Increasing Match Attendance!

[chuckbradley]

We had 2 clubs here that used to shoot on Saturday. Their turnout was poor and they dont exist anymore. One club even had ice chests full of drinks and snacks on the range free for shooters and had donuts, coffee, & milk in the morning during set up and sign ups. They did really good for a while but the Saturday Match seems to always get put aside with other obligations. Maybe try some matches where you open it up to both days, Saturday & Sunday and see what happens.

Other methods are to get the email list from the other clubs and send out a couple of reminders the week before and a couple days before. Make sure start times are known. I have not gone to matches before when i wasnt sure of the start time.

That many stages must be a draw. Are there too many clubs shooting in the area? More than the given number of shooters can support? ASk around. If there is a reason they are not coming you can be assured they are telling others why they arent going or dont like about it. Do an email asking for info.

Hope it works out.

[Jim Norman]

One thing that we do is make announcements matches. We announce what is happening at our club in the near future. THEN we ask if there are any other announcements. So, Go to matches in your area and ask the MD if you can announce your match at his. Obviously you would allow him to announce his at yours right?

You will be preaching to the choir soto speak, but how often do we hear that there was a match of some sort nearby that we'd never heard of? Everyone thinks that everyone already knows about their match.

Don't aasume this.

Jim

[Nik Habicht]

I know there are approx. 30-40 IPSC shooters in the area but the BEST turn out I have been able to assemble is 24 shooters back during the spring. I am averaging 14 shooters per match, had 11 yesterday. The range where we shoot was IDPA before I begain my matches and they had 33 last month!! Is there anything I am missing here? Any and all suggestions are WELCOMED!!

Sorry for the run-on paragraph

Randal

Randal,

you may not be missing anything. I just counted my e-mail distribution list for local shooters --- it contains 137 names. Best turnout ever was 69 shooters; we averaged 47 or 48 last year, or about one third of the shooters in the area. If you've got 30-40 shooters, and you're averaging 14, you're probably right on track.....

That said, if you think there might be more shooters in the area, a marketing plan could help. Mention your match at others, encourage people to give you their e-mail addresses so you can put them on the match announcements list, and then send the reminder announcement on Monday or Tuesday before your match. Check the weather forecast, and mention it if it's good, talk about the stages and the round count, anything to build an interest and a feeling of "Ooh, I can't wait until Saturday, so I can go play...."

When I took this match over in Summer 2003, we were averaging 32-33 shooters; we've had fifty percent growth, but it took more than three years....

[Steve J]

Local culture surely has a lot to do with it as I have looked at tons of shooting schedules from around the nation and noticed there are a lot of Saturday matches bellow the Mason/Dixon line.

Sunday must be church, family lunch and then NASCAR.

We work week ends up here; especially Saturday.

It is just another day of the work week.

I took this Saturday off from work to work my other job.

FM

our club is in San Antonio, it shoots on Sunday & has for 25 years. When I started shooitng with it Saturday was a normal work day for ..? 3/4s the shooters. The normaly shooter - got his hands dirty at work. Just a few were Profesional type. The high $$ race gun cost $ 1,200

My guess is that less than 1/4 of the shooters work on Saturday now.

Church & Sunday to me are not a conflict = every day is a Holly Day to me, so Sunday is for friends and joy. And... making a joyfull sound,

So I was driving to a match one Sunday morning, it might have been AlamoShooter's, and I pass a church with one of those big signs out front. It read: A HYPOCRIT IS SOMEONE WHO IS NOT HIMSELF ON SUNDAY. So I thinks to myself, I says "Self, you sure don't have to worry about that."

[DrawandDuck]

Thanks for all the support.....I had 28 turn out for March and 21 for April (even though it was 45 with a 30mph wind). I guess I had the WINTER blues when I posted. The match is becoming known for having QUALITY stages. One GREAT thing is that over the 2 last matches I have had 8 and 6 new shooters respectively attend. I DO believe with the warmer weather the attendance will hold between 20-30 for the summer months.

Thanks again,

Randal

[tomfturner]

Draw, as someone else has said, just get the word out. I had no idea there were any clubs in the area that shot USPSA 'til my wife started working with a shooter.

[DrawandDuck]

Just a quick update. Our August match had 35 in attendance with 100 degree heat and this past Saturday we had 33 turn out on Labor Day weekend!! I appreciate everyones input and hopefully we will keep growing here in Birmingham, AL. We are now designing the stages and preparing for the Rifle match the 5th Saturday, David already has a thread with the match info going.

Randal