TRDYamahauler
Member
- Location
- Kootenays, BC
I attended, it was my first shooting match of any kind and I had a great time and I am really looking forward to next year! I kind of enjoyed working in the butts, it was neat to be on that end of the range. As far as constructive criticism for next year, first let me say I do completely understand that any volunteer-centric organization usually ends up where 10% of the people are doing 90% of the work so I understand that dynamic and totally appreciate the effort put in to organize, run and score an event like this. It sounds like too there was some problems leading up to the match that resulted in running behind and somewhat disorganized before the event even started and a lot of that sounded like just bad luck.
As far as room to improve I think having the shooters work the butts was alright, the trouble with that is every relay change you need to train the new staff to do their jobs. Where I saw that cause a slow down was a few times the targets weren’t laid out and organized well or when the instructions weren’t all clear and concise. Each of these delays were individually fairly minor but they add up. If we could line up a few more drivers and vehicles for shift change too that would save some time. The other thing I saw which contributed to running so far behind schedule was something I’ve seen numerous times in events for my other hobbies and that’s starting the day late. Gates were at 7, I think most guys were on site by 8 or for sure 830 and I think it was almost 1030 or 11 before any actual shooting started. Not sure what was going on first thing but it seemed to take a while to even get to the safety briefing then that was probably longer and wordier than it needed to be. I fully realize no one wants to gloss over safety issues but at the same time I’m not convinced lengthy safety briefings contribute anything to actual safety because people tune out. Be clear, concise, hit the important points and deal with any other problems that pop up when they happen. In any event like this there’s always delays that happen throughout the day and kicking it off late only exacerbates the problem.
That’s what I would focus on for next time and the other thing would be to put out the call for volunteers early instead of waiting until the last moment to ask for help. Many hands make for light work and in other events I’ve been involved in they pay the volunteers a stipend and provide lunch, maybe you need to do that to make it happen. Could bring in a food truck or something to take care of lunches.
tl;dr if the day started early/on time and if there were a few more good volunteers to organize the prop setup and target setup in the butts I think the day would go very smoothly. Again, thanks to everyone who put this on and did volunteer, I really enjoyed it and I appreciate the work. I for sure don’t want to hurt any feelings or seem unappreciative of what was done and I know too there were some unforeseen and uncontrollable difficulties to work thru and there isn’t much to be done about that.
As far as room to improve I think having the shooters work the butts was alright, the trouble with that is every relay change you need to train the new staff to do their jobs. Where I saw that cause a slow down was a few times the targets weren’t laid out and organized well or when the instructions weren’t all clear and concise. Each of these delays were individually fairly minor but they add up. If we could line up a few more drivers and vehicles for shift change too that would save some time. The other thing I saw which contributed to running so far behind schedule was something I’ve seen numerous times in events for my other hobbies and that’s starting the day late. Gates were at 7, I think most guys were on site by 8 or for sure 830 and I think it was almost 1030 or 11 before any actual shooting started. Not sure what was going on first thing but it seemed to take a while to even get to the safety briefing then that was probably longer and wordier than it needed to be. I fully realize no one wants to gloss over safety issues but at the same time I’m not convinced lengthy safety briefings contribute anything to actual safety because people tune out. Be clear, concise, hit the important points and deal with any other problems that pop up when they happen. In any event like this there’s always delays that happen throughout the day and kicking it off late only exacerbates the problem.
That’s what I would focus on for next time and the other thing would be to put out the call for volunteers early instead of waiting until the last moment to ask for help. Many hands make for light work and in other events I’ve been involved in they pay the volunteers a stipend and provide lunch, maybe you need to do that to make it happen. Could bring in a food truck or something to take care of lunches.
tl;dr if the day started early/on time and if there were a few more good volunteers to organize the prop setup and target setup in the butts I think the day would go very smoothly. Again, thanks to everyone who put this on and did volunteer, I really enjoyed it and I appreciate the work. I for sure don’t want to hurt any feelings or seem unappreciative of what was done and I know too there were some unforeseen and uncontrollable difficulties to work thru and there isn’t much to be done about that.
