The Franchise Model for major events

[pete.owens]

I would imagine most would prefer the proposed terms. It is a big effort for the club or region concerned, but that is always going to be the case under whatever arrangement is in place. The difference with the franchise arrangent is that once you agreed to take it on you would be left to get on with it rather than have head office "help" you at every turn. Perhaps choosing your catering trader for you - to pick an example entirely at random.

[Rosine]

Maybe something like the RatRace company would take this on. In that case BOF may want to add a clause about archery...

[Mrs H]

The difference with the franchise arrangent is that once you agreed to take it on you would be left to get on with it

Really? I would say the big difference is that BOF are not going to underwrite a loss. so now all your best areas are embargoed, all your best people get exhausted and you take all the risk.

(why do people keep talking about archery?) (Don't answer that!)

[Kitch]

At what point did BOF become owners of these events

It's self evident that the NGB owns the National Championships.

This may be logical but Scottish Hill Running is not so constrained.
SAL (Scottish Athletics Limited) the official NGB has its championship
yet I'd argue that the SHR (Scottish Hill Runners) championship is better attended, held in higher regard and is harder fought.

BOF have spectacularly mismanaged "The" Championship (on the assumption that our best, fastest orienteers are M/W 21E) by repeated clashing with Tio Mila or sticking the race in March, (i.e. Pre-season) such that attendance by our best orienteers is intemittent and the Championship holds debatable status.

There was a period when the we took Elite classes out of BOC and held a proper Championship

[maprun]

If BOF with reserves of £500k feels the need to consider protecting it's assets from the potential losses of an event, then I hope my club and area association would be smart enough to say no thanks to the suggested model. Far better to be a club like Burnley than QPR!

[RJ]

But NEVER get rid of the JK, as you seem to be implying.

Unfortunately that won't be a decision that can be taken lightly. It is the event in the calendar that uses up the greatest amount of energy and volunteer effort. NWOA have just about got it under control.... this time! But they also have BOC in 2017, Lakes5 in 2018. NWOA are shedding about 7% of their membership annually, so it doesn't take a genius to work out that things are not sustainable.

Definitely time to study what's happening down in TVOC and at other successful clubs.
Just to repeat - 200 newcomers at a bog standard local event in a park.

Yes SeanC that is exactly the model we need. But the model does not come cheap. It has involved a significant intellectual effort to get this far. And then to take those 200+, develop their orienteering skills, create an ongoing event structure at TD1-3 to keep their interest, welcome them into a 'social club', coach them to deal with TD4/5..... this will involve a lot of volunteer time, and coaching expertise. To spread this around the country in order to expand participation and membership will involve a significant move away from staging major fixtures.

[SeanC]

I know to improve retention you need coaching, and a decent local event structure etc, but with those kind of numbers even a retention rate of 10% is going to give clubs an increasing membership.

I'm just making the point that for some clubs at least, there must be ways of doing big events and increasing membership. Making more efficient use of local events by spending a lot more time on publicity seems like a good way forward. Most clubs do have as many local events as TVOC have.

I'm sure though that many clubs would probably be better off doing a (temporary) complete withdraw from big events to focus on development. Any member wishing to become involved with organising big events would then need to join another club as second club member.

But I can't understand why we're all blaming BOF for this situation.

Regions don't have to volunteer to organise big events.
Clubs don't have to volunteer to organise big events.
Individuals don't have to volunteer to organise big events, or help at big events.

If individuals/clubs/regions who didn't have time to help with these big events stopped volunteering, then perhaps this would force a bit of rationalisation?

[frog]

I wonder if biennial events like the 6 days and the lakes may have to become every 3 or 4 years as well, to give volunteers more time to recover and to optimise the areas used.

[SJC]

I'm sure though that many clubs would probably be better off doing a (temporary) complete withdraw from big events to focus on development. Any member wishing to become involved with organising big events would then need to join another club as second club member.

Alternatively, members of a club which involves itself with organising big events could leave and join a club that focuses on development - or even set up a new club to do this.

The answer to the question: Why do Regions / Clubs volunteer to organise big events ?
is that the majority of the committed orienteers, without whom the Regions / Clubs would not exist, like taking part in them.

[Wayward-O]

One thing not discussed so far is the "threat" from Mike to go elsewhere if no Club or Region comes forward.

If in any year we were unable to find an association or club to stage the event British Orienteering will need to reserve the right to find another delivery partner or deliver the event ourselves. This is necessary as the income generated for British Orienteering is required in order to run the organisation.

But this begs the question: Would any Club be willing to offer their best areas for BOF or a commercial third party to organise events with all the incumbent issues of map updates, embargoes, etc. and how much would they want in return?

[Scott]

If BOF with reserves of £500k feels the need to consider protecting it's assets from the potential losses of an event

I don't think it's making a loss that is a concern. It's hard to conceive of a major event making a loss that would seriously impact BOF's reserves.

From BOF's point of view, the problem is that the major events make up a pretty big proportion of the money that BOF has discretion over how to spend, and at the moment the actual amount of income BOF gets can vary pretty randomly depending on the number of competitors who enter (difficult to predict) and the quality of the budget they get from the event organiser (ditto).

This presents a challenge when for BOF in setting their own budget for the year, and I think they are simply trying to guarantee the amount of income they get from the major events to make the budgeting process easier. In return, the clubs and associations get less "interference" in how they put the events on and potentially a bigger profit if the event is a big (financial) success, although they also have to carry greater risk.

I would take the "freedom to deliver it" with a pinch of salt. I assume, as with most normal franchises, the agreement would set out some minimum standards for what the organisers would need to deliver. If nothing else, a couple of rubbish events would start to seriously degrade the future value of BOF's franchise.

The problem for BOF is that once you give up "ownership" of the major events, it will be very difficult to get it back again. It's a risky step to take with what should be the crown jewels of British Orienteering.

[Scott]

If I pile in now and start plugging the "Easter 4-day in Scotland 2018"

It's a interesting idea, although I suspect transport links are a bigger factor in attendance than terrain quality, particularly without the lure of an upcoming WOC for overseas comeptitors. If you were aiming for maximum attendance/maximum cash you would probably be better off alternating the JK between the Chilterns and the Surrey Hills...

BOF have spectacularly mismanaged "The" Championship (on the assumption that our best, fastest orienteers are M/W 21E) by repeated clashing with Tio Mila or sticking the race in March, (i.e. Pre-season) such that attendance by our best orienteers is intemittent and the Championship holds debatable status.

I wonder whether anybody has actually asked the (top, current) British 21Es what they do/would value in a domestic competition. Is anything that isn't a factor in WOC selection ever likely to be of much interest? I have no idea.

[Scott]

Would any Club be willing to offer their best areas for BOF or a commercial third party to organise events

Does the club need to "offer" its area to BOF? Many major events will have a new map made and paid for from the event budget anyway; the commercial third party will probably be quite able to make its own contact with the relevant landowners.

In those circumstances, the local club doesn't have much more to offer than its blessing - although that might be pretty crucial in how the event is perceived by its target market!

[gg]

I wonder whether anybody has actually asked the (top, current) British 21Es what they do/would value in a domestic competition. Is anything that isn't a factor in WOC selection ever likely to be of much interest? I have no idea.

Spring Focus page 16?

[graeme]

Regions don't have to volunteer to organise big events.
Clubs don't have to volunteer to organise big events.
Individuals don't have to volunteer to organise big events, or help at big events.

If individuals/clubs/regions who didn't have time to help with these big events stopped volunteering

You really think that's how it works? I'm guessing that:
NWOA didn't volunteer for the JK, they were allocated it on a BOF rota.
LOC didn't volunteer to host a day, they were allocated it by NWOA.
My family didn't volunteer to help, we just got an email telling us what our job was.

withdraw from big events to focus on development.

I am continually astonished that people still plug this idea that people will be inspired into the sport by tiny level-D events rather than things that make orienteering look like a proper sport. Despite years of collapsing recruitment while following it.