Flying Site Assistance - 2003/07

July 2003 145
THE MAY 2003 issue of Model Aviation, “Finding and
Keeping Fields” detailed the activity and program during the
National Parks and Recreation Congress held in Florida. I
participated and had the pleasure of meeting George Jenkins,
president of the Sarasota Radio Control Squadron, during the
three-day convention.
George gave me a tour and reviewed the successful
administration of the Sarasota RC club. I was impressed by his
conversation concerning the club’s public relation (PR) efforts
and how much they have contributed to its success. I asked him to
write of his experience and share his recommendations.
“Generating PR/Advertising and Keeping the Momentum
Going: Any club needs PR because of the misconceptions and
ideas fostered by the media and people with preconceived ideas
about model airplanes.
“The public looks at our hobby’s aircraft as toys. They have no
concept of the size of many Radio Control (RC) airplanes or the
space needed to fly them. Many think they can be flown in the
backyard.
“Many are surprised at how far you can control an airplane. At
the local hobby shop where I work on weekends, people come in
frequently wanting to start out in RC with a helicopter so they can
fly it in their backyard.
“Many are surprised by the cost as well. People who are
looking to buy an RC airplane for a grandson often have no idea
of the cost or the amount of flight training needed to fly; after all,
it looks easy!
“We modelers, AMA, and manufacturers, have been doing a
poor job of educating the public since the same questions have
been coming up for more than 30 years! The answer is PR on a
Flying Site Assistance
Joe Beshar
Coordinator, Eastern Region,
Districts I - VI
198 Merritt Dr., Oradell NJ 07649
Tel.: (201) 261-1281
Fax: (201) 261-0223
E-mail: [email protected]
Wes De Cou,
Coordinator, Western Region
Districts VII - XI
Voice: (480) 460-9466; Cell: (480) 540-3368; Fax: (480) 460-9434
202 W. Desert Flower Ln., Phoenix AZ 85045
E-mail: [email protected]
Finding—Preserving—Maintaining
Club suggestions:
Put a large “Visitors Welcome” sign up marking your
field.
Most importantly, have someone at the field during
flying hours who can meet and greet visitors, explain what
is going on, and then thank them for coming.
Explain the cost of getting into the hobby.
Offer free flight training when joining your club.
Have an RC flight simulator at your club for new
students to practice on before they ever touch the real
controls.
Have three instructors sign up as introductory pilots and
let interested people fly with them.
Have Boy or Girl Scouts, Big Brother or Big Sister
clubs, and other youth organizations come out to your field
to watch and get on the sticks.
Get your club members to understand the importance of PR.
Have someone in charge of PR for your club.
Have a Web site and link to as many other sites as you
can. Update it regularly.
Go online and find Web sites that have a list of
community events in your area. Go to your community Web
site and list your events at no cost.
Get involved with your school system by offering classes
or be an outside resource speaker on aerodynamics and RC
modeling.
Get involved with local youth using AMA’s Education
Program.
Provide free back issues of aeromodeling magazines to
the local libraries and youth in your programs.
Offer to start an aviation unit in the kids’ section of the
library.
Get AMA tapes and show them as a program for the
Kiwanis, Lions Club, etc. These groups are always looking
for a program.
Do as many mall shows or county fairs as you can in
your county and neighboring counties.
Have a food/can drive to benefit the families in your
area, or collect teddy bears for the children traumatized in
auto accidents and give them to the EMS, fire, or sheriff
department. Make sure the local paper runs a photo of the
donation in the paper.
Hosting an event:
Advertise your event and invite the public to attend.
Print many event flyers, one for the modelers you want to
attend your event, and one for the general public telling them
about your facilities, a suggestion to bring a lawn chair,
restrooms or portable facilities, concessions available, and
what they can expect to see once they get there. Offer easy
access to areas for the handicapped.
Print event flyers on bright or neon colored paper and
place these flyers in schools, popular restaurants, barber and
beauty shops, veterans clubs, local airport pilot rooms, hobby
shops, and high-traffic convenience stores within a 20-mile
radius of your field.
For modelers who enter your events, provide shirts with a
silk-screened event logo and the location so they can
advertise for you. Offer extra shirts for sale to attendees.
Make a list of newspapers, penny pinchers, radio stations,
and TV stations. Obtain contact names and mail or fax press
releases two weeks in advance of the event date. Follow up
with a telephone call one week before the event to see if a
news crew is assigned to your event. Offer to fly an airplane
for the crew Friday before the event so they will have
footage for the 6 p.m. and 10 p.m. news. Always attach a
color photo with a caption attached to the press release.
Always write the caption for the picture. If a modeler in the
photo is local, include the name in the caption. Place in the
press release the “who, what, where, and when” of your
events—especially the flying times.
Asked to be listed in the weekend events guide. Observe
the deadlines for submissions and call if your release doesn’t
get in.
Get a local TV personality from a morning show and put
him or her on the stick of a trainer live or on tape to show in
the evening news on Thursday or Friday night.
Have an area for adequate parking and have club members
park the cars so you can get more cars in a limited area. If your
club members won’t do the parking, have the Civil Air Patrol
do it and let them ask for donations. Some clubs make $800 to
$1,000 just on parking. Good close parking attracts visitors.
Provide eight to ten signs with arrows marking the way to
your field. Keep them large and easy to read. Place them at
all critical intersections.
local level done by your club. Put someone
in your club in charge of nothing but PR.”
I’ll leave you with some of George’s
ideas for community involvement and
good public relations for the club, ideas for
hosting an event, and ideas for during the
event.
These suggestions are all good ways to
bring recognition to your club. I hope you
find it as interesting as I do and beneficial
to your club.