Ashamed to be British

[Tatty]

Super posters Mrs H!!

[ryeland of doom]

WOW Thats what we want... Best marketing of the sport I have seen. Well done! Saturate communities around events with posters beforehand as well. We have a great product that has been poorly served by earnest school exercise.

I put on a days orienteering in a school in Edinburgh this time last year and got a really enthusiatic response from the pupils..
As for olympic funding.. How many took part? I'd like to think medal willie waving died with the eastern block. All this emphasis on olympic medals and funding - where does this leave superior sports that are not allowed in? Or are the running around in circles on a carpet lot going to get funded at others expense?

[mat-d]

however, making risk assesments on the poster doesn't sound that exciting to me...

i'm sure it means the active risks involved in route choices rather than writing down a table of risks and awarding them points out of 10!

[Mrs H.]

Well I'm not saying they're perfect - but they did work.
(believe me - if you were a parent - you'd like to think your kids could make a risk assessment for themselves - because that's what kids wrapped up in the 'cottonwool culture" cant do - beacuse it's always done for them - so they don't know when they're getting into a dificult situation. (I don't mean filling in a form!) Remember the posters were aimed at parents not children ('cos they're the one with the cars and the money!)

(the second poster was the first initiative and the first the follow on mini-league) do you like the bit of EVO (extra Value Orienteering) money off to the castle on production of O map - it wasn't hard to arrange.

[SeanC]

Great posters Mrs H.

If straightforward newspaper advertisements like this is the best way to attract new orienteers to events, I wonder how many adverts like this a 50p levy on C4 and above events would pay for? (in danger of sounding a touch boring on the subject of orienteers paying more so will now stop....)

As always things look a little different from the London perspective. You might need a more regional scheme to reach londoners or others in big conurbations as people tend not to read local papers too much - and they are more prepared to travel further distances to reach the countryside (since they have no choice). Mind you if you've ever commuted into London you'll know that half the commuters read a mind blowingly boring free newspaper called 'The Metro'. A MADO style advert would be easily the most interesting thing in the paper.

Did I mention that entry on the day is being accepted for tomorrows regional event at Westerham (subject to map availabilty)?

[Jon Brooke]

Posters are excellent. The photography actually makes O look dynamic and the logo really reinforces the message. I think your designer (is that you too?) deserves a good bit of credit as well.

Do you think prices on the first poster would have helped? (because they are so reasonable). If I'd only seen the poster I might have assumed the activity would have cost more.

Are you also getting some publicity through your local paper?