An interesting perspective

[Gord Hunter]

Well, yes, all perspectives are interesting. 

Let's, for a moment, presume that we have a discussion going on how to grow the sport of orienteering locally, regionally and nationally.

The discussion is taking place in two forums - here on ClubNet and on AttackPoint.

It is a topic with a wide range of issues and solutions. It is not a single one-way street. There are lots of side streets, some are dead ends, some have pathways to new neighborhoods.

Let's say it is like an orienteering route choice. There is not going to be a single way to get from where we are to where we want to be. There is not even a single course. 

In making a route choice what is the first thing the orienteer does? Collect and assess the options, right?

In the corporate world they may call that a User/ Non-user study. 'Why do the people who use our service like to do so?'  'What is keeping the others away?' Leading to 'How can we bring some of those non-users over to us?' 

They are prone to terms like 'low-hanging fruit'. Those are the customers that should be easy to attract. When they are ready they go after them first. I hope we keep that in mind as we move forward.

But first let's look at the 'users'. The ones who have posted comment who are already orienteers.

Some have said they are long time orienteers who are frustrated with the apparent lack of growth. Others suggest that so what if there is a lack of growth nationally. We get our one event per month locally and that is just fine. There is also the perspective that we have to have growth in the younger age classes to replace the inevitable loss of participants in the older classes. Local events or NRE's, it doesn't matter, both need new orienteers so they can keep 'going', not even keep 'growing'.

So with that in mind I want to share with you an opinion posted on AttackPoint. It is by Bruce Metz of Indiana. He is what we could class as a 'travelling orienteer'.  Althoiugh he doesn't mention it, he has even been to one of our Suncoast Orienteering local events in Florida. In business terms his opinion would go in the 'User' category.  Bruce wrote:

 I too have been orienteering for 40+ years and usually don’t get involved in these discussions. This one has my interest however. It seems that the topic has moved from getting club ideas for improving attendance to the importance of NRE’s. And if we judge the state of the sport by the attendance at NRE’s (which may be a mistake), then perhaps the conversation should be about improving attendance at NRE’s. I hate to say “back in the day” but years ago I went to “A” meets for one of the following reasons:

-High quality maps

-High quality courses which had been reviewed by a seasoned orienteer

-A chance to compete against high level competition

-The opportunity to meet others with the same interest

-National ranking points and the chance to earn gold/silver/bronze ranking in my class

 Most of these no longer apply. Compare the same reasons today:

 -Local meets are all held on high quality maps, many previously used at NRE’s

-Most clubs seem to have their courses reviewed by others, some even vetted.

-I can get all the competition I need by attending local events

-I meet many other people with the same interest at local meets (I’m not including my home club). At times the local meets even exceed the NRE’s in opportunity to share orienteering or travel stories with each other.

-Ranking points, while still computed, seem to have fallen by the wayside. There was a time when I would strive to achieve the 70% necessary to reach the bronze level. I would even attend a national event in an effort to improve my ranking and achieve a goal. What was once heralded is now hardly even mentioned. We don’t even designate gold/silver/bronze in the rankings anymore.

 So what then are the reasons for attending (or not attending) an NRE? For each of us it is different. If we want to know how to improve attendance at NRE’s then this is critical information. My reasons have certainly changed over the years. I am trying to visit all 400+ National Park Service sites and when I can combine a visit with an orienteering event then I’m there. This includes both NRE’s and local events. (Over the past few years in my travels I’ve attended local events held by QOC, NEOC, OCIN, MVOC, NEOOC, AOC, VOC, ALTOS, WPOC, INDY, OCIN, TUS/PHX, COK and SMOC – all of which I consider quality events) So obviously my reason for attending NRE’s is different than most. If it’s an NRE, great but if it’s a local meet, that’s fine as well.

 One thing that will make me try to attend an NRE is location. If it’s a state that I have not orienteered an NRE, I’ll try to make it. To that end, perhaps OUSA needs to put effort in helping new clubs such as Nashville or New Mexico, among others, to host an NRE. Not only would it attract others like myself, but would be a publicity boost for new clubs. I’ll also try to attend any event at an NPS site. I doubt many others have this criteria on their list. Next, I look for interesting locations. West Point campus and Dartmouth campus sprints come to mind of areas that drew me to the NRE. Finally, previous attendance and experience. GA Navigator Cup and OCIN Flying Pig are yearly events for me because of my enjoyment at them previously.

 The point is, find out why people attend NRE’s and try to use that to encourage greater attendance. That should be our starting point. Why do you attend an NRE?

Right. Bruce makes several points to keep in mind as we move forward and hopefully collect other opinions. Does a consensus emerge? Then the marketing minded among us should aim the event message to finding others who would be attracted for the same reason. 

Do we find others who won't come because of a certain reason. Then we try to break down that barrier.   Just a quick for instance. Some people won't come orienteering because they just do not like nor are they confident in the great outdoors. So it seems some clubs are finding success with that audience with events in more urban settings. And so it goes. 

Find the market and meet their need.

Who is with me there?

Gord Hunter

Suncoast Orienteering

[RWorner LKohn]

Gord, Bruce and myself make a good case for what orienteering used to be and why we are lifelong participants and promoters of the sport. But, it seems like the more important question moving forward, is what is orienteering going to be like in the future in order to survive and prosper. Urban and knockout sprints are some of the new approaches being taken to keep the sport going and growing.

What does the younger generation see as the future?  I would prefer to put my remaining energy into the efforts they see as most promising and not dwell in memories of the past.

Rick Worner

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[Ruth Bromer]

BOK gets new people all the time of all ages and we never advertise because the parks limit our numbers. We have regular JROTC groups and occasional boy scouts, who never return. We also get lots of military people who need land nav experience. Some who are more permanent, return.

As far as NRE's, no one in BOK wants to do the extra work. We can usually get as many locals at our regular meets as we used to get at NRE's. And we are finding new areas to map, but many are too small for NRE's.

BOK puts on various forms of foot orienteering, as well as radio orienteering. Meet directors are free to create fun versions and everyone loves them. 

I have no ideas about how to grow the sport, even though we have two OUSA board members in BOK. 

Ruth 

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[Tony Pinkham]

CROC has nearly doubled in membership (~85 to ~140) in the last couple of years. It is difficult to say why we have grown but some of the following changes might have contributed:

• Instead of just having 6-8 monthly events in the summer, we now have events year around. During the wet and cold winter months, we do urban events, which actually have some of our largest number of participants. Having more events means that the membership discount has a lot more value to members.
• We are currently changing our view of our club from being small to medium or large, especially when we found out that our club ranked either 8th or 10th out of over 60 clubs in the US. When we thought that we had a small club, we automatically believed that our volunteer base was too small to expand our offerings.
• We reactivated a volunteer program with a coordinator who emails members asking them to fill open event jobs. The response rate from members is actually quite positive -- nearly everyone is just happy that they are wanted. Respondents seem to greatly prefer less invasive email messages instead of phone calls, so we use email.
  
• To better help the volunteer coordinator, we have recently created a database that tracks the volunteer preferences and experience of our members so that when the volunteer coordinator needs people for control pickup, he asks for that information from the database and gets a list of interested and qualified people. Ideally, the coordinator calls on people who have not contributed recently to prevent burnout and to get more people active.
• Later on, we might work on a volunteer incentive program that encourages people to sign up for event jobs before we send emails. We might offer food at the events, free events, swag, etc. based on the number of hours volunteered. Currently, we aren't doing that as it would take another volunteer to administer that and the coordinator's efforts are already producing great results.

Some things that I've also discovered along the way are as follows:

• Boy scout troops might return but they typically only bring scouts who are going for their orienteering merit badges. After they get their badge, they need to focus on other badges and we don't see them again.
• Girl scouts have a better return rate -- they seem more focused on having fun as a group than going after an equivalent of badges. We don't see a lot of girl scout groups but when one group discovers and enjoys the sport, they come back over and over (that was the experience with my previous club, BAOC).
• We discovered recently that 20-25% of our participants don't want their times listed in results -- they just want to solve a puzzle in the woods and not be ranked above or below anyone. It turns out that SportIdent has a checkbox in one of their dialog boxes that lets you specify not to print results for a participant or for a recreational class of participants. Those participants are much happier and they return to orienteer over and over. The percentage of non competitive members volunteering is typically higher than the percentage of competitive members volunteering. Don't forget your quiet non competitive orienteers--their money, social, and volunteer contributions are significant.
  
• I know from my own experience that encouraging the social side of a club does more to get me to join and participate in a club. Don't forget that your club is a social entity.

Tony Pinkham

CROC

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[ddavi...@carolina.rr.com]

Much of what Ruth Bromer posted is the same as what COK is experiencing. We get good turn outs but are having difficulty finding new people to fill club spots, especially Meet Directors. Average age of those that actually keep club going is probably around 70. 

I like Tony Pinkham’s idea of a volunteer coordinator. We can get volunteers, especially for control pickup, but takes a lot of individual contact effort on part of busy Meet Director to make the contact. 

Maybe more social activities would help. 

Dan Davis

COK 

Sent from my iPhone

On Sep 23, 2022, at 11:59 AM, Tony Pinkham <runner...@gmail.com> wrote:



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[maver...@gmail.com]

Hi.  Well, I am at the same time an "oldster" in terms of physical age and to somewhat prefer the way things were done back in the day, and a "youngster" in terms of having only been closely involved in orienteering since 2019.  So I don't have the deep experience and perspective to offer to the conversation as some others who have posted., but I find myself moved to agree with a lot of what has been written here, particularly the comments offered by Gord (and Bruce).

Bottom line is this discussion is great, it really is, but to move the needle I think there really needs to be a group that's focused on the issue of growth, and that can develop a listing of thoughts and ideas, prioritize them and then turn them into action items that can be implemented on a broad basis with a backing of appropriate authority (OUSA).  I support and applaud the OP's proposal to start with a virtual meeting sometime this Fall.  Perhaps the initial meeting doesn't need to get into developing the list of issues and opportunities as much as just getting organized with how to proceed.

One suggestion that I can offer which is aimed at the theme of improved communications between OUSA and clubs, both directions, is to consider "requiring" that each club chartered by OUSA have an officially designated "delegate" to OUSA as part of their club leadership that can serve as a conduit for communications between OUSA and the club, as well as fulfilling other functions like being the club's voting delegate at the AGM, etc.

Mike Avery

NEOOC