Publicity questions, Let's talk.
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Topic created by kathyu on Thu Jul 18, 2019 at 8:52 amHow did you first hear about orienteering?How do you find about DVOA upcoming events?If you first went to one of Mary's or other member's instructions, how did you hear about the class initially?What is our preferred demographic? Who are we trying to attract to our events? Recreational family groups? Competitive runners?Facebook, Attackpoint, Meetup and Instagram have all been mentioned as ways to find "newbies". Your ideas?
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Reply by furlong47 on Thu Jul 18, 2019 at 11:34 amBelieve it or not, I first heard about orienteering in a middle school gym class in the early 90s. We did a unit which spent a class or two each on some less common outdoor activities and sports. Then I decided to do the Girl Scout badge, and through that we met Linda Eck and learned about DVOA and SVO.I check the schedule page of the website for upcoming events. I also mark myself as interested or attending them on Attackpoint and Facebook when they are listed there.I think there's danger in focusing on any one demographic, though in general the sport is aging and needs more young people. We need all types to keep the sport going - competitive, recreational, individuals, families, all ages. Everybody has something to bring to the table. BUT individual advertisements still need to have a targeted focus. The same ad that appeals to potential future WOC or JWOC team members will probably not attract families or retirees and vice versa. You are also unlikely to find all of these people in the same spot, especially on social media. Facebook skews to an older age group, Instagram slightly younger, Snapchat even younger. And I know a decent number of orienteers who don't use social media at all and some who don't even have smart phones, so don't forget about the potential participants who choose to remain outside of the digital mainstream. Attackpoint seems an unlikely place to find newbies unless you're looking for adventure racers to convert. It's more of something you learn about from the community once you're already involved.
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Reply by EricW on Sun Jul 28, 2019 at 11:24 pmI was hoping this thread would get more attention, since I think it has the potential to be the most important thread on the whole eBoard.I would like to encourage Kathy, Julie, and hopefully others, to continue these thoughts, and most importantly turn them into actions.
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Reply by edscott on Mon Jul 29, 2019 at 9:56 pmWe first heard about Orienteering from a club member. Followed them to a small park in Delaware. Did a yellow course on an "improved" black & white copy of a USGS map. (5/15/1983)
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Reply by Magna111 on Tue Jul 30, 2019 at 4:39 pmI suppose I was first introduced as a boy scout, but we were ?taught? by the scout master/ parent volunteers, and what we learned was very different (and less effective) than how I orienteering now at events. I was re-introduced through a GOALS adventure race that utilized basic orienteering a few years ago. They used a dvoa map for the event, which is how I found the club.
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Reply by kathyu on Sat Aug 3, 2019 at 3:40 pmWe really need people to appeal to their own demographic. What groups will embrace the sport and grow it? Do we want competitors or recreational orienteers or both? Looking at our current active members, it seems to me a great target is active young families. And Europeans who have had exposure to orienteering as they grew up. Or trail runners. So if you belong to any of those groups, speak up, how would you recruit your friends?If we had good stats, we could see if scouts or JROTC continued with orienteering. Does anyone know for sure?PS I heard about DVOA through word of mouth, but that was many years ago.
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Reply by furlong47 on Sat Aug 3, 2019 at 7:17 pmIt seems like a lot of people get lost around the transition from older teen to adulthood, even those who were really active or even on teams. They go away to college, get a job, have some kids, and we don't see them for years. Some come back later, but many just disappear.
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Reply by skolins on Sun Aug 4, 2019 at 10:24 pmWhen I was in college I was an active member of the school's outing club.My senior year somebody who had a permanent course (on their private property I believe) invited the outing club out to try orienteering. I had fun, but no real access to a club (or a car) until I got to Lebanon after grad school.Remembering the experience I looked up SVO and was hooked.I tried reaching out to the outdoors club where I teach but haven't had any luck. It seems like a way to reach a group of people who might be interested and do outdoors things as a group (coming to an event where you don't know anybody can be a bit intimidating and/or lonely). On the flip side, it seems like a hard group to get to become regular attendees, and least in the short run.
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Reply by Magna111 on Tue Aug 20, 2019 at 6:10 pmPersonally, I?d like to see a DVOA Facebook group. The fb page is somewhat limited in allowing members to interact with each other, and with the newest fb update I?m noticing that I can no longer see who is attending events unless I?m friends with them. With a Facebook ?page? only official posts really show up on the page or on our feeds, if I was to post on there, for someone else to see that post they would need to search for it within another tab on the page. In a ?group?, members can post to the group and those posts will be visible on our feeds (if we follow the group), it can also alert you when there are new posts to the group.
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Reply by JanetT on Tue Aug 20, 2019 at 8:57 pmRe: Facebook
This Forum is basically the same as a Facebook group except it's just limited to members. Here is where most DVOA-related discussions take place and I'm in favor of it staying that way.
Not everyone is on or likes Facebook. And I spend too much time there already and don't really want to follow another group.
Maybe we just need a discussion of the types of things we want the current DVOA Facebook presence to do and make the changes necessary to make that possible.
Just my two cents. -
Reply by Magna111 on Tue Aug 20, 2019 at 9:20 pmI think the eboard could be like Facebook, but it isn?t. Most posts on here might get one or 2 responses, then if you want to private message someone relating to a post it may or may not go through (I have been on the sending and receiving end of messages that did not make it where they were supposed to). In other clubs I?m a part of (beekeeping, running, triathlon), their fb groups get a lot of action. I can?t speak for people much older or younger than me, but I think most people in their mid 20s to mid 40s check Facebook at least once a day, if not many many more times than that. As I mentioned about posts on here only receiving a handful of responses, on Facebook, I?ve seen orienteering related posts to people?s personal pages about a previous or upcoming event that have 70+ comments to them. This post was about ideas to engage different demographics, I think a fb group might do that. Brad
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Reply by Guy-O on Wed Aug 21, 2019 at 0:13 amThose 70+ posts are another reason to stick with this e-board.Who has the time to read that many posts??
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Reply by alenka0000 on Wed Aug 21, 2019 at 11:19 amI agree with Brad's suggestion. I've also suggested a facebook group before, and I still think it's a good idea. If done well (and that can take a lot of work), a facebook group can be an excellent community-building tool. I've seen it work really well for running groups. This eboard does the job of announcing information to the pre-existing community, but it does nothing for building up the community. It's no better than Attackpoint in that regard.And yes, not everyone is on facebook, but no single approach will cover everyone. It's okay to pick an approach that optimizes reach, even if it won't be 100% reach.-Lena
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Reply by Magna111 on Wed Aug 21, 2019 at 4:32 pmAnother benefit to a Facebook group, if the group?s privacy setting is ?open?, your posts/comments to the dvoa group page would show up on your friend?s feeds. That would passively expose orienteering and the club to friends you may not have realized would have an interest in the sport. To the point about not having the time to read 70 comments, fb allows you to be in a group but not ?follow? it, in that case you would only see posts when you visited the page. I?m in a few groups with 1000s of members and unfollowing can absolutely be necessary, but I still have access when I want to see what?s going on. And if we created a DVOA fb group, I?m not suggesting it replace the dvoa website or forum, just be another avenue to communicate and share things.
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Reply by EricW on Sat Aug 24, 2019 at 9:19 pmTo address one of Kathy's questions-Who are we trying to attract to our events? Recreational family groups? Competitive runners?I'll respond, "yes" and "yes", and probably "yes" to a few other targets as well.I'll suggest competitive types are vital to maintaining the "sport" aspect. Without them the need for standards of all types (map, course, organizational) disappears.All other types are essential for the social/organizational aspect, and keeping the bills affordable.Sure, different targets might mean different stategies, but I think we need to be as inclusive as possible.
