Rider Base

[Mama Bear]

Hey everyone, with all these great minds in here, let's put them together and come up with ways to grow our rider base, ie; contest or clinics...
It's all about the riders and FUN ! We need more of both !
Let's come up with some new "blood" and some "fun activities" !
All the other will work out we just need to focus on the riders and how we can all help improve the great sport of BMX in Utah !

[D Cook]

Hi
I am not sure who you areMama Bear, however this was brought up in the post Rather Than.... and some ideas have been suggested, if you have some we would love to hear them.

I am planning on using the year end party at Deseret Peak BMX on the 25th to take ideas and make public the things we have put in place so far.
I would like to get together a group of volunteers sometime this winter to decide how and what needs to be done to benefit all Utah tracks, if you are interested in helping with this please email me, post here, or send a private message!

Diana
Deseret Peak Bmx

[J Gallo]

I just had one idea, but I'm not sure how easy it would be to implement.

Obviously there are a TON of bikes being sold every day in the SLC valley and surrounding areas in various shops. How can we get a BMX flyer into the hands of each person that buys a bike? At stores like Taylor's, Golsan's, etc, it may be as easy as asking the shop owners to help. But what about places like Wal-mart, Kmart, etc. Anyone know people that work at these stores that might help? I wonder if we could get a BMX flyer put in with the bike's paperwork?

Just a thought.....

[D Cook]

Jason,
Great Idea!

I do know that we have placed flyers at the bike shops around salt lake and tooele, and I know that a few people have come to the track or called about it.

I would guess in order to get a flyer in with the bikes paperwork it would take getting approval from the manufacture, because in a way that would be them promoting a specific track or sport. We could start sending out letters to the manufactures

As far as getting flyers out of the store with each bike, that might be an easier task, (if the employees remember to do it) we could ask at the shops that they make sure a flyer goes with each bike. if that is not an option we could at least ask to leave flyers at each store as advertising.

[J Gallo]

I had mentioned this awhile back, but I think this would fall more under Rider Retension......

How about some kind of mentoring program? Where NFM's could have someone to go to with questions, feedback, tips, etc. To me, I think some NFM's have a tough time at first because they see other more experienced riders and can't do what they do, then compounded with losing most of your first moto's. I would imagine that some get so frustrated they stop racing and don't come back.

Maybe we could assign 2 or 3 NFM's to an experience rider (hopefully people would want to volunteer to be mentor's). I think this could also help grow the rider base in the end, because most of these kids have friends that will want to try it out if they hear how great it is.

Just another thought....

[D Cook]

Jason,
you have some great ideas here, are you coming to our year end party?
there is a post about it here in the message boards.

Diana

[sspencer]

We do have some great people and we need to gather these great minds to compile a list of what we can do to promote the tracks, the sport and increase participation.
Jason Melton and I have began brainstorming some promotional ideas. Lets start the list here then we can plan our "meeting of the minds" down the road and have something to work from.
1) "Bring Out Your Buddies" contest. The ABA has supported this type of promotion in the past and I just barely found out RC was doing it this year. Staats is looking to jump in and support the local scene and we will put together a program that can be used at all the tracks. It will definitely be worth the riders efforts.
2) Get the local shops more involved. Create incentives for the shops to promote BMX. Just dropping of a stack of flyers wont cut it.
3) Free race tags for BMX bikes in shops. Again, this is something the ABA has done in the past and would be very easy to create and distribute.
4) Practice night parties. One practice night a month should be set aside as a BBQ/Game-Night/Jump Contest/Practice. We would ask that everyone bring out at least one friend who doesnt race and expose them to BMX and night of FUN! It would be a great social event for all who attend, a break from monotony of a regular practice night, attract new riders and potentially increase rider counts for all practice nights.
5) New Rider Programs. New riders and their families need to feel welcomed and accepted at all races. The current new rider program has set a great foundation to be built apon to enhance the new rider experience.
- New riders receive a "WELCOME" packet (number plate, stickers, track schedules, ABA literature)
- Assign a "Buddy" to a rider/family for their first night so they can be with them every step of the way so they dont feel lost or overwhelmed.
- New riders/families are given name tags so they can be recognized as the new kids-on-the-block. All track "regulars" will be informed to always greet and offer assistance to those who are wearing the name tags.
- New riders get introduced at the beginning of races after their new rider meeting on infield.
- Once a month, a new rider clinic will be scheduled so to help the new riders learn the basics of riding, etiquette, bike maintanence, etc.

I have tons of other ideas and will add them later.

Lets see what you guys got?

Steve

[D Cook]

Steve and Jason,
Those are all great ideas, a few of them we have been using all year, and will continue on into the years to come. this year we have also added our bicycle safety rodeo once a month, it is alot like what you have suggested with practice, and we have found that it is great exposure to BMX.

A lot of what has been suggested and what is on my list are things that can be done after the racing season starts, however what we are trying to focus on here in Tooele, is how we can educate our community about BMX and let them know we are here, before the season starts that way they have a few months to get excited, as well as make plans to do this rather than go with the old standard summer time sports.

Some of what we have planned for this fall winter and early spring to help our 2005 season are

1. Continue our School Assembly program
2. Getting our Take home bicycle rodeo into restaurants and
community events so kids can participate.
3. Getting involved in our community with fundraisers, or volunteer projects that will help out the local community.
4. I would like to publish a monthly news letter promoting BMX and each track at the local level, to the general public. (this is much to big a project to try and explain here but it is already in the works and will be introduced on the 25th at Deseret Peak BMX)
5. Each spring Deseret Peak BMX has sponsored a program with the help of local business who donate coupons, this year we will get the crossing guards around town involved, when they see a child wearing a helmet or following the rules of the road, they are given a coupon and information about Deseret Peak BMX (the coupons we used last year were from Carl's Jr for a small fri, this year we are going to be expanding to many more places, we would like to find a place to give small ice cream cones and that kind of thing.)


all of the above are things that can be carried over into the Summer racing season, but we would like to try and get the kids and parents excited way before then so they can start out the Summer with BMX.

This summer we also have plans to get a booth at some fairs to promote the sport, to hold small series through out the season for those who want to take part but also do other sports.
We wil be holding drawings each month, tickets are earned by racing, signing up new riders... etc....
2 practices per month will double as open races for anyone to participate in.

Remember to anyone reading this we will be doing our year end party and planning for next year at Deseret Peak BMX Year End Party....... all are welcome!

Diana

[J Gallo]

I have a somewhat revolutionary idea, though it would take a few years to produce results:

We hang out in the maternity wards at various hospitals and give a free race coupon out for every newborn

Maybe a little too "out of the box"?

[J Gallo]

How about an idea for a fundraiser?

BMX Girl Cookies!

I bet we can make a bike shaped thin mint!

[greg]

well, as you may remember, I did have a few ideas at the begining of the summer that I let slip away from me. I still believe that some are good ideas that should be looked into.

1) pick a month to saturate the market with BMX racing stuff. Make a concerted effort to get posters, flyers, banners, radio, newspaper, etc, out there to make a statement about racing. I don't mean that we have to not have anything the rest of the time, but make it a point to recruit hard during a given time frame.

2) how many pamphlets will the ABA give a track? Is there a limit? If not, we should get them and put them EVERYWHERE.....7-11s, bike shops, blockbusters, motocross & 4-wheeler shops, rec centers, schools, etc

3) How much do the county parks and rec have to do with the tracks? Both Rad and Tooele are on county property, right? Or am I wrong on this? Anyway, SL county sure does seem to print allot of banners for it's other sports programs, i.e football, soccer, baseball, basketball, etc, can we get them to print and hang BMX banners? If the county cant do it, I think we still should get some hung up around town to compete with the other activities available to the youth.

4) I think a booth at fairs, carnivals, 4th of july celebrations, etc would be great. Maybe get a gate like the pro-gate that was at the National, charge a buck or so for so many starts (something like the rock climbers do with their walls). Have a bike or two and some helmets to use, and let the kids go wild. Kind of a high priced idea, but I think it could pay for itself pretty quickly, especially if you had it at the races and charged a buck or two for everyone to use that day inbetween motos or before the motos during practice. You could even go to school carnivals with it to let the kids have some fun, and get exporsure to BMX racing. And, actually, why wait for fairs and carnivals, you could go to any big event....U of U football tailgate parties, AAA baseball games, whatever.....it would be pretty fun to watch drunk old guys challange each other to a race out of the gate...lol can you say liability waiver lol

5) has anyone ever did press releases on big races? There are several press release organizations that you can go through at pretty low cost to send out professional releases to ALL local media. You never know who might pick a story up about Utah racing, but I can assure you that nobody will if you don't let them know about it.

6) get Bill Ryan at Supercross to find my damn frames that are lost in the mail so I can have the second anual greg prawitt-end of year bike give-a-way. It was kind of fun last year to give away that redline bike and supercross devo frame, I was looking forward to doing it again, but it is not to be I guess. Maybe Bill will find them before the end of the winter series and I can do some kind of thing for the last day of inside racing.

That's all I can think of right now, but I'm sure I'll come up with more.

[J Gallo]

I like that idea about the Pro-Gate usage. If I remember right, it also had a timer to show how long it took you to go out of the gate and to a certain line. You could turn it into a competition, like $20 to anyone that can beat a certain time set by a current BMX'er.

I had even thought about setting up some sort of mini-track at fairs and such to let kids "try-out" BMX.

[greg]

I've been thinking about that pro-gate since BEFORE the nationals. Seen the web site and all kinds of things started coming to mind. Trailer mounted so it could be hauled anywhere, has the timing thing, fairly quiet, all you need is a dollar bill taker. We could get rich I tell ya. You provide the front money jason, and I'll provide the storage area (at my house of course).

[greg]

OK, I just wanted to bump this topic up, seeing as how we shouldn't just let it die.

I now have several items available for prizes in a winter series promotion. There are at least two Supercross frames, a 6-disk CD mini-stereo, pretty nice wheelset, and a complete bike (which is just a low cost model right now, but I am working on getting it upgraded to a mid-level racer), as well as other things still in the works.

I'm thinking of a promotion to enhance the friday night races, as well as getting new riders involved. It will be weighted more towards the beginner and Intermediates, but experts still have a chance.

So, Rob, Jason M, Steve S, and whoever else, has there been a "meeting of the minds" yet? I'm hoping to make it out to at least one race this week, and talk face to face, get your inputs and make sure I'm not stepping on toes.

It's a great time to start promoting indoor BMX!!

[Rob A.]

what does everyone think about handing out flyers on halloween along with candy to all the kids that come to your door ? your child could put their name on the back of the flyers' and when they bring them back out to the track your child or yourself would get a free race plus they would get credit for bringing in a new member. we are making up flyers as we speek, just give me a couple of days and then come out on race day and ask for them....we have some great ideas this year for everyone who brings in new members stay tuned and get an early start because everyone has a chance to win something.. Robert A.