Organisers Mentors

[AndyH]

Waiting to be shot down but .......

There seems to be a lot of some organisers who are not IT literate. I would guess that they are excellent organisers, otherwise they wouldn't be doing it.

A new organiser needs a mentor.
A new organiser who is not a rider of AUK events may need a riding mentor.

Is there not a place in the system for an "IT Mentor" or to look after some of the keyboard related stuff that an otherwise excellent organiser may lack skill in. Also would this not prime some of us in our 20's 30's & 40's to become organisers in the future ?

If receiving & printing & then transcribing & replying to emails and processing papal payments kept an event going I would be happy to do it.

However I am not volunteering for anything as I have already put myself forward to take over an event that would be ending next year because the org is retiring.

[simonp]

I don't think you need to be IT literate to use a web browser or email nowadays.  It hasn't been necessary for years.

[Weirdy Biker]

IIRC there were moves by the committee to require organisers to have a valid email address that riders can use, thereby assuming a minimum level of IT capability.

I'm not going to opine on whether this is a good or bad thing.

[hellymedic]

Isn't it a bit extreme to be paying The Pope? 
IGMC...

[mattc]

Isn't it a bit extreme to be paying The Pope? 
IGMC...

Well spotted. I can confirm that AUK have not informed me of a Papal Payments requirement.

Yet.

[AndyH]

Isn't it a bit extreme to be paying The Pope? 
IGMC...

It didn't work yesterday ..... rain was provided which was not what I thought I'd paid for. 

I don't think you need to be IT literate to use a web browser or email nowadays.  It hasn't been necessary for years.

Agreed but the thread about the Midhurst 1000 implies that it may be an issue in some cases. And to use email / browser assumes ownership of a suitable bit of hardware. (I almost said PC)

[simonp]

Isn't it a bit extreme to be paying The Pope? 
IGMC...

It didn't work yesterday ..... rain was provided which was not what I thought I'd paid for. 

I don't think you need to be IT literate to use a web browser or email nowadays.  It hasn't been necessary for years.

Agreed but the thread about the Midhurst 1000 implies that it may be an issue in some cases. And to use email / browser assumes ownership of a suitable bit of hardware. (I almost said PC)

Try running an event without a car.

[DanialW]

Agreed but the thread about the Midhurst 1000 implies that it may be an issue in some cases. And to use email / browser assumes ownership of a suitable bit of hardware. (I almost said PC)

Access, rather than IT literacy, is usually the issue.

There are already a few 'email buddies' that support some of Audax UK's organisers. Sometimes it works well, sometimes it doesn't. That's usually down to the organisational skills of those involved more than anything else.

With my events sec hat on, it's an approach that I welcome, though I'd have to be happy that emails, particularly those from riders and the events team, actually got answered in a reasonable time, i.e. a week.

[jogler]

IIRC there were moves by the committee to require organisers to have a valid email address that riders can use, thereby assuming a minimum level of IT capability

It occurs to me that e-mail comms can be counter-productive.The thread relating to the Midhurst 1000 is perhaps an example.
I believe that a compulsory reqiurement for organisers to have/use IT comms. is unwise.
Some individuals who have a preference for snailmail/telephone comms. may become excluded.

[hellymedic]

Surely what matters is reliability and prompt response, not the medium?

[jogler]

Surely what matters is reliabity and prompt response, not the medium?

 a very appropriate nutshell

[DanialW]

Surely what matters is reliabity and prompt response, not the medium?

a very appropriate nutshell

Royal Mail is not a reliable medium, as many of my perm riders will know.

That aside, the events team could not manage to do their work if they had to communicate by post. When things go wrong, we need to be able to get hold of organisers easily. In my experience, email is by far the best way to do this.

[hellymedic]

I do not dispute email is good, cheap, speedy and efficient if people answer emails.

Some people cannot/will not use email; their inclusion may be a pain but it's churlish to reject them.

[frankly frankie]

Some people just hate web forms (I include myself) or with the best will in the world their brains are reduced to mush by a screenful of empty form fields. 
On a long event like a 1000 which will have loads of controls, it probably does all get a bit daunting.  When I set up the Planner (for it was I) my idea was that Orgs could tackle this job piecemeal - just the basic Calendar info one day maybe, come back and tackle the controls a month later.  That's why it's set up as a collection of small forms rather than one big one.  However ideas have changed and the Events Secs now prefer Orgs to get as much info on the board as early as possible.

Is there not a place in the system for an "IT Mentor" or to look after some of the keyboard related stuff that an otherwise excellent organiser may lack skill in.

With a team of 5 or so Events Secs, I expected that they could each take on this role where necessary - and I think they do, if reluctantly.

[mattc]

I can answer the phone much faster than answering an email (and my phone is on for more of the time!). Anything other than a yes/no/how_many question is faster to resolve by phone than email.

HOWEVER, these things vary between folk (and with how folk use the various media*), so if the Events Team have a preference, that is probably their choice.

[I'm not going to address the issue of whether orgs should be dragged into any particular technological era]

*as an extreme example, I expect the deaf/blind would have a strong preference for one or the other form of comms.

[Billy Weir]

Couldn't find a more appropriate thread to ask the organiser collective.

I've had a rider send a brevet back with incorrect postage (meaning a trip to the GPO and £1.12 to be paid).  Whilst trivial in isolation, this isn't the first time and, though rare, is starting to get on my goat.

Do any (perm) organisers out there not bother going to the GPO to pick up these?  Or, if you do, how do you ask the rider to reimburse you?

[JohnHamilton]

Can't say as I've had this happen with brevet cards but I have had it happen with event entries. My policy is that it's the riders/entrants responsibility to get the postage right. So I simply don't collect anything with incorrect postage.

[postie]

some organisers dont help by stuffing  my a5 S.A.E full of paperwork that has nothing to do with the event or even cycling!!!!
 twice in the last year i have had stuff from organisers with a surcharge from royal mail.