[NSRCA-discussion] *SPAM* Fw: Offlist - Re: Participation

[Atwood, Mark]

Wanted to jump in here...

 

Regarding participation...  I firmly believe there is only one focus
that will work...and it's not the one we been trying for about 2
decades...

 

We continually try to "fix" pattern...  

 

What we need is to expand RC...and the good news is that I think it's
happening.    Pattern has dwindled for two primary reasons (IMHO)...

 

1)       Decrease in the total number of active RC pilots.  I define
active as those who would fly weekly if time permitted. 

 

2)       Dilution of our discipline to other competitive disciplines
that didn't use to exist prominantly(IMAC, Heli, 3D, Indoor, etc...)

 

In any Sport/hobby...there are only a small percentage that want to
compete seriously.  How many die hard golfers do you know...and how many
of them sign up for local tournaments??  Only a very very small few.
Competing is a passion that not everyone has.  Those that have
it..compete at everything they do, from work, to flying, to how nice
your lawn looks in the summer.   

 

If there are 10,000 modelers out there...only a certain percentage are
going to want to compete.  In the 60's, 70's, 80's...Pattern was one of
the main choices for the competitive RC modeler.  The other serious
choices were Pylon, Scale and Soaring.  Now??  There appears to be a
zillion places to compete.  Almost by definition...that means that all
of the competitive disciplines reshuffle the fixed percentage of
competitive flyers.  Yeah yeah...there's likely a little ebbing and
flowing of that percentage based on fads (I'd argue that IMAC had some
fad growth for a few years there, but that's waned now) but in general
the number of competitive flyers stays fixed.

 

I think pattern is fine...it's suffered from the dilution mentioned
above, but all in all...it remains as viable as the next discipline.
So in my mind ...there are two distinct ways to "grow" pattern

 

1)       Steal existing competitors from other disciplines (this
includes enticing a higher number of new competitors into pattern rather
than having them go elsewhere) 

2)       Expand the overall RC market, which will in turn expand the
total number of competitive flyers which in turn will expand the number
of pattern pilots.

 

#1 is a win/lose proposition...meaning the only way for us to win...is
for another discipline to lose.  I'm not saying we shouldn't do what we
can to make pattern appealing...but the nature of that is to make other
disciplines unappealing which makes us seem "elitist" and actually works
against us.

 

So #2...expanding the overall market.  It's Win/Win.  The more RC
pilots, the more Pattern/Imac/Heli competitors there are...all
disciplines win.  This is already happening and I think there is more to
be done to assist it.

 

Electrics!!  Talking to some of the engine manufactures at Toledo this
past weekend, there seems to be a consensus that electrics are not
hurting engine sales. That tells me that the electrics aren't
cannibalizing the market...their expanding it.  Which makes sense...
Flying foamies in the park allows others to SEE us fly in the park.  I
fly in a golf dome during the winter...and there are always 10-15
golfers that end up staying to watch us fly.  I also fly in the parking
lot at our community pool...again, lots of people get to see it.   Guess
how many people see me fly my pattern plane out in the corn field where
are club field is??  You got it...NADA.  EVER.   I now have 3 neighbors
that came to Toledo, and had me walk them around to buy their first
small electrics so that they can learn to fly.  How long will it be
before they join the local club, see some big glow planes, and catch
that bug?    Exposure is going to be our savior...and small electrics
provide a tremendous opportunity for exposure.  Moreover...we're good at
flying them...which becomes an ad for pattern as well as RC in general.

 

Ok...does anyone agree with this line of reasoning??   If so...I'd
ask...what more can we do to promote RC...rather than just trying to
promote pattern??

 

-Mark

 

________________________________

From: nsrca-discussion-bounces at lists.nsrca.org
[mailto:nsrca-discussion-bounces at lists.nsrca.org] On Behalf Of Grow
Pattern
Sent: Tuesday, April 04, 2006 6:30 PM
To: NSRCA Mailing List
Subject: *SPAM* [NSRCA-discussion] Fw: Offlist - Re: Participation

 

FYI.

 

----- Original Message ----- 

From: DaveL322 at comcast.net 

To: pattern4u at comcast.net 

Sent: Tuesday, April 04, 2006 2:44 PM

Subject: Offlist - Re: [NSRCA-discussion] Participation

 

Eric,

 

Obviously an important issue and in the interest of expediency, I'm not
posting this to the list to avoid any potential public misunderstandings
- 

 

Ergo, the naive blunt question (with followups) -

 

As NSRCA President, What did you do (or attempt to do) to help this
situation?

- What worked?

- What didn't work?

- What was supported?

- What wasn't supported?

- What followups have been done?

- What was learned from the prior efforts?

- Is this topic something you had zero time to address while you were in
office?

 

I think valid questions for a former Pres, and obviously enough you are
not pleased with the current NSRCA or historical efforts - but you still
have an inside bit of knowledge history to comment in a manner others
can't.

 

Dave

 

	-------------- Original message -------------- 
	From: "Grow Pattern" <pattern4u at comcast.net> 

	I wanted to open up the subject of participation. There has been
a lot written about NSRCA membership numbers but I wonder if that has
anything to do with the participation at contest numbers?

	 

	My rough estimates are that we have around 30 active contestants
per districts. (The District VP's would probably know best how many
different individuals actually compete in their Districts). If you
multiply that by 8 NSRCA districts you get 240 pattern pilots who
compete nationwide.

	 

	When we have an NSRCA national election we get about 250 voters
and when we do a rules/schedule-survey we get between 100 and 200
replies. This would suggest that we have about 200 people who are
"active" in our sport and its administration.

	 

	While I sincerely applaud any activity, such as the Grand event
in SC, to keep our participants interested and help them improve their
skills and enjoy their competitive flying even more, I am still looking
for that certain something that would help the participation grow.

	 

	I have seen some sterling efforts to run primers year after year
by heroes in our organization, but beyond that I don't have much of a
database of ideas or plans to grow what we do. I see nothing in or local
hobby shops that encourage pattern. I know that pattern competition and
even the pattern pilots themselves are not that welcome at the local
club fields.

	 

	We have a major image problem. No get-well strategy that I can
see. A shortage of tactics and tools that any of us can use.

	 

	Of course you may think that there is no problem and that if it
isn't broken don't fix it. I could be all wrong. In fact the general
reaction of the NSRCA board the last time I addressed this issue with
them, was that we didn't need a promotions and marketing person to focus
on and coordinate this activity

	 

	We often fall into the trap of trying to act like a ruling body.
We have the AMA for that and the AMA contest board for that, so I still
ask the question, if our mission is to promote and grow our sport, what
is the plan?.

	 

	Regards,

	 

	Eric.

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