Services to Orienteering

[Paul Frost]

When in a hole, stop digging

I prefer to hire a JCB and get the job done properly!

I did not intend my post to be a moan.
I was trying to be constructive.

My objections to this idea are:

I suspect every club has an award/trophy that they award every year to someone that has made an valued contribution to the club. Their name/face will be recognised by many club members and will be valued by the winner.
By contrast this award will be 1 of 50 names that will be listed on a webpage somewhere on a website that many club members do not visit (compared to their own clubs site).
What value would the name of someone that you have never heard of in a club 300 miles away have?

Haven't there been lots of comments in the past about too many winners undermining the value of the achievement?

How can the panel of 4 people possibly judge the contribution of one nominee over another in any meaningful way?

If only 10% of the members send in a nomination form that's over 1000 bits of paper that need to be processed (If less than 10% respond then it's not very representative of the membership).
Are they going to be entered into a computer database/spreadsheet (by who)?
If not, then the panel will need to meet in a room and sort through, analyse and discuss each of the nominations before making their awards.
Now you get where I was coming from when I questioned the amount of time required.

If you still think it's a good idea:
Why isn't there a nomination form on the website that could be completed online and save any data entry required from paper copies?
The entries could then be sorted by club/name and be viewed by the panel at home and reduce the time required.
The requirement to hand write the form, put it in a envelope and post it will also reduce the number of replies, as people will put it to one side and "do it later".

We are constantly being told that money is limited and we need to use it effectively.
I don't see how this award will increase participation, membership or the quality of events.

It may be easier to decide the value of this project if we knew what the budget for it is.

[eddie]

[deep sigh]

[SeanC]

My club has it's own "services to the club" award, but I think an additional national recognition would be a good thing. Being a volunteer can be a thankless task, unless we give some thanks.

For many recipients the award will give them a boost, which is going to make them more likely to volunteer in the future. If you make people feel positive then they are more likely to be positive when working with other volunteers.

There is also the opportunity to learn about how other clubs work. If the award is for a particularly good publicity officer for example then I for one would like to learn from their success. Perhaps focus could do more than publish a long list?

I don't see how this is going to cost a lot of money, and the time is spent by volunteers - it's their choice. Why not? Better than watching XFactor or playing Grand Theft Auto.

Eddie - will you be emailing club secretaries? After new year might be a good time - I suspect many people wont fill in the forms before new year now and people forget.

PS - Paul , there is a danger you might be nominated for all your work with RouteGadget.

[Paul Frost]

Instead of a [deep sigh] why not answer my questions?
Then I can go away and crawl back under the rock that people obviously think I came from.

SeanC
I don't see how you are going to learn from other clubs, if there are 50 winners there is not going to be much space on the web or in Focus for a detailed explanation of how they won.

[RJ]

I certainly emphasise with both sides of the 'motion'. It fairly 'nicely' illustrates how the big, lumbering organisation..... BOF...... in their desire to perform a task, spend so much time talking about it that they are completely off the pace, and arrive at a solution 'far too late'. Why isn't there something already in place.... in fact a few years ago quite a few people were awarded 'volunteer' recognition with a certificate and a small 'prize/useful item'.

The website issue illustrates the point as well..... Trying to get a fully interactive entry/membership/results/fixtures/levy system has taken far, far too long. The 'commercial' bits.... entries.... have been taken up by other people who see the opportunity.

The introduction of SI into the UK was 'taken by the scruff of the neck' by a small group of 'keenies' in NWOA. If we expected BOF to come up with the decisions.... we would still be waiting.

Unfortunately..... in the real world.... we are going to have to live with the shortcomings of the inertia that BOF exudes in vast quantities! Let the 'volunteer nomination scheme' run its course, see what product it produces, and hope it developes a future, and can be sustained.

[frog]

I agree with Paul. A Scottish services to orienteering award posted on the SOA website that is read regularly by most Scottish orienteers might mean something, although most of us know the folk who help keep the sport going. Having a British award is meaningless. How do you judge the contributions of an English orienteer you've never met v a Scottish one you have? English folk will get more votes because there are more English voters. If the competition was to vote for someone in your own country or region of a country it might mean more, but then you have the lots of committees and lots of prizes thing again.
Perhaps we should just remember to be nice to these folk and thank them.

[eddie]

Instead of a [deep sigh] why not answer my questions?
Then I can go away and crawl back under the rock that people obviously think I came from.

i could but i don't have the time!

[eddie]

I agree with Paul. A Scottish services to orienteering award posted on the SOA website that is read regularly by most Scottish orienteers might mean something, although most of us know the folk who help keep the sport going. Having a British award is meaningless. How do you judge the contributions of an English orienteer you've never met v a Scottish one you have? English folk will get more votes because there are more English voters. If the competition was to vote for someone in your own country or region of a country it might mean more, but then you have the lots of committees and lots of prizes thing again.
Perhaps we should just remember to be nice to these folk and thank them.

more english voters!?!

although i do like your last point!

[frog]

Ok not more voters, but more English nominators, and I presume someone getting 30 nominations will be given more consideration by the panel than someone getting 2.

[Paul Frost]

Perhaps we should just remember to be nice to these folk and thank them.

I think we can all agree on that.

[Becks]

I got one of the BSOA ones totally unexpectedly a few years ago, and I have to say it was lovely! The fact that someone has taken the time out to nominate you and that someone else has thought it worthy of recognition. Okay, it's not earth shatteringly amazing, but I was actually very happy about it.

[NFKleanne]

Do people who have been nominated know they've been nominated? Do they know who nominated them?
I think the person I've nominated would be chuffed to think someone nominated him even if he didn't win. Shame I can't nominate more people, there are so many people that do so many things...

[Oldman]

I .... we are going to have to live with the shortcomings of the inertia that BOF exudes in vast quantities!

I thought most of the other criticism of BOF here on Nopesport was about changes that were being made: is it to be criticised for inertia or for initiating change