Date: Mon, 19 Jul 1993 11:43:11 -1000 From: WVOSS@novell.com (Wes Voss) Message-Id: Organization: Novell, Inc Subject: AKA Poll? (was: Competition at the AKA Grand Nationals) In article steveth@netcom.com (Steve Thomas) writes: >One thing that Dave Gomberg mentioned to me that I found pretty suprising >was the lack of information the AKA had about its members. Basically, when >you join the AKA, you check a box, "My interest in kites is: a) single-line, >b) sport kites, c) both". Dave mentioned that most people checked both. Come >to think of it, _I_ probably checked BOTH! This is all the AKA knows about >its constituency. I just recently signed up myself, and I remember thinking about that. I have an interest in single line kites, and so I checked both, somehow feeling that I might be missing out on something if I said I wasn't interested in them. I might buy one eventually, but my interest is 99port kites. I think Steve has a very valid point. I don't think we can cater properly to the members of the AKA unless we have some cold, hard stats on our members. (I am using the word "our" as a member, not because I'm in any type of leadership position within the AKA... thought I better qualify that.) What kind of people are they? How many kites do they own? What types of kites (dual vs quad vs single vs fighter?)? How often do they fly? How many competitions or festivals do they attend each year? Are they active in competitions or festivals? Do they volunteer their services? Are they more interested in the social aspects of events or would they rather have more competition? When they fly, do they fly with other friends or family? When coming to competition, do they bring friends or family or nonfliers with them? (If there are nonfliers there, it might be a good idea to consider some activities there to let some of these people get their hands on a kite and get them hooked...) I don't know if it has ever been done, but it might be time for the AKA to issue a survey of sorts to all it's members and find out *exactly* where the interests lie and chart their future accordingly. The members of the AKA I have talked to (mainly Marty and Brookes) have seemed very interested in what the membership wants, and seem to be very open for suggestions, as long as a compromise can be made for all members. >This kind of 'mass appeal' cannot be applied to single-line kites. Although I sort of agree with Steve that dual lines seem to be a little more hardcore as far as hobby spending goes, I think that people who like single line flying can feel as dedicated to their sport, and I think it has a mass appeal of its own. Wes wvoss@novell.com ----------------------------------------------------------- Disclaimer: These are just my opinions, and no one else's; no one else wants them; especially my employer! ___________________________________________________________ = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = Date: Mon, 19 Jul 1993 13:17:37 -1000 From: brian@nds.com (Brian Dockter) Message-Id: <9307191617.aa19565@nds.nds.COM> Organization: Division of Applied Sciences, Harvard University Subject: Re: AKA Poll? (was: Competition at the AKA Grand Nationals) On Jul 19, 9:43pm, Wes Voss wrote: > Subject: AKA Poll? (was: Competition at the AKA Grand Nationals) > In article steveth@netcom.com (Steve Thomas) writes: > >One thing that Dave Gomberg mentioned to me that I found pretty suprising > >was the lack of information the AKA had about its members. Basically, when > >you join the AKA, you check a box, "My interest in kites is: a) single-line, > >b) sport kites, c) both". Dave mentioned that most people checked both. Come > >to think of it, _I_ probably checked BOTH! This is all the AKA knows about > >its constituency. > > I just recently signed up myself, and I remember thinking about that. I have > an interest in single line kites, and so I checked both, somehow feeling that > I might be missing out on something if I said I wasn't interested in them. I > might buy one eventually, but my interest is 99port kites. > > I think Steve has a very valid point. I don't think we can cater properly to > the members of the AKA unless we have some cold, hard stats on our members. (I > am using the word "our" as a member, not because I'm in any type of leadership > position within the AKA... thought I better qualify that.) What kind of people > are they? How many kites do they own? What types of kites (dual vs quad vs > single vs fighter?)? How often do they fly? How many competitions or festivals > do they attend each year? Are they active in competitions or festivals? Do > they volunteer their services? Are they more interested in the social aspects > of events or would they rather have more competition? When they fly, do they > fly with other friends or family? When coming to competition, do they bring > friends or family or nonfliers with them? (If there are nonfliers there, it > might be a good idea to consider some activities there to let some of these > people get their hands on a kite and get them hooked...) > > I don't know if it has ever been done, but it might be time for the AKA to > issue a survey of sorts to all it's members and find out *exactly* where the > interests lie and chart their future accordingly. The members of the AKA I > have talked to (mainly Marty and Brookes) have seemed very interested in what > the membership wants, and seem to be very open for suggestions, as long as a > compromise can be made for all members. Sounds like a good idea (you want to volunteer? :-). I think something like this would also fit under Marty's "electronic opportunities". Someone could put together a (fairly) comprehensive questionaire, and store the results in a large database (the entries should be anonymous of course). This would allow people involved in leadership positions (both national and regional) to do a better job. We could start with the readers of rec.kites (both AKA members and non-members, with a question to identify which is which). The database could then grow to people without News/EMail access. I would be willing start such a database, IF someone is willing to help put together a good questionaire. Brian -- Brian Dockter | Northwest Digital Systems UUCP: uunet!nds!brian | Voice: 206-524-0014 Internet: brian@nds.com | FAX: 206-524-3440 = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = Date: Tue, 20 Jul 1993 06:17:29 -1000 From: lmarshal@pnfi.forestry.ca (Larry Marshall) Message-Id: Organization: Forestry Canada - Petawawa National Forestry Institute Subject: Re: AKA Poll? (was: Competition at the AKA Grand Nationals) In WVOSS@novell.com (Wes Voss) writes: >I think Steve has a very valid point. I don't think we can cater properly to >the members of the AKA unless we have some cold, hard stats on our members. (I >am using the word "our" as a member, not because I'm in any type of leadership >position within the AKA... thought I better qualify that.) What kind of people >are they? How many kites do they own? What types of kites (dual vs quad vs >single vs fighter?)? How often do they fly? How many competitions or festivals >do they attend each year? Are they active in competitions or festivals? Do >they volunteer their services? Are they more interested in the social aspects >of events or would they rather have more competition? When they fly, do they >fly with other friends or family? When coming to competition, do they bring >friends or family or nonfliers with them? (If there are nonfliers there, it >might be a good idea to consider some activities there to let some of these >people get their hands on a kite and get them hooked...) Looks like the basis for an AKA member survey if I ever saw one :-) I think you'd want to expand the competition questions a bit to include things like How many competitions have you participated in? What class do you currently compete in and in what events? Won any? and other such things. ---------- Larry Marshall lmarshal@pnfi.forestry.ca Forestry Canada (613) 589-2880 Petawawa National Forestry Institute (613) 589-2275 = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = Date: Tue, 20 Jul 1993 07:56:39 -1000 From: steveth@netcom.com (Steve Thomas) Message-Id: Organization: VisionAire, San Francisco, CA Subject: Re: AKA Poll? (was: Competition at the AKA Grand Nationals) In article lmarshal@pnfi.forestry.ca (Larry Marshall) writes: >In WVOSS@novell.com (Wes Voss) writes: > >>I think Steve has a very valid point. I don't think we can cater properly to >>the members of the AKA unless we have some cold, hard stats on our members. (I >>am using the word "our" as a member, not because I'm in any type of leadership >>position within the AKA... thought I better qualify that.) What kind of people >>are they? How many kites do they own? What types of kites (dual vs quad vs >>single vs fighter?)? How often do they fly? How many competitions or festivals >>do they attend each year? Are they active in competitions or festivals? Do >>they volunteer their services? Are they more interested in the social aspects >>of events or would they rather have more competition? When they fly, do they >>fly with other friends or family? When coming to competition, do they bring >>friends or family or nonfliers with them? (If there are nonfliers there, it >>might be a good idea to consider some activities there to let some of these >>people get their hands on a kite and get them hooked...) > >Looks like the basis for an AKA member survey if I ever saw one :-) I think >you'd want to expand the competition questions a bit to include things like >How many competitions have you participated in? What class do you currently compete in and in what events? Won any? and other such things. > It's worth mentioning that Dave Gomberg told me that the AKA is indeed collecting stats from competitions--such that the AKA will know the attendance of competitions, who went where, etc. -- _______ Steve Thomas steveth@netcom.com "Hokey weapons and worn out legends are no match for a good blaster at your side, kid." -- Hans Solo = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = Date: Tue, 20 Jul 1993 06:08:31 -1000 From: sasaki@das.harvard.edu (Marty Sasaki) Message-Id: <1993Jul20.160831.27020@das.harvard.edu> Organization: Harvard University Subject: Re: AKA Poll? (was: Competition at the AKA Grand Nationals) In article <9307191617.aa19565@nds.nds.COM>, brian@nds.com (Brian Dockter) writes: >On Jul 19, 9:43pm, Wes Voss wrote: >> I don't know if it has ever been done, but it might be time for the AKA to >> issue a survey of sorts to all it's members and find out *exactly* where the >> interests lie and chart their future accordingly. The members of the AKA I >> have talked to (mainly Marty and Brookes) have seemed very interested in what >> the membership wants, and seem to be very open for suggestions, as long as a >> compromise can be made for all members. > >Sounds like a good idea (you want to volunteer? :-). I think something >like this would also fit under Marty's "electronic opportunities". >Someone could put together a (fairly) comprehensive questionaire, and >store the results in a large database (the entries should be anonymous >of course). This would allow people involved in leadership positions >(both national and regional) to do a better job. This is a great idea and certainly would fit under "electronic opportunities". The only problem would be gathering the data and "feeding" it to the computer. It would take Brooks Leffler years to get this data in, and he would certainly make mistakes with such a large volume of stuff. Perhaps one could buy/rent one of those machines that read questionaires. Does anyone know where they can be found and how much they might cost? -- Marty Sasaki Harvard University Sasaki Kite Fabrications sasaki@noc.harvard.edu Network Services Division 26 Green Street 617-496-4320 10 Ware Street Jamaica Plain, MA 02130 Cambridge, MA 02138-4002 phone/fax: 617-522-8546 = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = =