New BOF events list

[Electrocuted]

This is a bit of a pain. My BOF number has been missed out on a set of results. When trying to e-mail the club to get it added I looked at the BOF fixtures list to find the organiser's e-mail. As the event has passed, you can't access it anymore.

I have had this issue in the past, I tried begging for help here on Nopesport mentioning the event and it was sorted by a very helpful noper in double quick time - might be worth a shot

Worth a try....
If anyone knows who organised Invoc's Anagach event last Sunday and can provide me with an e-mail address or other way to contact the organsier that would be great. There was no online entry system used so I can't try that.

P.S. Particularly as the results have now been uploaded to the BOF website and if I had received ranking points it would have been my highest score.

[SeanC]

I do agree with Sunlit Forres about selling the benefits of membership but I think we shouldn't expect benefits such as £2 discount to have anything but a marginal effect in isolation.

After many years of not getting very far with encouraging newcomers to join we're finding it really easy at the moment. Here's how:

- Have a mass start event in a place which new people will find (eg a country park) and do some basic publicity to get some newcomers along.
- Before the event, be nice to the newcomers, give out the maps before the race starts, talk to them and explain everything (the BOF "ask me for help" bibs help).
- At the pre-race briefing, mention that membership forms are available to fill in after the event, membership is free and mention a few benefits briefly (eg free coaching, discounts at some events).
- After the race be friendly to the newcomers, ask how they got on etc. If they look like they enjoyed it, offer them a membership form.
- Have results announced within a few minutes of the finish, thank everyone for turning up and mention how well the new people did (mentioning any names as a bonus). At the announcement remind everyone that the smiling John/Bill/Karen over there has membership forms to fill in for those that want to join, then repeat the key benefits.

So far this year we've had 6 such events and people have joined at each one. One event we had 4 adults and a family join.

Getting them to stay is a different problem and not one we've solved, but at least we can get to grips with that now they are joining.

In the past we've relied on polite signs which don't get noticed, and internet description of offers/benefits which only get read when the post event enthusiasm has diminished. I'm guessing some people reading this will not feel comfortable with this hard(ish) sell - but it's really working at getting people to join and it can be done without becoming time-share selling.

[Paul Frost]

What sort of mass start event suitable for begineers are you putting on?

After they join do they then turn up at the "normal" events in not so accessable places you put on?

I'm interested in how many people move from the central park type event to what many orienteers see as "normal" or "traditional" types of orienteering, or if they are only interested in the "new" style.

[Sunlit Forres]

If anyone knows who organised Invoc's Anagach event last Sunday and can provide me with an e-mail address or other way to contact the organsier that would be great

Try Elaine Jones elaineandpeter@btinternet.com

[SeanC]

The format is a 45 minute score with roughly 1/3rd controls TD1, 1/3rd TD2 or 3, 1/3rd TD4 (if the area allows). We've gone for the areas in 3 london boroughs near to where most people live, rather than areas in the London green belt. The areas range from Parks like Crystal Palace to forest areas also suitable for district events such as Shooters Hill. I was surprised how many of the newcomers find the TD3/4 controls in their first event. I think because it's a score event and because the beginners get to know the area by finding the TD1/2 controls first, many feel comfortable having a go at the harder controls. Also some might have done a bit of O a long time ago, or done related activities like mountain walking.

They are a really mixed bunch. Some are never heard of again, some have gone to other events in the series, but usually not all the events. Maybe half have done at least one of our other events (either a Kent Orienteering League, a local training series which is slightly more technical, a ParkRace or a Frolics). As they have all joined after March it's too early to say how many will go on to do district and regional events - but I would say not many unless the district/regional is quite local to them, but that is true of many of our established members as well.

For many of them the barrier is not about the technical difficulty of an event (even the regionals cater for new and inexperienced members) - it's about how often they can go and how far they are prepared to travel. Many of the fit active people who enjoy the events and become members have other things in their lives and aren't going to drop everything to do orienteering for the exclusion of pretty much everything else. I think this is a difficult point for many of us addicts - most normal people do love orienteering but aren't so obsessed they are prepared to travel a long way, or drop other things in their lives. I think this is why clubs like SO have such a big membership - they offer something local every week, sometimes two or three times a week, and out of a big pool of local occasional orienteers a small number of super keen people emerge who want to travel to different areas/bigger events. That small number still dwarfs the number in most other clubs. Traditionally many clubs (including my own) offer just the 10 event local event series (like our Kent Orienteering League) which on its own isn't really frequent enough to retain many in this group, and sometimes not local enough.

[HarryO]

Getting them to stay will be another matter when the first year free membership wears off, but at least we have a communication channel to encourage them whilst they are members.

But if new members tick the Privacy flag then clubs aren't given their contact details. How ridiculous!

[smf]

But if new members tick the Privacy flag then clubs aren't given their contact details. How ridiculous!

Not any more the data protection statement has been changed.

[Electrocuted]

If anyone knows who organised Invoc's Anagach event last Sunday and can provide me with an e-mail address or other way to contact the organsier that would be great

Try Elaine Jones elaineandpeter@btinternet.com

Thanks. That helped. Getting sorted now.

[Nimby]

if you don't enter a figure for "family groups", it puts £0.00 so they might expect a free run.

This was either not the case, or has been very quickly corrected.

I never put a fee in this category and all that is being shown is a blank space.

Look at the WIM event on 23rd October. (That's not my club).

[Barny of Blandford]

As the one who enters in WIM fixtures I have just tried again to enter 'None' and it still comes up as giving a free run to families

I have already e-mailed BOF quite a few days ago

Not sure what I do for my next trick

[SeanC]

Has anyone else found that it loads very slowly (10 secs on a broadband connection)? I would say that speeds of > 3 seconds people will start to assume the page is broken and go away.

[AndyC]

It just took 8 seconds or so -so you have a point

[Mrs H]

Like wise over 8 seconds. The funny thing is my original bookmarked version with the infinite rolling page which Angry Haggis told me how to do is still there in a very much stripped down version with links to each club and loads instantly. It's much more useful than it was

[MIE]

It doesn't display very well in my (old) version of Firefox

All the tick boxes that should be in a row near the top are in a single column
and each fixture on the page is also a column instead of a block.

Makes viewing it a bit of a "task".

It also takes 10 -15 secs to load.

At least that is a mega improvement on when the front page took 5 minutes for me to
load!!

[SIman]

the infinite rolling page which Angry Haggis told me how to do

Could you please repost that URL. The various ones I have tried all take me to the the BOF front page. Thanks.