On Friday, February 22, 2013 8:48:29 AM UTC-7, Tom K (ES) wrote:
Sorry I have already had too much coffee this morning. I agree with Sean, the goal is to grow our membership! I have a few ideas on this:



Youtube

We need to develop and manage a strong brand image with an SAA page on YouTube. Right now, Bruno and Balleka are my go to guys for videos that I send to people interested in our sport. Someone mentioned that Bruno looks like an old guy on O2. Actually he almost always explains what it is in each video and the reaction from my girlfriend's 17 year old son was "Holy cow, gliders get high enough that they need oxygen?". Then I sent him off to go Google Steve Fossett.



Social media

You can't do anything these days without tweeting about it, bloging, or updating your Facebook. I get teased about being the oldest living Facebooker but my company has a page and I update our small club's page. I am amazed at the number of random people that visit our club page and text me questions about gliding.



Promote costs

As I try and attract adults to come out I highlight the affordability of flying gliders. Our club prices are still in the single digits per hour for the gliders and I stress that unlike powered flying, after you obtain your license you can still afford to be able to continue to fly! I feel we could do a better job of promoting the long term low cost of club soaring.



Sponsorship

I used to fly in airshows and the biggest part of my job (other than not hitting the ground) was obtaining sponsorship. I am not trying to be negative to the SSA but the SSA should have a paid full time development person going out and funding education programs and programs that grow and promote our sport. My company is a non-profit helicopter air medical organization and our development person is a key position for us. To give you an idea of the cost vs benefit her costs (salary, materials, travel, etc) are under 8% of what she brings in.



Local Media

In our 24 hour news cycle it is surprisingly easy to promote via local news. Find a local producer or reporter and offer an interesting story about soaring (16 year old solos, FAI achievements, open house, etc...) It might be regular news for us but interesting for them.



Podcasts

Why is it that the only podcast on soaring is by a guy who is just starting out? Podcasts are easy to make and...I think I will take my own advice and start one.



Tom (formerly Lucky812)

Tom,

Thanks for the ideas but most of them have already been proposed. The problem isn't ideas, it's the execution of those ideas. While the SSA is in far better shape financially than in the recent past, it can't pay professionals to do these things so we need volunteers to step up. Far too often a call for volunteers is met with a deafening silence.

So, if you really want these things to happen, volunteer to do them.