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The GFA has had well developed and evolved departments for Airworthiness, Operations and Sport for many years. It lacked however a structure for addressing the most required aspect of our sport - that of development in all its facets.
Internationally gliding is suffering from declining membership as other aviation options compete for the markets time, interest and money. Gliding in Australia is no different and has been experiencing a relatively steady decline for many years. The GFA has recently sought to redress this vital aspect of the sport by proper re sourcing of a department dedicated to focusing on this issue and developing a parallel structure and systems to the other three departments. It is hoped that in the not too distant future the Development group can arrest this membership trend and develop strategies for membership retention, greater public awareness and greater success in membership attraction.
The function of GFA development encompasses many things - from marketing the sport, to creating a better corporate profile, to advertising our services and how we package the sport, to better systems at club level with a responsive and service oriented approach.
A number of initiatives and strategies are being developed, which whilst embryonic, are none the less the start of this process. In time a new chapter to the GFA MoSP (part 5) will result as a guide to clubs, state associations and individuals on how to get the most from our sport, how to become an advocate for the sport and many of the elements of marketing, new membership attraction process and greater sport development for existing members. There is a long way to go to achieve the necessary results but at least the concerted effort has started.
The department presently comprises a Chairman who is a GFA Executive member (Maurice Little), one or more Development Officers from each region (Shari McGregor (WA) , NSWG RDO position vacant , Anne Philcox (SAGA), Dopug Brooks (GQ) RDO, VSA is vacant . There is also a graphic design assistant Al Sim, and a women in gliding representative Anita Taylor. It is recognised that the task of changing club culture and indeed the entire sports culture to address the challenge of club development is a large task, therefore each of the larger states will be utilising a second or (in NSW Gliding's case) possibly a third RDO. To this group will follow club development officers and the aim is to get a key contact fulfilling this role in most clubs in the GFA.
Details on the initiatives the Development department have underway can be found in the meeting notes here, however a summary might help enlighten the reader. As with many start up endeavours, there are always more ideas than there are resources, so at present the prioritisation process is underway to select and work on this, which it is hoped will chose those which will have the earliest benefit.
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Trial advertising in other aviation journals coinciding with articles of a gliding nature - on hold |
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Print overrun distribution in selected newsagents of Soaring Australia - on hold |
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GFA annual gliding seminars coinciding with GFA AGM's - Continuing - Brisbane 2010 AGM |
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GFA Promotional logo, signage, Stickers, posters, reflectors etc - posters, display panels, signage done |
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GFA gliding calendar production and distribution - In progress for 2009/10 |
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Provision and distribution to all clubs of membership statistics - Completed and on line through this web site |
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Development department evolution program to include all clubs with regular contact and annual meeting - underway |
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Creation of a development handbook - In progress December 2009 |
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Creation of MoSP Part 5 - Sport development |
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Expansion and development of services and features of this part of the members web site - Work in progress |
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Club accreditation scheme and best practice processes in membership recruitment and handling - being revised
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Youth in Gliding - Tapping this market, shifting the present aging image of the sport |
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Women in Gliding - re-establishing this emphasis and building network to tap this market in progress dedicated resource- work in progress
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Sport promotion - Grand Prix racing, TV coverage use of telemetry to follow the action - Annual |
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GFA development part of business plan expansion and structure - under review |
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Resourcing the initiatives - people, money, activity - in process |
Al Sim - Based in Brisbane, Flying since 1996, Level 2 instructor, member of the Darling Downs Soaring club and Pacific Soaring, Marketing Project Manager, Motivated to see this exciting sport grow and develop and enjoy a prosperous future.
Anne Philcox SAGA RDO- Started flying in 2004; Level 1 Instructor; Secretary for the Adelaide University Gliding Club; Motivated to improve the accessibility of promotional material and to help clubs evolve their people skills in the interests of improving member retention
Doug Brooks GQ RDO - Based in Brisbane
Anita Taylor - Based in Qld,
NSWG RDO Position vacant
VSA RDO position vacant
Maurice Little - Based in Melbourne, Flying since 1984, Level 2 instructor, VSA President and GFA Executive member, member of Grampians Soaring club, Marketing and database management, Motivated to develop the sport and introduce new members.
Shari McGregor - Based in Perth – Flying since 2006, Vice President and Club Development Officer of Beverley Soaring Society. Passionate about flying and motivated to introduce more people, especially women and teenagers to this exciting sport.
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