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

Tue Apr 11 05:49:34 AKDT 2006

 Hey Mark I agree with all the points you made. I've said more than once that the small electric stuff has generated more interest than I have seen in decades.
   I just picked up the Brio 10. It's a real head turner. I can see this increasing interest in precision aerobatics. Great post. Mike

"Atwood, Mark" <atwoodm at paragon-inc.com> wrote:
        v\:* {behavior:url(#default#VML);}  o\:* {behavior:url(#default#VML);}  w\:* {behavior:url(#default#VML);}  .shape {behavior:url(#default#VML);}        st1\:*{behavior:url(#default#ieooui) }                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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[NSRCA-discussion] *SPAM* Fw: Offlist - Re: Participation

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