Could the BOF Fixture lists be more informative ?

[SeanC]

Presumably you sign new DFOK members up as Local BOF members under the free-first-year scheme? I'm in two minds about this - I'm not sure whether/how much the sudden (but admittedly not huge) price hike when renewing for a second year affects retention, particularly of the semi-casual, odd-local-event-every-couple-of-months types. I'd be interested to hear any anecdotal evidence.

The cards really just send the newcomer towards our membership secretary who can then gently steer the newcomer through the local/national options, the online forms and tell them about forthcoming events. The main thing is that the newcomer gets to first think about the benefits first to get them enthusiastic. Some do eventually join as full members - I don't think our membership secretary pushes any one level.

I think the free membership thing for the first year is a good thing. It enables us to say "join as a family for only £7". Once people have joined then we have a communication channel to remind them of events, coaching etc, get them involved in the club whilst they are enthusiastic and haven't found an alternative pastime. I agree best not to sign up the (possibly a majority of newcomers) who only want to go to one event as something different to try.

[Scott]

Sounds like you're getting it about right .

[SeanC]

thanks, at least thats the theory when we remember to bring everything and do everything.

[frog]

Most Scottish clubs aren't doing a £2 surcharge for nonBOF members at local events.
Our club do it for SOLs and that's about it. We generally support the INVOC view

[Paul Frost]

So is EckO alone in complying with the instructions of the governing body?
We didn't think it was optional.

We had reservations about it but decided that it might be a good thing in the long run.
We used to charge £4, so we raised the fees to £5 and applied the discount. This gave an incentive for people to join BOF and the more casual participant contributes more than the regular. Given that most regulars often help out at events and casuals don't, that seems reasonable.

The result was that our membership level soared and it seems to have also made them more committed, so we also have much larger numbers travelling to events outside our area. The club bond is also much stronger now than ever before and this has led to 50+ attending our first coaching weekend away.

We don't charge any club membership fee and have always thought that event income was a better way to fund the club.

[EddieH]

Back to headline topic, I have just been looking for the dates of various events where a lot of suprising "TBC"s existed for things like terrain difficulty at major events. This got me looking a little further. As none of these courses was able to tell me what courses were available I tried another 3 at random.

Edinburgh City - bang on accurate.
JOK Chasing sprint offers full colour range including black!
A night street event offers most colours up to Brown!

Now I don't blame the organisers. They probably lke me have never really looked at these details before and had other priorities when registering the events. The fact that so many clearly wrong bits of information are there is a nonsense and says to me that the defaults are all wrong. We really don't wish to know any information that the system assumes. If the organiser does not register a particular piece of information then lets have it not mentioned at all. That way existing information should be accurate and meaningful. Organisers that want to maximise the benefit of the database will put on everything that they consider relevant for the event.

As an example I would bring up dogs. My guess is that the default is "No dogs". Most organisers don't in actual fact consider the dogs issue at all and simply leave this defalt. Dog owners discover from experience when orienteering at their local park that the no dogs instruction is meaningless and therefore ignore it. Events that really mean no dogs then get dogs arriving because wolf has been cried so often before and perfectly innocent competitors cause a lot of trouble by bringing one.

In summary get rid of every line that the organiser does not complete ONLY show real information for every event - if that s no more than a date and a venue then that's up to the organiser.

[Scott]

My guess is that the default is "No dogs". Most organisers don't in actual fact consider the dogs issue at all and simply leave this defalt.

I'm pretty sure they changed that a while ago, so it now defaults to neither box being ticked.

[SeanC]

Paul - that's an interesting example. And looking at your club results you have a very healthy number of juniors coming through.

I wonder if you would consider publicising the example to a wider audience? Compass Sport maybe rather than Focus to avoid any impressions of favourable editing by BOF? I think many clubs don't like being told what to do by their governing body unless convinced of the reasoning behind a decision, and it would be a pity if what turns out to be a good idea is ignored because of this.

I guess applying the discount to local events isn't going to be a magic bullet on it's own, but in combination with other club initiatives such as the free membership and coaching as you suggested? Carrots as well as sticks etc.

[Angry Haggis]

So is EckO alone in complying with the instructions of the governing body?
We didn't think it was optional.

We had reservations about it but decided that it might be a good thing in the long run.
We used to charge £4, so we raised the fees to £5 and applied the discount. This gave an incentive for people to join BOF and the more casual participant contributes more than the regular. Given that most regulars often help out at events and casuals don't, that seems reasonable.

The result was that our membership level soared and it seems to have also made them more committed, so we also have much larger numbers travelling to events outside our area. The club bond is also much stronger now than ever before and this has led to 50+ attending our first coaching weekend away.

We don't charge any club membership fee and have always thought that event income was a better way to fund the club.

This is a fascinating post, I've never thought about participation that way before.

[Paul Frost]

Returning to the original question.

I've just checked three major events (including the JK) that have age class competition/entry, but on the British Orienteering event course details page they both have the colour coded grid and a comment that "Entry to this event is by course rather than age class", which is false.

I've never tried to set up an event with age classes so don't know even if it's possible.

[Scott]

Something the Scottish WRE thread has made me think about: I would personally find it really helpful if the fixtures list had an icon for events that were "easily accessible by public transport". Not sure how that would be defined - "less than one mile walk from a train station/bus stop served frequently on the day of the event"?

An icon for major/multiday events with on-site camping/accommodation would also be cool, although the transport one would be more helpful in general.

[AndyC]

Does anyone else keep hearing Chandler Bing (Friends for the unitiated) reading the title of this thread out Could the BOF Fixture list BE more informative? ??????

[Clive Coles]

Scott has never set up an event with Age classes ~ neither have I

So I thought I would have a look at an event in my region to see how the matrix is set up.

http://www.britishorienteering.org.uk/event/event_courses.php?id=54550


I know my age ~ surely the display should be telling me which course is appropriate for my age.

Anyone any the wiser what the second matrix is trying to tell us ?

Green classes seem to have long and short courses but then so apparently does the Short green. Perhaps they are staging a short short green.

GOOD NEWS ~ CLUB HAVE NOW REMOVED THE SECOND OFFENDING AGE CLASS MARTIX

[EddieH]

[Adrian]

Just while some people are mentioning fees, I think it's a good idea to have a policy of charging adults a lower rate for short courses (up to Orange). Adults who are new to the sport are generally unwilling to pay £7 or £8 to take part. And adults who aren't new don't want to pay £7 or £8 for a 20-minute run.