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Club Tips - Open Day / Have a Go Day
It's about that time of year, that you should be thinking about a club Open Day. Open days or Have-a-Go days are a great way to attract new members to your club. Here are some Tips from the Tauranga Moana Club who have been running succesful 'Have-a-go' days for a number of years.
No doubt there are a bunch of people that have seen you out training, who have been curious about Waka Ama but never had the chance.
But before we get started, there are a few important things you need to think about.
Probably the most important is.....What are you going to do with all these new paddlers after the Open Day.
The end-goal of an Open Day is to increase club membership, it's as simple as that.
So we need to make sure we have the necessary resources in-place to bridge the gap between the "Open Day" and "Becoming a Club Member".
Things like canoes, training times, steerers, lifejackets, paddles, etc all need to be in place so that you can cater for these new paddles and turn them into life long members.
Here are some things to think about from our clubs experience at running open days.
1). ADVERTISE IT -------------------
There is no point running an open day if no-one knows about it.
* Your Regional Sports Trust should be able to assist. For us, we join the Sport Bay of Plenty outdoors month, and get advertised on their website, newsletter, posters and calendars. A list of Regional Sports Trusts can be found here: http://www.sportnz.org.nz/en-nz/our-partners/Regional-Sports-Trusts/List-of-all-RSTs/
* Talk to the local "free" newspapers and get a classified listing, and if you have the skills/time, even doing a full article is great coverage.
* Print some flyers with details, give 5 to every member to put up at the super market, hair-dresser, marae, rugby club etc.
* Get your members to invite their friends, cousins, etc
Note: Be careful too, the first time we did this, over 70 people showed up to the open day and we were not prepared. There was well over a hour's wait for some people to have a go. (Don't muck them around, tell them realistically how long it will take, and give them the option to leave their details and arrange a time for them to come back).
2). PLAN THE DAY -------------------
There is nothing like a well organised machine to attract new members.
* Make sure your canoes, steerers, equipment are ready beforehand.
* Start on time
* Wear club T-shirts or Fluro-Vests, so you are easily recognised as an organiser
* While new paddlers are out on the water, wander around, talk to people waiting, show them the paddles, canoes etc
* Collect their contact details, have a flyer to hand out showing what the next step is
* Have-a-go is 10-15mins max, not a 1 hour slog.
* Be safe!!!
3). 6 WEEK INTRO TO WAKA AMA -------------------
We have found this works great for us. Following on from the Open Day we have a 6 week Intro to Waka Ama programme. We ask for a gold coin donation per session, you have to register in advance, and we have a limited number of seats available.
* Take an attendance register
* We insist that all trainings start on time (to the point we will leave the dock without you).
* Miss 3 trainings and you loose your seat to the next on the list.
* The sessions are about 45mins long and all you have to do is show up and paddle.
* Have an end-goal. Our last session is a paddle across to Matakana Island and back (6.5km).
We are only a small club with limited resources, so we can only afford to take on and coach committed paddlers.
The 6 week sessions, will weed out all those that do not show on time, drop out, have-a-go but find it is not for them. Your attendance register will now show you all the people that are most likely to continue.
If you have have too many people on the list, refer them to a club nearby.
4). DEVELOPMENT SQUAD -------------------
We have added a step to our membership called development squad. Basically your first year of paddling is in the development squad.
Training's are twice a week over summer only.
* We gradually increase the distance you paddle.
* You get an experienced coach/steerer at every session.
* We show you how to prepare and launch the canoe.
* We show you how to rig the canoe.
* We teach you how to flip and right the canoe.
* We don't teach new paddlers how to steer, they need to paddle first. (Previous years development squad paddlers are invited to learn to steer).
* We have 2 races for the development teams, a local 5km and 7km race, more of a taster then anything else.
5). FULLY FLEDGED MEMBERS -------------------
All paddlers that graduate from development squad are now ready to either form their own team, or join in with one of the existing squads. They should be able to jump in the waka and do 10-15km without collapsing, and they should be confident they can get in/out of the waka if it flips.
CONCLUSION
So does it work? It works for us, we have seen a 60% growth in membership. By limiting the intake we don't burn our steerers out by over committing them. And the new paddlers are much more likely to come back if we don't stick them in with a regular crew on their first go and wipe them out.
Obviously you will need to apply these ideas and adjust to suit your club goals, and the resources available to you. Don't just expect to take it as is, and it will just work.
I have attached a few documents that might be useful, feel free to use them, but at the very least please change the club name before you copy them off.
Good luck and Have fun
Alex
TMOCC
But before we get started, there are a few important things you need to think about.
Probably the most important is.....What are you going to do with all these new paddlers after the Open Day.
The end-goal of an Open Day is to increase club membership, it's as simple as that.
So we need to make sure we have the necessary resources in-place to bridge the gap between the "Open Day" and "Becoming a Club Member".
Things like canoes, training times, steerers, lifejackets, paddles, etc all need to be in place so that you can cater for these new paddles and turn them into life long members.
Here are some things to think about from our clubs experience at running open days.
1). ADVERTISE IT -------------------
There is no point running an open day if no-one knows about it.
* Your Regional Sports Trust should be able to assist. For us, we join the Sport Bay of Plenty outdoors month, and get advertised on their website, newsletter, posters and calendars. A list of Regional Sports Trusts can be found here: http://www.sportnz.org.nz/en-nz/our-partners/Regional-Sports-Trusts/List-of-all-RSTs/
* Talk to the local "free" newspapers and get a classified listing, and if you have the skills/time, even doing a full article is great coverage.
* Print some flyers with details, give 5 to every member to put up at the super market, hair-dresser, marae, rugby club etc.
* Get your members to invite their friends, cousins, etc
Note: Be careful too, the first time we did this, over 70 people showed up to the open day and we were not prepared. There was well over a hour's wait for some people to have a go. (Don't muck them around, tell them realistically how long it will take, and give them the option to leave their details and arrange a time for them to come back).
2). PLAN THE DAY -------------------
There is nothing like a well organised machine to attract new members.
* Make sure your canoes, steerers, equipment are ready beforehand.
* Start on time
* Wear club T-shirts or Fluro-Vests, so you are easily recognised as an organiser
* While new paddlers are out on the water, wander around, talk to people waiting, show them the paddles, canoes etc
* Collect their contact details, have a flyer to hand out showing what the next step is
* Have-a-go is 10-15mins max, not a 1 hour slog.
* Be safe!!!
3). 6 WEEK INTRO TO WAKA AMA -------------------
We have found this works great for us. Following on from the Open Day we have a 6 week Intro to Waka Ama programme. We ask for a gold coin donation per session, you have to register in advance, and we have a limited number of seats available.
* Take an attendance register
* We insist that all trainings start on time (to the point we will leave the dock without you).
* Miss 3 trainings and you loose your seat to the next on the list.
* The sessions are about 45mins long and all you have to do is show up and paddle.
* Have an end-goal. Our last session is a paddle across to Matakana Island and back (6.5km).
We are only a small club with limited resources, so we can only afford to take on and coach committed paddlers.
The 6 week sessions, will weed out all those that do not show on time, drop out, have-a-go but find it is not for them. Your attendance register will now show you all the people that are most likely to continue.
If you have have too many people on the list, refer them to a club nearby.
4). DEVELOPMENT SQUAD -------------------
We have added a step to our membership called development squad. Basically your first year of paddling is in the development squad.
Training's are twice a week over summer only.
* We gradually increase the distance you paddle.
* You get an experienced coach/steerer at every session.
* We show you how to prepare and launch the canoe.
* We show you how to rig the canoe.
* We teach you how to flip and right the canoe.
* We don't teach new paddlers how to steer, they need to paddle first. (Previous years development squad paddlers are invited to learn to steer).
* We have 2 races for the development teams, a local 5km and 7km race, more of a taster then anything else.
5). FULLY FLEDGED MEMBERS -------------------
All paddlers that graduate from development squad are now ready to either form their own team, or join in with one of the existing squads. They should be able to jump in the waka and do 10-15km without collapsing, and they should be confident they can get in/out of the waka if it flips.
CONCLUSION
So does it work? It works for us, we have seen a 60% growth in membership. By limiting the intake we don't burn our steerers out by over committing them. And the new paddlers are much more likely to come back if we don't stick them in with a regular crew on their first go and wipe them out.
Obviously you will need to apply these ideas and adjust to suit your club goals, and the resources available to you. Don't just expect to take it as is, and it will just work.
I have attached a few documents that might be useful, feel free to use them, but at the very least please change the club name before you copy them off.
Good luck and Have fun
Alex
TMOCC
