I won't be at next Monday's meeting (unless I get away from an evening work commitment in time to turn up late) so I thought I'd stick my thoughts on here instead - and maybe it'll kick some discussion into life too.
Much of what follows is my interpretation of discussions – feel free to disagree not only with what I suggest but also with what I recall.
The previous two meetings about "where do we want to go" seem to have agreed on some strategies, principally:-
We want to increase our membership, and in order to do that we will:-
-Continue to push for sports coverage in the local press
-Work to get non-sports (fitness / health / lifestyle) coverage in the local press (and we’ve started to make moves to achieve this)
-Consider getting a twice-annual glossy published and distributed via the bike shops (separate from Cliftonite)
-Consider getting club noticeboard at CH / other shops
-Get club business cards printed so we can leave them in cafes / stick them in passing cyclists’ hands / etc
-Re-vamp the website to make it even more useful to newcomers to the club
-Look at appointing a membership secretary with a specific role to work for increased membership
-Look at ways of market researching why some people don’t stick with the club after initial rides
We’ve generally sort of agreed that while the club isn’t all about competition, we want to offer more help to members who *do* want to move from social rides to challenge rides, and from challenge rides to competition. To do this we will:-
-Sort out some “how to…” pages for the website
-Sort out a jargon-buster page on the website
-Structure the Saturday training ride to suit varied abilities and to encourage newcomers
-Structure the Tuesday night chaingangs (when they re-start) to suit varied abilities and to encourage newcomers, and to include some informal coaching
-Look at how we can promote the TLI TT series more widely, to build upon its first-year success
-Possibly look at approaching the organiser of the Tuesday Boroughbridge TLI road races to see if there are ways of encouraging women and newcomers
We’ve also talked a bit about coaching, and the aim of trying to offer something within the club which is a resource for anyone who wants to make use of it, but is particularly there for young riders who want to develop within the sport. We’ve not got to the bottom of this as “coaching” means different things to different people, but we’re looking into it. It might just be advice pages on the website, or it might be employing someone, or training up someone in the club. It’s one of the things that needs talking about a bit next week.
Lastly we talked a bit about organisation within the club, and the aim of perhaps making changes to reflect where the club now is and where it’s going. The general point was made that maybe we need “champions” within the club for specific interests – for example MTB – who take a lead on organising things and provide a point of contact for anyone new who’s interested. We also talked about the need for more people – perhaps some of the recent new members (don’t be shy) - to take on responsibilities so everything doesn’t always fall on the same few people. My personal view is that we need some new committee posts – I’ve already mentioned membership secretary, but I think we also need someone to deal just with sponsorship (general and for specific events, and not necessarily solely with CH) and I think having someone who is in overall charge of publicity (press liaison, website, publicising events, everything) would also be good. Paul and Cath do a bloody good job of getting race reports out, and Arthur does wonders keeping the website running, but I think giving someone responsibility for making it all work together would be a good plan.
So.. ..sponsorship. Andy Shrimpton’s original “conditions” for increased support of the club were mainly about increasing participation in cycling of children / families / women. The feedback at meetings seemed to be that we couldn’t commit to Go-Ride; that we might be prepared to put on a family event. I think the stuff we’re already proposing, and in some cases already actioning, shows we’re working to similar aims. I think we could, possibly, say we’d review Go-Ride on an annual basis and would look at working with it *when* we have sufficient members to spread the load. If we’re working at attracting members through non-sporting publicity, we’ll attract both women and men.
The third “condition” was a seat on the committee. Well, we’re always happy to have volunteers for committee positions, why don’t Andy and CH staff join the club and stand? Road race assistant? Clothing officer? BC representative?
Lastly Andy says we should put our fees up. Personally I agree with him, *subject to* the club giving more back. I know plenty of people disagree with this though. I reckon we all spend a fortune on bikes and equipment and shouldn’t begrudge a few quid more on fees *if* we get something more back. Which leads on to..
…what do we want in return?
My suggestions are:-
-Support for as many as possible of the things we’ve said we’ll do – printing/distribution of twice-yearly glossy, cost of business cards, help with press/publicity, sponsorship for TLI TT’s and advertising of them, possible sponsorship of women’s/newcomers’ challenge within the TLI road race series
-Support for coaching in whatever form we decide is most appropriate
-Continue support for club road race
-Increase stock of clothing
-Members discounts at the shop. Andy’s proposal was for basic discounts (10-15%) to all members and “staff” discounts (30-50% on sports equipment) to regular racers. I think this is fair *provided* the “staff” discount is given to regular road racers, regular open series TT riders, and regular riders in mass-participation events – after all, this is when CH’s logo gets sat in front of the biggest number of cyclists. And this year we were often in front; we’re an excellent club to sponsor, so let’s be confident about both what we can do, and what we can ask in return.
This is a massive rant, and I apologise for going on and on, but I think it’s important. Have a good meeting on Monday, folks.