Graham Field – 28/05/2024
This may not seem the like a topic that instantly draws you in with anticipation of a good read. To be honest, I’d rather be out there exploring the bush with map and compass in hand than sitting here doing something resembling real work, but this is important.
We .. NSW Rogaining .. the sport, not the Committee .. are in pretty good shape. We’re not going under financially and we’re getting pretty good attendances at events – so why do we need to be doing anything different? Well, we’re in this position because the people who put our last Strategic Plans did a pretty good job .. hats off to Trev and Gill and all before for bringing us this far. Nothing radical needs to change, but we do need to critically look at who we are now, how the sport might have changed, how society might have changed and what we need to do to keep up and continue to make this sport as challenging now as it ever was.
A group of rogainers of varying ages and abilities representing a cross section of the sport got together on a hot afternoon in December 2023 to ‘workshop’ our sport. This resulted, through several iterations in a Strategic Plan that will soon be finally reviewed and accepted by the NSWRA Committee.
Some of the key elements of the plan are:
- We need to be planning events further ahead. This gives us more certainty, choice and flexibility. Already this year, we’ve had to juggle and relocate events because of issues with environmental damage, weather damage and simple land access issues. When things go wrong, the added stress on the volunteers who build these events is enormous. We need to minimise the chances of things going wrong as our weather and environment become more unpredictable. People also need to plan their lives further ahead as the array of interesting outdoor activities diversifies.
- We need to keep pace with current marketing practise. The social media landscape has changed our lives significantly in the last 5-10 years. We need to know who we’re trying to reach and how best to reach them. Within my time as a rogainer (much less than many of our members) we’ve evolved from a printed newsletter in the mail to all electronic media use across a variety of platforms. We need to keep on top of this and use what’s available to ensure that we’re getting to everyone we need to get to.
- We need to understand what our members want. We haven’t surveyed our members for a couple of years to see what they think about a variety of issues – like what sort of events do they like (Urban, more bush navigation, night events etc.), what do they think of the food at events, the organisation of events, the Committee etc.
- We need to get rogainers to do more than just enter events. Volunteers are the lifeblood of our sport and we need to make it easier for volunteers feel comfortable in coming forward through mentoring and better role descriptions.
- We need a management committee that reflects the members. The NSWRA Committee works hard to guide the sport through modern times. Like all active bodies, members move on for a variety of reasons and in the past, the pool of new members is typically based on the personal contacts of current members. This is OK, but we need to look further into our membership base and seek out people that represent the range of experience, age and gender that we see at events.
The plan has now been adopted by the NSWRA Committee and we are working out how to address the list of tasks that have popped out. It’s a working document, so even though it’s titled 2024-2029 Strategic Plan, it will be reviewed annually and updated as required.
You can read it here: https://nswrogaining.org/Resources/PolicyPlanning/PolicyPlanningDocs/Strategic%20Plan%202024-2029-2.2.pdf and make any comments below or by sending me an email at president@nswrogaining.org
Thanks for your indulgence .. hope you made it this far. Your regular blog service will resume now.
Graham