96 Members Share Their Views
The membership survey results are in, with 96 people participating. Thanks for taking your time! If "average" is defined as more than 50% of all respondents, here's what we heard... (Click Read More to see the full summary).
The average survey respondents are 35-64 years old, and have been orienteering more than four years, after finding out about orienteering by word-of-mouth or a class. Now they participate more than 8 times/year for the physical and mental challenge, and have joined COC because of the discounts and a desire to support the club. They read the Yahoo newsgroup frequently, and like the new website a lot, but don’t read the newsletter very often and aren’t fond of the PDF format for reading news.
Our regular events and street scrambles are enjoyable, especially score, goat, and rogaine, and no event types are particularly disliked. There’s about a 70% chance they’d attend events east of the Cascades, particularly if the transportation were easy, the meet substantial, and camping available. It doesn’t matter whether our events are Saturday or Sunday. If they aren’t too busy with life to volunteer, they help out 1-3 times/year, because of a desire to help, volunteer points, or enjoyment. They would consider being a Meet Director or Course Setter but the learning curve seems too steep right now.
To be more welcoming, we could have more beginner focus & training events, signage, and potlucks or other food. Orienteering is a very good value, and participation wouldn’t drop if the price rose from $6 to $9, but members would like to see the extra money go to something useful, like map creation & new venues, programs & promotion, or food. They think the board is doing a great job and have no shared concerns. Of all the mapped areas to improve, Fire Mountain is by far the biggest concern, followed by Lord Hill. Of the other nonprofits they support, the most common is Washington Trails Association.
You might also like to read: