Clubs/Schools - your advice?

[Admin]

I am looking into adding some "extras" that I have been wanting to do for some time now like local Clubs and Schools, local Places To Visit, more local Aviation News, local Aviation Events etc for you.

 

But I am puzzled on how or where I should add the listings of all the Clubs and Schools. I think it would be good if you guys added them so you can assume ownership of your entry, be interactive so you can add what's happening at your club or school etc but what's the best way to set it up for you???

 

Is it better to have say a complete section for them say under the "Resources" menu tab?

 

Perhaps there is the "Groups" section instead? I could create a group for each Club or School and then hand the ownership of the group over to a representative of the Club or School. If we do it this way I would need to say put a box of latest Clubs and Schools Entries in the right column of the forums...I wonder whether that would be enough exposure so the listing just doesn't die from non-use?

 

Or would it be better to have say a Forum called "Clubs and Schools" with sub forums for each State, and each Club or School could create their own thread. They could only have one thread so it becomes like a listing just like the way the "ADs and ANs" forum is done. Any new posts in the Clubs and Schools would then come up in the "What's New" feature.

 

It would need to be handy to use I would think so out of sight out of mind could be an issue, the same goes for keeping them up to date with info about your Club or School for everyone. If you are having an event you could use the Aircraft Pilots "Events" System but for general news about your Club or School, they would need to be in a place on the site so all the other users and guests can hear about it in an easy way and not have to go looking for it.

 

The important thing is to create it in a way that enhances the community aspect of the site, gets used and everyone gets to know what's happening around the traps in all the Clubs and Schools out there.

 

What are your thoughts?

 

 

[FlyingVizsla]

Hi Ian,

 

I might be giving you more work .... but how would a map of clubs/flying schools go? Keep them under Groups -> Clubs/Flying Schools. Some sort of pro-forma for searching - state, strip, town, RAA/GA, licence categories taught (LP, TW, etc). The most likely user is the person looking for instruction / BFR and the next is the "tourist" looking for places to drop into. Smaller clubs may end up using it as their place to post minutes and announce the next meeting, working bee, get together etc. If the members or the executive grasp the concept, this site is ideal to have a virtual meeting in Chat without doing a ring around. I don't think our clubs & schools have realised the extent of resources and how to use them, that this site offers. Just an example, instead of 4 people driving to a central point to discuss a proposal it could be done at 8pm in Chat in a private meeting, and then the outcome posted on the site.

 

That's just my quick thoughts.

 

Sue

 

 

[Admin]

Thanks Sue, as always, for your great thoughts on this...YES, you are correct in saying that this site offers so much to Clubs and Schools already and if there isn't something here then the willingness to add it here for them is overwhelming...they just gotta say something so I know what I can do for them.

 

Using "Groups" with its inbuilt ability to add an "Alert" to the users that are members of the Group is a good idea...thanks so much for your input!

 

 

[old man emu]

Is it better to have say a complete section for them say under the "Resources" menu tab?

My suggestion is to create a "Clubs and Schools" tab on the major menu bar after "Members"

 

I could create a group for each Club or School and then hand the ownership of the group over to a representative of the Club or School.

Yes. Create a Group for each Club or School in the "Clubs and Schools" tab. You could ask a representative of the club or school to be the monitor of its Group.

 

Or would it be better to have say a Forum called "Clubs and Schools" with sub forums for each State, and each Club or School could create their own thread. They could only have one thread so it becomes like a listing just like the way the "ADs and ANs" forum is done. Any new posts in the Clubs and Schools would then come up in the "What's New" feature.

Each club or school within the Group section could have a Forum where members could create threads which are particularly relevant to the club or school, so leaving matters of general interest to the all-ready existing forums.

 

The important thing is to create it in a way that enhances the community aspect of the site, gets used and everyone gets to know what's happening around the traps in all the Clubs and Schools out there.

Quite so.

 

Old Man Emu

 

 

[Deskpilot]

Err! forgive me if I'm wrong, but doesn't this site have a 'no advertising' rule? Confused

 

 

[Admin]

Err! forgive me if I'm wrong, but doesn't this site have a 'no advertising' rule? Confused

Not when it comes to Clubs as these are not commercial concerns, the more the merrier. In the case of Schools, there can be a fine line that is hard to draw between being added in an "advisory" way, like a service, but not done to death as a hard sell for commercial gain in the general forums. This proposed Clubs and Schools section will hopefully put the Schools thing into perspective as a service to the site users...does that help at all Doug?

 

 

[Admin]

OME, thanks for your input...so I take what you are saying as having a separate "Top Level" section using forums as the medium (much the same way as I have done the News section...have I got that correct?

 

Real Estate on the Main Menu is a premium and "Clubs and Schools" is a lot of premium space used (even shortened to "Clubs/Schools" so something would have to go from the Main Menu. I kind of manipulated the News Section to, apart from the News Reader, to display the News and Podcasts forums and when in there the News Tab remains highlighted. Any new threads and posts can be made to show up in the "What's New" feature so that would be a plus in bringing Clubs and Schools updates to the users...good thought OME.

 

Doing it this way would mean we would have forums (not displayed in the main forums page but just in the Clubs and Schools section) being Vic, NSW, QLD etc and one thread per entity. I could even have a template that is used to create an entry (a new listing thread) that requires fields like Type, Location etc that creates the opening post of the thread...it's a thought!

 

 

[old man emu]

...so I take what you are saying as having a separate "Top Level" section using forums as the medium (much the same way as I have done the News section...have I got that correct?

That's the general idea. I don't know enough about the directory structure of the site to comment on how you would set up the Groups, then the individual forums. But I think you grasp my meaning.

 

OME