There is a club near Sydney that has become so dependent on joy rides that they have 32 listed instructors but just 125-ish flying members, no cross country or competition curriculum. They run a full time operation yet cry poor. I may be overstating it, but not by much. Is this what youre talking about? What should be a worry for our sport is that they are the first point of contact with gliding for nearly ¼ the population of Australia.
_____ From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of gavin wrigley Sent: Friday, 27 August 2010 7:46 AM To: [email protected] Subject: Re: [Aus-soaring] Death of a Movement I couldnt agree more, Ian. In addition to 'chivvying' those who have already evidenced some interest by taking a flight, lets get a bit more smart about those we pitch our market to. I have already revealed my disinterest in the treadmill of gift companies/grandpa's birthday/air experience flights. Fine, dont refuse them, but they wont create new members. Lets make it easy for other pilots to try (or re-try!) gliding. Include model aircraft enthusiasts, hang gliders, RAA and GA pilots. They have already revealed their susceptibility. And dont just plod through 'effects of controls', perhaps done by a relatively new instructor....unless that instructor has initiative, enthusiasm, some soaring skills and the ability to demonstrate the 'Joy of Soaring'. Show what is possible after plodding through the 'effects of controls'...gliding IS different! For that matter....what about schoolchildren? If anyone wants to know more about the highly successful 'Flying' course that is PART OF THE SCHOOL PROGRAMME for all of the year 10 students at a school on Darwin then I am happy to give details, and a professionally produced DVD is available. Quite a number of established/confirmed/advanced glider pilots have shown interest in the fact that such a programme exists, and has done for ten consecutive years now. But not one, to my knowledge, even though they expressed great approval for the idea, has tried to introduce anything similar in their locality. Its pissing with rain here in the UK. Thats my excuse for so many posts in such a short time! _____ Date: Thu, 26 Aug 2010 08:26:50 +1000 From: [email protected] To: [email protected] Subject: Re: [Aus-soaring] Death of a Movement Gary+ others, Meant to say think we (GFA and CLUBS) need to convert try and convert as many as possible 3 month into 12 months memberships. Thus I think 3 month members should get a letter one month out explaining their options for the future and I would do a McDonnalds "we have a special for you upgrade your 3months to 12 months by paying $xxx (about $150 or whatever) but you must do it by expiry date of say Oct30" One week before they get email reminder and on the day send a SMS to UPGRADE TODAY. These days I insure with Bingle (online version of AAMI at 2/3 the price) and at 12noon of exp day I get an SMS and go on line and it is paid. It works for AAMI. So my thoughts are McDonnalds upgrade, or do you want to buy this weeks special at Supercheap or top up your phone credit before a certain date to keep your credit. Even Woollies fuel is spend $5 on 2 milk and get another 4c/lit off so milk costs $1 a litre Importantly lets all do something rather than sit on our hands till the last person has to turn out the lights Any other ideas out there? Ian McPhee _______________________________________________ Aus-soaring mailing list [email protected] To check or change subscription details, visit: http://lists.internode.on.net/mailman/listinfo/aus-soaring -- This message has been checked by EnBox Email Security and is believed to be clean.
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