What grade of planner/organiser are you?

[NFKleanne]

Didn't know there were grades of organisers or planner.

[Clive Coles]

Think it's a regional thing Leanne ~ I've never come across them either.

We only have grades for Controllers.

[NFKleanne]

Think it's a regional thing Leanne ~ I've never come across them either.

Thats good - one less thing to confuse me then!!!

[Gross]

It's a BOF thing :

http://www.britishorienteering.org.uk/page/planners

[DaveK]

Didn't know there were grades of organisers or planner.

Nor did I and I've planned a number of old-style regional events over the last few years without any suggestion of training being required . Be happy to go on a course, as always room for improvement!

It's a BOF thing :

http://www.britishorienteering.org.uk/page/planners

However -

'Training Courses
There are no training courses planned at present.'

[Marco Polo]

Didn't know there were grades of organisers or planner.

Nor did I and I've planned a number of old-style regional events over the last few years without any suggestion of training being required . Be happy to go on a course, as always room for improvement!

It's a BOF thing :

http://www.britishorienteering.org.uk/page/planners

However -

'Training Courses
There are no training courses planned at present.'

As Adrian mentioned in an earlier post EMOA ran grade 3 planner , organiser and controller courses in Nottingham on December 11th, so these courses do exist.

[Clive Coles]

This has been a useful thread as it has revealed that BOF do in fact run organiser and planning courses. In all my time on club, regional and BOF committees I can never before remember them being mentioned. Perhaps I doze off too often.

I guess, because the Midlands associations (and possibly some other clubs) have some very active members who sit on BOF committees and working parties, the word has reached some clubs. Obviously a few people have been on these courses and found them beneficial.

Probably goes to prove that information, when posted on the BOF website, largely goes unnoticed. Perhaps the new format will be more effective in communicating the "gems" on offer.

Any idea how long this information has been held on the BOF website ?

[Gross]

ny idea how long this information has been held on the BOF website ?

Ages..... in year terms not months

[Red Adder]

Like Clive I've being planner for over a quarter of a century and have heard very little (or nothing ?) of these planning grades. The closest is many years ago someone suggested grades and courses and tests etc to be met with a resounding - not more bureaucracy - go away (or words to that effect, though another brain cell is jangling that perhaps someone said OK as long as the experienced planners were granted the appropriate status without having to go through the course/test hoops.

Interestingly as G2 course should be run by a grade 1 planner - but no mention is made of how to get that accreditation.

[Gross]

I also have been a planner for many years.... at least 25.... but I have heard of these grades But think it's a nonsense

[roadrunner]

ny idea how long this information has been held on the BOF website ?

Ages..... in year terms not months

It must be years, given that it (and the corresponding pages for organisers and controllers) talks about colour-coded events, district events, regional events ... !

[Big Jon]

I can vaguely remember these courses being talked about 12-15 years ago or so (things get hazy....). I think there was such apathy or active dissent that the idea of making them compulsory was dropped, but the pages remain!
Compulsory - why? most events work fine as is, and a course doesn't impart wisdom, common sense and intelligence to someone who has none and shouldn't be near an event in an official capacity.

Some regions offer them because they have too many orienteers and not enough events and activities - discuss!

[Red Adder]

I remember the time of discussion of too many orienteers with too few events - suggestions of adjacent clubs scheduling "competing" events to cope. Sadly I'm sure this high point (mid 90's ?) has passed with numbers, especially in the key X21/X35 range crashing. I always wonder if the F&M hiatus of 2001 was a bigger blow than we actually feared or is it really a fshion thing (eg Saturday footie crwods are still barely half those of the immediate post war years).

[simonbeck8848]

Well, there apparently are indeed grades of planners - see http://www.britishorienteering.org.uk/page/planners

There are apparently 3 grades of planner, there requirements to be a grade 1 planner werent stated when I looked (Dec23) and there are one or two corrections to make to the text, but it's clearly an ongoing project.

I did some planning many years ago and there are people who think I can do it well, but I'm out of date. I do indeed need to go on a course or find out by other means, I am out of touch and unaware of the meaning of expressions such as 'planning a regional event at district level' or 'overprint onto mastermaps'; the latter sounds like a contradiction in terms.

Yeah it's a pain, but it's better than doing it wrongly and having the controller make you do it again. Then again, if people could be trusted to read the guidelines (assuming of course that the guidelines had been written in the first place) we wouldn't need courses (or would we?) My concern about having to go on a course is that the instructor(s) should know more about planning than I do. If it's the details of how to use picover or purple pen (which I heard of yesterday for the first time) then I'd be all ears. If it's going to be how to armchair plan the technical courses, well, the course I planned on the Anagach map for the 1984 armchairplanning competition was picked out as the best against over 100 others sent in for judging, if it's that sort of planning, perhaps it's I who should be giving the instruction. Then again I'm not at all sure I could plan a good course in the context of the urbanised version of O that is currently in vogue.

I'm all in favor of guidelines and insisting people read them. I've just planned 2 permanent courses and I'm disappointed that I couldnt find any guidelines on how to plan permanent courses on the bof website. I've got enormous experience of instructing novices and 2 other locals with lots of teaching experience have approved the courses, but I wouldnt be surprised if someone comes along and points out something I've done wrongly.

Simon

[DJM]

Just to demonstrate that planning courses still exist, might I plug the one on February 5th in South Wales, and open to all?

Details at http://www.welshorienteering.org.uk/newsboard.htm