speedracerntrixie

My Feedback: (29)

As luck would have it, I am at the Clark County R/C club doing exactly that this very minute. We are having an open house and have publicized this event and invited the general public out especially the neighborhood surrounding the flying site. We are demonstrating to the public how we operate in a safe manner and that our “ drones “ pose zero threat to their privacy. It’s still fairly early but we have already seen a few people from the neighborhood.

speedracerntrixie

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Back home and the public outreach event was a huge success.


First stop, flight instruction on simulators.




Then off to the buddy boxes and a trainer.

speedracerntrixie

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Box of goodies donated by the AMA.



Raffle time. Visitors under 12 only. In reality anyone under 16 left with something. We also had a guest list for visitors who would like to be contacted for more information.

speedracerntrixie

My Feedback: (29)

Runoff parking




Flight line at 8:30 AM.

init4fun

Thank you speed for posting those pics, and kudos for your club's neighborhood outreach program, well done

Hydro Junkie

Believe it or not, I have to agree with Init's post. It's just too bad that we never hear about events like this before hand instead of after the fact.

speedracerntrixie

My Feedback: (29)

Hydro, not sure what to think about your comment. If your speaking about this particular event, it would not have made any sense to promote to any community 3+ hours away. I believe the club focused on communities within 30-45 minutes away at the most.

If your referring to this type of event in general, I would have to say that you may be outside the targeted demographic. From what I understand the organizers targeted hobby shops, gaming shops, youth sports organization etc.

I was actually hesitant to post anything about this here based on the negative response I received the last time I posted pictures of a young man and his grandparents a few years ago who attended a vintage event.

Hydro Junkie

Was referring to this type of event in general. While I know your event is three plus hours away, it would be nice to have events posted so that we could attend events that are closer to home.
We have the same issues in the boating world. Nothing is posted so we don't get anyone coming out to see our events either. This lack of spectators is one of the reasons the R/C activity is in a decline rather than staying constant or growing

speedracerntrixie

My Feedback: (29)

We are on the same page there. We do need more events such as this. We also need to be better ambassadors overall. There are certainly those that don’t want new members thinking that they would loose air time. There is some truth to that if they are used to flying with one or two others. Last weekend we had “ Cub and Cub like aircraft “ fly in. At one time we had over 20 Cubs in the air at one time. No mid airs. I didn’t participate in that as my Cub is a Sig 1/4 scale. More people in the club simply means we need to share the airspace. Nothing wrong with 5 or 6 in the air at a time. If your uncomfortable with that then fly during off peak times.

speedracerntrixie

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Oh a club member posted this on F book. I think this one is priceless

BarracudaHockey

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Well if you're an AMA member you would see an event calendar in the back of every issue of Model Aviation.

Otherwise I would think the outside the membership advertising would be aimed at local resources.

You can always go to the event calendar on ModelAircraft.org and do a search by state if you're really curious

franklin_m

Speedy's event and Hydro's comments raise a valid point. Why doesn't the organization that says it's interested in promotion the hobby have a searchable category for these type of events on its website? And why isn't there an easily found spot on the public website for folks to find these who aren't familiar with AMA's website?

I'm thinking a big a**ed button that's persistent on the screen (no other navigation necessary) that says "Interested? Find an open house event near you"

AMA's website continues to be architected for folks that have some sense of where to go to find information. In that sense, it totally ignores the people who find it via a search engine and have no idea where to look for things. If AMA wants to make it easy for these type folks, they need to make the website easier to navigate.

Couldn't help but notice our EC member focuses on "the way we've always done it" ... even mentioning the magazine. Notice that AMA's "front door" doesn't have anything like this. It's targeted at internal communication rather than as a front page for getting new members. Yes, there's "Events" but it's in small text and is easily lost among all the other visual clutter.

BarracudaHockey

My Feedback: (11)

That's a great idea, I like it, thank you.

I didn't say we couldn't do it better, I just pointed out that the information is available.

speedracerntrixie

My Feedback: (29)

Franklin, you’re assuming the general public is aware that the AMA exists. The having the general public come to us concept typically has poor results. That’s why for this event “We” went out seeking the general public. As you can see from the pictures the club had a great turn out.

astrohog

My Feedback: (1)

Don't you think that the first place anyone goes when interested in something is the internet? The AMA should absolutely be at or near the top of any search for model airplane, radio control, etc.

Astro

speedracerntrixie

My Feedback: (29)

I did a search for “ model airplane information “ and found AMA on the second page. Does AMA have any control over that? While I do agree that those with interest will actively search for information, many of those I spoke with yesterday hadn’t given the hobby any thought prior to reading one of our fliers posted on a Facebook group. Think of this in a business sense, do you sit around and wait for customers to search you out or do you advertise?

astrohog

My Feedback: (1)

Website optimization is absolutely possible. And it does seem that Facebook is one of the more popular places to advertise your business (AMA) these days, although I do not use any social media other than the few forums I belong to that are focused on my hobbies and interests.

For a fraction of the magazine budget, there are many things the AMA could do to optimize their presence on the internet and improve their website as well.

Astro

speedracerntrixie

My Feedback: (29)

The AMA does have a strong presence on Facebook, I get things popping up on my feed every day. IMO that generates much more interest then what a top notch web site would. I’m not a fan of the magazine either. I like the idea of an online interactive magazine but it would eventually be no different then RCU with the personality clashes.

franklin_m

Why not put the press shop to work? Clubs holding these open house events send data to HQ. The press office then puts together a press release (formal, official, on letter head etc) and then THEY send to local papers, radio stations, school districts, etc.

speedracerntrixie

My Feedback: (29)

How is that going to produce a better result then what we had? We came very close to having more visitors then we could have handled. We had AMA support but I think the club is much better equipped to handle promoting within their community. This comes with a better understanding of the community.

One thing that I don’t think you put enough stock in is that the AMA is not limited to Muncie. All members are in either a small or large part depending on the level of involvement they choose ambassadors.

franklin_m

The point is two fold. Getting AMA more engaged with the clubs in the field and providing something a little more formal than the local old dudes. It also ensures some consistency in the messaging that goes out ... branding .. recognition. All things that make them more recognizable as part of a national organization rather than a few local dudes throwing a few logos on something. Adds an air of professionalism.

Not saying your approach is wrong, merely that approach across the country is a loose and rather uncoordinated collection of club activities rather than a more tightly coordinated, consistently communicated, and professional product. Something that plays better in the future world of AMA coordinated FRIAs. When FAA and others are looking to a single organization.

speedracerntrixie

My Feedback: (29)

Your view/opinion on the level of organization of this event is way off. Your speaking as if you were there, obviously you were not.

Hydro Junkie

No, he wasn't. That said(yes, I just agreed with you), he does have a point. Muncie could coordinate several clubs to have events that compliment each of the events held by other clubs. They could also have reps from the AMA attend to really get the AMA's name out to the public rather than a few stickers on planes and tool boxes that I normally see at similar events. Yes, it would require more planning and work but the results could be more people in, for example, a 100 mile area being able to see the what/why/how of R/C aviation and take some of the stigma and secrecy out of it while preventing the overload your event had. Not saying your event wasn't successful since, as you said, there was almost too many people to handle and that shows there is an interest. That interest is, however, tempered through cost and the required learning curve. Even the better quality foam trainers aren't really cheap, upgrading makes them less so while making the time to actually learn how to assemble, preflight and fly an R/C plane is a turn off to others. That brings up a simple question; did the club gain any potential or new members? That is what really tells if the event was a success or not, doesn't it?

franklin_m

Your comment about how well that INDIVIDUAL event was executed is focusing on the tactical aspect, my comments are focused on STRATEGIC.

First, AMA HQ involvement, via the news release / coordination I outlined above ensures the AMA is more engaged in the pulse of what events are happening and how successful they are.

Second, use of press releases etc. would steer local media and/or stakeholders not just to the local club but also to the national organization. These contacts would be very valuable when there's local/state/federal legislation or regulation pending.

Third, while AMA is more than just Munice, the AMA has stated they intend to submit FRIA requests on behalf of all clubs. Why not start making HQ connections with local media?

Fourth, more engagement with local events allows AMA to start figuring out how to sequence them in time so that over the period of several weekends there's outreach opportunities at several locations near major population centers (a.k.a. sources of new members).

Fifth, since AMA now knows about these events, they can use them as opportunities to start gather data ... market research ... based on who attends, how many members these events produce, build mailing lists of attendees, etc.

There's others, but if AMA wants to grow, and I mean more than by single digit percentages, they need to start thinking bigger.

PilotSpike

Its always the other guys problem isn't it? The AMA is a CBO that represents .the community that makes up its membership, ostensibly the local clubs and fliers. Its a reflection of those in its organization in large part. If they, ie we, want the AMA and the hobby to grow by more than single digit percentages, the local communities, the ones that make up the AMA, are the ones with the best leverage and opportunity to do so.

We dont need the AMA to make press releases, your local club can do it for your local media.
We dont need the AMA to get our neighbors out to the field, we need can invite them and make it attractive.
We dont need the AMA to take the models to the general public, we can do static displays at shopping centers and community events.
We dont need the AMA to organize events, we do events events every year for those already in the hobby.
etc.
etc.

I agree that the AMA can get involved and contribute resources. That would be really awesome. At the same time I find it disingenuous to complain about what they aren't doing when so many of us fly at fields whose entrances are unmarked roads that are hidden by hedge rows. I just got back into the hobby after a 20 year hiatus and the biggest thing that grabbed my attention (other than the technology shift) is how lonely the process was from discovery to eventually joining a club and buying my (second) first plane. Thats not to say that the individuals I interacted with were cold or unpleasant. But overall there was a clear lack of road signs, processes, or even a roadmap for those interested in the hobby.

Just some thoughts.

J