler attempted to type a report on the SSA website, and when he hit "enter" it all went away. No he didn't build the report in a text editor, copy and past so it was gone. With all the other things on the to do list, that was the end of attempts to report.
The weather was a challenge. There was a lot to do in a day on the ground at the contest. I was only crewing for two pilots and my days were full enough. Both Mark and Kerry looked pretty worn out by the end.

OK, here's a SCUM report:
The 50' finish line is fantastic! Complete with "Good finish" calls...
That cylinder crap is boring to watch.
Jim

[[email protected]]

"Some competitions have been very communicative with status updates multiple times per day, promoting the event, posting results shortly after completion, which really gives remote spectators like me an opportunity to experience the event virtually via the internet."

Very true Adrian, but way too few. Wake up SSA, a "dark" contest is hurting our soaring movement.

Same for tracking, the number of pilots operating trackers is shrinking. One day at the recent Uvalde Nationals there were only 7 out of 30 plus sailplanes "tracking". Few trackers and infrequent updates provide little, if any, entertainment.

R.A.S. hashed this before, the reality is "reporting" does not work well if it requires a computer and an internet connection to "assemble" the report.. Reasons ... reliable internet is difficult to find on many contest sites, too much work load for one person and one person cannot report as well as "many", too much work to include pictures, and by the time it gets published, its "old news". Right now, like it or not, what works best is a Facebook group because it is focused to only those interested. Yes, a Facebook group requires effort because the group owner has to approve requesting membership. But, it is so, so feature rich. It allows any group member to report or share a picture almost in real-time and usually with just a smart phone. The time difference can be measured in minutes instead of days.

Just look at Uvalde's outstanding Facebook reporting. Sean Franke broadcasted daily pilot's meetings from his Wings & Wheels page https://www.facebook..com/wingsandwheels.aviation/ . Bruce Taylor's Taylor Gliding Page https://www.facebook.com/Taylors-Gliding-Page-298561465980/ or Sean Fidler's Sean Fidler Soaring https://www.facebook.com/SeanTiff7T/ provided daily grid, in-flight, land-out, and post blow-by-blow updates. Thank you guys, you really made a difference. Even Charlie Spratt's magical reports could not begin to compete with the power of Facebook.

For you "I'll never do Facebookers", this darkness would improve if the SSA would "handshake" with these excellent reporters and find a way to immediately "mirror" Facebook reports on the SSA website.

The bottom line: currently, if you want to stay informed, open a Facebook account and follow these outstanding reporters. If you want the SSA to report, "court" your SSA director and ask for their support to provide better contest reporting.

[JS[_5_]]

Bruce's FB page does not require logging in to view.
He was also using my tracker, along with the rest of it. As I was not a registered competitor, the tracker "JS" appeared on the Garner Field tracking, but not under the 18m Nationals link which had the turnpoints.
Others possibly had not registered trackers on glideport.aero, but just let their crew have the link.
I put my APRS in Brad's glider on the last task, thinking it could all fall apart. That tracker is only on the usual APRS sites.
Jim

[Frank Whiteley]

On Saturday, August 12, 2017 at 7:33:26 PM UTC-6, wrote:
> "Some competitions have been very communicative with status updates multiple times per day, promoting the event, posting results shortly after completion, which really gives remote spectators like me an opportunity to experience the event virtually via the internet."
>
> Very true Adrian, but way too few. Wake up SSA, a "dark" contest is hurting our soaring movement.
>
> Same for tracking, the number of pilots operating trackers is shrinking. One day at the recent Uvalde Nationals there were only 7 out of 30 plus sailplanes "tracking". Few trackers and infrequent updates provide little, if any, entertainment.
>
> R.A.S. hashed this before, the reality is "reporting" does not work well if it requires a computer and an internet connection to "assemble" the report. Reasons ... reliable internet is difficult to find on many contest sites, too much work load for one person and one person cannot report as well as "many", too much work to include pictures, and by the time it gets published, its "old news". Right now, like it or not, what works best is a Facebook group because it is focused to only those interested. Yes, a Facebook group requires effort because the group owner has to approve requesting membership. But, it is so, so feature rich. It allows any group member to report or share a picture almost in real-time and usually with just a smart phone.. The time difference can be measured in minutes instead of days.
>
> Just look at Uvalde's outstanding Facebook reporting. Sean Franke broadcasted daily pilot's meetings from his Wings & Wheels page https://www.facebook.com/wingsandwheels.aviation/ . Bruce Taylor's Taylor Gliding Page https://www.facebook.com/Taylors-Gliding-Page-298561465980/ or Sean Fidler's Sean Fidler Soaring https://www.facebook.com/SeanTiff7T/ provided daily grid, in-flight, land-out, and post blow-by-blow updates. Thank you guys, you really made a difference. Even Charlie Spratt's magical reports could not begin to compete with the power of Facebook.
>
> For you "I'll never do Facebookers", this darkness would improve if the SSA would "handshake" with these excellent reporters and find a way to immediately "mirror" Facebook reports on the SSA website.
>
> The bottom line: currently, if you want to stay informed, open a Facebook account and follow these outstanding reporters. If you want the SSA to report, "court" your SSA director and ask for their support to provide better contest reporting.

FB is not particularly reliable and shapes what a particular account might see. Some posts appear rather late. I checked Sean Fidler's personal page and very few Uvalde posts there. I checked your link to Sean Fidler Soaring and found an invite for me to like the page. That invite never appeared on my FB page that I recall or was lost in the noise. Taylor's Gliding Page was liked by SSA FB and me and LetsGoGliding and has been used as resource previously. Page feeds are checked, but FB shapes what it shows and I never noticed a post from Bruce. After Jason Stephens asked for some coverage of the World's Glider Aerobatics competition, we were flooded with posts from that event. It's also been a very busy two weeks, so no time for further digging. In the past, I've tried to recruit people to post directly to the SSA FB page, but am now of the opinion that specific event pages are better for archival purposes. We just don't have a process in place yet.

As far as any trouble posting to the SSA server, I've only noticed issues during incremental and full backups, which are done in the wee hours in the Central Time Zone. So filing a late night report could bump into this. Any server development or maintenance is done after business hours in Hobbs. Sometimes a reboot is required. Unless the server is going offline for some period, such work in not announced. Someone filing a contest report might run into an issue posting.

Frank Whiteley

[Sean Fidler]

Some quick clarifications...

Facebook pages are generally intended to be public. Sean Fidler Soaring is public. Pages are different than personal Facebook accounts which have more security and often cannot be accessed without permission (in other words being accepted as a friend). When you receive an invitation to "like" a page (usually a business, event, subject, topic, common interest, whatever.....) it is meant simply as an invitation to "follow" the page and receive automatic updates on your personal Facebook page news feed whenever new posts are made on that page.

As with all things new, some light study, reading and practice (just 15 minutes) can go a long, long way very quickly. Simply search YouTube. Here is an example of a good Facebook beginner tutorial...https://youtu.be/wkVf8BlE8rI There are thousands of other tutorials on many Facebook features.

Again, my "Sean Fidler soaring page" is fully intended to be public. Tiffany posts much of the content during contests. "Liking" the page simply means you wish to see those updates on your news feed (stay informed) whenever new content is published (this too can be controlled...by you...in various ways).

You can (for example) also "not like the page" and simply type "sean fidler soaring" into the search bar at the top of your Facebook page (at your leisure) to check it out when you wish without regular newsfeed updates (perhaps during a contest you are interested in).

If you wish to like (follow) these pages please click the links below and click the like button near the top of the page...

Sean Fidler Soaring:
https://m.facebook.com/SeanTiff7T/

FAI Sailplane Grand Prix USA: https://m.facebook.com/FAISailplaneGrandPrixUSA/

[Dan Marotta]

But Facebook requires internet, too...

On 8/12/2017 7:33 PM, wrote:
> R.A.S. hashed this before, the reality is "reporting" does not work well if it requires a computer and an internet connection to "assemble" the report. Reasons ... reliable internet is difficult to find on many contest sites, too much work load for one person and one person cannot report as well as "many", too much work to include pictures, and by the time it gets published, its "old news". Right now, like it or not, what works best is a Facebook group because it is focused to only those interested.

--
Dan, 5J

[Charlie M. (UH & 002 owner/pilot)]

Agreed.
One way to deal with too many users is have one device listed in the router to get priority and let others divvy up remaining bandwidth.
Not too hard to do on a lot of routers. Device could be a PC, tablet, iPad, etc. that way reporting person and staff have enough bandwidth to do what they need when they need to.

To those that volunteer to report, I again say thanks.

[[email protected]]

Thank you for the reports, Sean. I now checked the page you linked, and I can see some things there. But as I am an "I'll never do Facebooker", FB covers 1/4 of the screen with a demand to "login or join". And I only see a few posts, from the last 3 days or so. I can't tell if anything more was supposed to be there.

[Sean Fidler]

Sadly refusing to have a Facebook account leaves you behind...sorry :-(

[Dan Marotta]

Go outside and play! Leave your cell phone behind. Who needs "virtual
friends"?

I created a Facebook account using a fake username and a separate email
created just for that purpose. I refused all attempts to "locate
friends" and I don't monitor that email account. Problem solved! I can
see the postings of gliding related stuff if I choose, and I'm not
bombarded by "friend requests" from people I've never heard of. For a
good laugh, look up the Southpark episode regarding Facebook...


On 8/15/2017 11:51 PM, Sean Fidler wrote:
> Sadly refusing to have a Facebook account leaves you behind...sorry :-(

--
Dan, 5J

[[email protected]]

On Wednesday, August 16, 2017 at 1:51:37 AM UTC-4, Sean Fidler wrote:
> Sadly refusing to have a Facebook account leaves you behind...sorry :-(

And even more sadly perhaps, goes the reason why there is ever decreasing participation in gliding and specifically glider racing!

Bob 7U

[John Godfrey (QT)[_2_]]

On Wednesday, August 16, 2017 at 1:51:37 AM UTC-4, Sean Fidler wrote:
> Sadly refusing to have a Facebook account leaves you behind...sorry :-(

What if you gleefully refuse?
Grammar Nazi

[[email protected]]

I gleefully refuse FB. :-)

Anyway my point was that FB users should be aware that a "public" FB page cannot be used as a substitute for a web site, if your intention is to reach a general audience without requiring them to be logged into FB. I seem to remember that it used to be possible, but FB has since clamped down on this "misuse" of its resources.

[[email protected]]

I don't think you need to be logged in to facebook to view a public facebook page - as Sean said above.

For example, try this : https://www.facebook.com/SeanTiff7T/

I am completely logged out of facebook, and I can see it just fine.

In a lot of ways, facebook is a more appropriate for competition reporting than most websites are - the process of updating content (reports, photos, videos etc) is must simpler, and can be shared very easily among a group of people.

I understand that a lot of people have reasons for choosing not to create a facebook account. A lot of facebook content is undoubtedly pointless, and there are certainly a lot of people on facebook displaying validation seeking behaviour. On the other hand, it's also a very useful tool for keeping in touch with the activities of various gliding people that I have met in real life at various events (ie. Garret Willat, Tony Condon, etc). Beats waiting for the magazine to come out.

Anyway, the good news is that not having a facebook account doesn't stop you from being able to view content on public pages.

Cheers,
Nick Gilbert.


On Friday, August 18, 2017 at 11:41:20 AM UTC+9:30, wrote:
> I gleefully refuse FB. :-)
>
> Anyway my point was that FB users should be aware that a "public" FB page cannot be used as a substitute for a web site, if your intention is to reach a general audience without requiring them to be logged into FB. I seem to remember that it used to be possible, but FB has since clamped down on this "misuse" of its resources.

[[email protected]]

> Anyway, the good news is that not having a facebook account doesn't stop you from being able to view content on public pages.

You just have to know it is there.

[[email protected]]

Thank you Nick. The link you gave to Sean's page works for me, I see a lot more there than at the link Sean gave above. The difference is "www.facebook.com" (works) vs. "m.facebook.com" (see far fewer postings). The latter is presumably the "mobile" version. I am using a desktop PC (disclosing my geezerhood).

[[email protected]]

This is just a suggestion (and I speak for myself here) but it seems to me it should be the job of a contest manager (not the CD) to report (or delegate this function to someone else) on the contest. The exception to the rule of course, is the CD and Scorer are responsible for uploading daily results to the SSA website.

We now know that very few SSA members visit the website on a regular basis. Of those who do visit, most are individuals who race who are checking on results, etc. Moreover, the SSA's website does not lend itself well to hosting digital media.

I have had several conversations with organizers, and other volunteers who've helped with reporting from contests in the past and its clear to me that FB is the most efficient way of posting information, videos, and photographs about a contest in real-time. Having said that, some members choose not to participate/use FB. Unfortunately, unless the SSA paid staff to regularly update a blog there's no easy way to do any form of qualitative reporting and/or publish any human interest pieces coming out of the contests than to have pre-approved volunteers post to a Public FB pages (and possibly corresponding YouTube Channels) that are created and hosted by the Contest Manager of the respective contests. Moreover, this gives the SSA and a panel of digital media editors (i.e., volunteers) the ability to repost selected pieces (including videos, interviews, photographs, etc) to its network of subscribers.

Lastly, the "information page" of every sanctioned contest should provide readers a link to that contest's respective Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube Channels. Likewise, such channels should remain property of the SSA and the content should fall under the SSA's policies on uploading media, etc.

While much of what I'm suggesting may cause heated debate among some SSA members these are pragmatic solutions, and even with imperfect execution will likely lead to greater promotion of the sport.

Respectfully,

Chris Schrader
SSA Director Region 6
Chairperson of the SSA's Growth & Retention Committee

P.S. If this gets read by Competition Committee members, please feel free to contact me about this. These topics need to be addressed going forward and a plan executed by 2018 which insures greater reporting of such events.

[[email protected]]

This is just a suggestion (and I speak for myself here) but it seems to me it should be the job of a contest manager (not the CD) to report (or delegate this function to someone else) on the contest. The exception to the rule of course, is the CD and Scorer are responsible for uploading daily results to the SSA website.

We now know that very few SSA members visit the website on a regular basis. Of those who do visit, most are individuals who race who are checking on results, etc. Moreover, the SSA's website does not lend itself well to hosting digital media.

I have had several conversations with organizers, and other volunteers who've helped with reporting from contests in the past and its clear to me that FB is the most efficient way of posting information, videos, and photographs about a contest in real-time. Having said that, some members choose not to participate/use FB.

Unfortunately, unless the SSA paid staff to regularly update a blog there's no easy way to do any form of qualitative reporting and/or publish any human interest pieces coming out of the contests.

My belief is the Contest Director should have pre-approved volunteers post to a Public FB pages (and possibly corresponding YouTube Channels), that are created and hosted by the Contest Manager of the respective contests. These volunteers may be crew, local club members, pilots, etc involved in the contest. Doing so gives the SSA its panel of digital media editors (volunteers), the ability to repost selected pieces (including videos, interviews, articles, tweet sized FB comments, photographs, etc) to its network of subscribers.

Lastly, the "information page" of every sanctioned contest should provide readers a link to that contest's respective Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube Channels. Likewise, such channels should remain property of the SSA and the content should fall under the SSA's policies on uploading media, etc.

While much of what I'm suggesting may cause heated debate among some SSA members these are pragmatic solutions, and even with imperfect execution will likely lead to greater promotion of the sport.

Respectfully,

Chris Schrader
SSA Director Region 6
Chairperson of the SSA's Growth & Retention Committee

P.S. If this gets read by Competition Committee members, please feel free to contact me about this. These topics need to be addressed going forward and a plan executed by 2018 which insures greater reporting of such events.

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I forgot to suggest protocols for tracking. While this is a heated topic among many, tracking has exploded in Europe and elsewhere and has lead to greater promotion and interest in the sport.

Sean Fidler has spent a lot of time researching the issue from a technical standpoint. While I haven't had a chance to speak with him lately, I fully support the concept of live tracking in racing.

I realize some think this is a tool used solely for leaching but tracking is what makes this sport visual to everyone else who isn't competing. The sport will die unless we start replacing Baby-Boomers with GenX and Millenials fast! This is one way to generate interest in a sport you cannot see from the ground except in limited circumstances, and at the start and finish points of the race.

In any case, a link to a live tracking site, preferably one adopted by the rest of the world would be appropriate on each and every contest's information page and corresponding website.

- Chris Schrader