Great Lakes Region Mid Year Report Card: A Call To Action (2011)

[techres]

Great Lakes Region Mid Year Report Card: A Call To Action (2011)

The numbers team has worked hard and issued it's 2011 report that Fred asked for.  The report is in and frankly, our region has much to do.  The results are rather stark and need to be understood by all of us from SC down to IIT to understand the task before us in pulling this year ahead before it ends. 

These are the basics numbers that are most important for each of our states (listed in alphabetical order):

Illinois:

Shoots Last Year: 32
Shoots Scheduled for 2011: 40

Shooters Last Year: 742
Target for 2011: 1484
Shooters 2011 Actual: 250

Number of IAAR's: 15
Number of IAAR's Missing: 4.5

Average Shooters Per Shoot: 16.5


Indiana

Shoots Last Year: 26
Shoots Scheduled for 2011: 50

Shooters Last Year: 376
Target for 2011:  752
Shooters 2011 Actual: 295

Number of IAAR's: 26
Number of IAAR's Missing: 0

Average Shooters Per Shoot: 11.5


Kentucky

Shoots Last Year: 15
Shoots Scheduled for 2011: 15

Shooters Last Year: 239
Target for 2011:  478
Shooters 2011 Actual: 72

Number of IAAR's: 5
Number of IAAR's Missing: 0

Average Shooters Per Shoot: 14.5

Michigan

Shoots Last Year: 7
Shoots Scheduled for 2011: 11

Shooters Last Year: 134
Target for 2011: 268
Shooters 2011 Actual: 92

Number of IAAR's: 5
Number of IAAR's Missing: 0

Average Shooters Per Shoot: 18.5

Ohio

Shoots Last Year: 33
Shoots Scheduled for 2011: 37

Shooters Last Year: 658
Target for 2011: 1316
Shooters 2011 Actual: 252

Number of IAAR's: 16
Number of IAAR's Missing: 0

Average Shooters Per Shoot:  16

Wisconsin

Shoots Last Year: 34
Shoots Scheduled for 2011: 40

Shooters Last Year: 498
Target for 2011: 994
Shooters 2011 Actual: 225

Number of IAAR's: 20
Number of IAAR's Missing: 4

Average Shooters Per Shoot: 11.25

Where these come from:

IAAR's as posted by the SB/SBIT's of the events.  If none were posted, the shooter data is missing.  IN, OH, MI, and KY have all their IAAR's completed.  IL and WI are missing several and would see bumps from those if they were yet completed (IL ~75+, and WI ~45+).  It is vital that states check their IAAR's and hold their SB's to completing them or the data will not be counted.

A helpful method is to assign a person the task of tracking them and keeping a posted list.  This also makes a great tool for mentoring and team building.  IN has an example here:

http://appleseedinfo.org/smf/index.php?topic=13782.0

Lessons from the data: 

No state in the region has been successful in the Appleseed goal of doubling; not in shoots or in students.  At this time, no state will be able to meet their goals by coasting out the remainder of the year given the numbers shown above. 

Even with the additions of added averages from missing IAAR's, the view is stark:

Illinois has to nearly triple by the end of the year just to break even with last year, and go 5x current numbers to meet the goal of doubling last year's attendance.  The 600 could boost numbers significantly, but current pre-regs are at 4 and holding.

Indiana will easily beat last year's numbers, but has to more than double to meet the doubling goal.  It is also hampered with a small average of shooters per shoots (11.5) which presents a serious challenge.

Kentucky is facing a serious set of problems that we are already aware of as a region.  It has had cancelled shoots, staffing problems, and is being run by neighboring states during it's rebuild.  The fact that it has a good number of students per shoot is impressive, and the fact that a plan has been built for support from IN & OH means that KY will emerge stronger by end of year. 

Michigan has hard work ahead as well.  They need to find 3-4 more shoots by the end of the year and staff them.  Their number of shooters per event is superb considering a few shoots were light and threw their averages off.  MI stands ready to beat last year, but needs to nearly triple by end of year to pull off the doubling of students.  The gift for MI is that, as a young state, the actual numbers they need to drive are not as many as others.

Ohio is in nearly the same situation as IL even though their numbers are slightly better, but any differences are statistically minor.  The fact that both IL and OH have higher averages of shooters per shoot is helpful, but not good enough in and of themselves.

Wisconsin is facing the same low shooter numbers as Indiana, and is needing more events just as Illinois and Ohio are.  Even if you add in shooters from missing IAAR's, the state will still need to double in order to hold steady and more than triple to meet their goals.

Actionable Items:

What can we do?  What is there to focus on?

Good questions.  And the answer is always: more shoots, more shooters, and more instructors to staff them.

In those states with low shooter/event ratio's, promotions is everything.  If a 11.5 ratio goes to 23, then you double out the remainder of the year with no new shoots added.  Most ranges are 25-30 sized, so this is not even selling out the events.

In those states with low numbers of events, note that the problem is often a lack of new ranges and the old ones have become overused and comfortable.  Look at your state map and put tacks on it of the current events.  Are they all clustered in one area of the state?  Is half your state unattended?  If so, go & hunt new ranges down by any means possible.  If you need help with this, contact me and we can build some hunting plans.  New ranges are vital as they bring in new shooters.  Heck, most of the time the new ranges bring far higher numbers of shooters/event so they are worth their weight in gold, even if you have to drive more hours to reach them!

In all states, there needs to be work bringing in new volunteers and a special focus on those living at the edges of the clusters of instructors that you have now.  Just as you map your ranges, map your volunteers.  The ones living farther from others need to be especially mentored in range discovery as well as volunteer recruitment.  Remember that the goal is to secure a range in every county so that 90% of the events we staff will be less than a 30 minute drive from our homes.  It is in the best interests of everyone to make this happen.

Finally, look again at those average shooters per event numbers.  Look hard.  There is the key: promotions.  If we promoted as hard as we do other things, we would have the numbers that would make a post like this moot.  But, we do not.  Every day is a promotions day or every day is a day closer to failure.  It is up to each of us to decide.

There will be more posts on specific items and ideas for promotions and range acquisition, etc.  But for the moment, I just want all of us to look at these numbers and understand exactly what they mean.

We have a hard road ahead.

Techres, RC
Great Lakes Region

[yellowhousejake]

I am not making excuses, so don't bug me... But,

Winterseeds will lower our average, they just will. We can get people to attend when the weather says 90 degrees, when the weather says a chance of rain, when the weather says windy.

But when the weather says the high will be 9 degrees or, the radar shows snow in IL headed this way, or the weatherman says we have 4 inches coming with ice on the road first, well attendance will be low.

Every Americanus Doofus has flip flops and a cooler, but fewer have Carharts and snow boots. Otherwise the state parks would have the same attendance in January they do in July.

Nice to see our midyear attendance is up, not where it should be, but not as far behind as I had feared.

Promo, promo, promo, promo...

YHJ

[slim]

When we'd go into the locker room at half time our coach used to go over how we'd done during the first two quarters. He'd review the big plays, what worked well, what didn't work so well and most importantly, what we were going to do in the next half.

No matter what the display said out on the scoreboard, no matter what worked, no matter what didn't work - the plan was always the same. PLAY HARDER!!!!

Every day is a promotions day or every day is a day closer to failure. 

Someone tells me every weekend, "I just don't have enough time to do it like I should." Well, the truth is none of us have enough time. None of us are doing as much as we should. But, the good news is... we can all do more!

Appleseeding doesn't have to mean dropping $100 to travel for hours and "work" two days straight in the heat and humidity. It could mean posting a flyer at your local grocery store. It could mean telling the story to someone you work with. It could mean adding the next event to the church or library's newsletter. It could mean updating your facebook status.

It's as easy as wearing your T-shirt.

Folks, you don't have to hit the trail every single weekend. But, you have to do something. Do something every single day. Make that day an Appleseed day instead of a day closer to failure.

All of us know someone who hasn't been to an event. By the end of the year - get to an event, and get that person to join you. You just doubled right there!

[Old Glory!]

Tough road ahead.  Sure.

But it seems to me that we have already done a lot of the hard work in building Appleseed. 

We have a lot of good instructors, and the instruction has improved since the beginning of Appleseed from what I have heard from people who have been in the program since the beginning. 

We have the ability to run 25+ Appleseeds every weekend of the year.

When we needed more instructors, we had a push, and got more instructors.  When we needed to be Appleseeding 12 mo a year, we instituted the winterseed. 

We do have a track record of success.  Just thinking of this gives me courage.

Because there is an urgency, and we need more Appleseeds or more attendees or both, let's figure out a way to do that. 

It seems to me, IMHO, we need a more focused approach to promotions with more people working on it, for more time. 

So let's do it.  Let's try.  Because if we don't try, what does that make us?  Qui.....?  (I can't even type that word)

No, we are Riflemen.

Here is my plan for the week until we get some concrete plans going. 
Mon: Research Women in the Outdoors, their mission, and contact information.
Tues:  Write an invitation to WITO introducing Appleseed and asking them to attend Lodi Ladyseed, and offer future Appleseeds for their org.  Send out for edit.
Wed:  Work on Ladyseed Lodi flyer/get it on the outdoor calendars
Thurs:  Copy flyer
Fri:  Distribute flyer to all my lady friends at work and around town.
Sat:  Send out invite to WITO and research other Lady's orgs to partner with.

Pick a shoot.  Make a plan.  Do something every day to promote it.
   

[SPQR]

If you work more shoots you get better at instructing.

If you are better at instructing the people at your shoots will learn more and have more fun.

If the people at your shoots learn more and have more fun they will be more energized and excited.

More energized and excited Appleseeders will bring more people back to hear the message and gain the sharper skill

That means more numbers at Seeds and more motivated Americans

More populated Seeds and more motivated Americans means a Saved America   (I think.  I don't know much about anything, particularly history or teaching shootin.  I am just a dumb cattle farmer)

I tend to agree with Slim on this point, if we fail it is because we should have PLAYED HARDER.

[JoeZ]

WI's missing IAAR were mine and they are now posted. Sorry about the neglect. I do keep decent notes during shoots though so they're still fairly accurate.

The number crunching changes are only marginally better. Add 94 shooters (for a total of 319)  and divided by 5 more shoots, that shows 12.75 shooters per shoot.


Modified to fix my math.

[slim]

only marginally better.

4 MOA is a "marginal standard!"

[techres]

Thank you, it helps a lot!  It is really appreciated and helps flesh out the picture more completely.

WI's missing IAAR were mine and they are now posted. Sorry about the neglect. I do keep decent notes during shoots though so they're still fairly accurate.

The number crunching changes are only marginally better. Add 94 shooters (for a total of 319)  and divided by 5 more shoots, that shows 12.75 shooters per shoot.


Modified to fix my math.