December 2011/January 2012 survey results

About the survey...  The survey was commissioned: (a) to provide feedback to the Committee about the past 12 months, and (b) to direct where the priorities lie for next 12 months.  We have 591 members – where the same address was provided for numerous members, only one survey was sent  We had a completion rate of 89.2%

[ Continued ]

If there was one change you could make to improve the Club, what would it be?

Do you have any further feedback of areas of the Club we have not addressed?

Themes and recommendations

Communication & transparency Increased transparency with regard to Committee decisions. Suggestions include: –Pre-publishing meeting agendas –Meeting minutes (including discussions and decisions) to be available to all members within a week of the meeting –Treasurer’s report to be available to all members within a week of the meeting – and electronic newsletters voted the primary method of communication to members Recommend a member volunteer to be a Communications Officer, ensuring communication across all groups is delivered to members

Committee and atmosphere New Committee has received a lot of feedback, with the majority very positive Overall members are “very happy with the way the Club is being run” (67%) with “the Club having the best atmosphere I’ve seen in 15 years” Members have requested that the Committee focus on: –Communication, both verbal and written. Feedback ranged across: Social media (what is appropriate communication in a public forum) s (being polite rather than demanding, and actively responding to the official PTC address) Club newsletter (a great tool but requires some tweaking) Verbal (some members have expressed concern about being able to verbally communicate ideas or opinions to Committee members without emotion attached) Being approachable (Committee members have been asked to lead the way in removing the “cliques” that exist in order to make new members uncomfortable)

Club races/Family focus Club atmosphere, and race atmosphere, have both been described as “awesome” The Committee were broadly commended for what have implemented with the junior races Club races have by and large been catering to families, however a large percentage of members do not have children (58.1%) and would prefer the money be spent to the benefit of the wider membership with “a focus on the racing and not the frills” Majority of members would prefer cheaper race fees and less add-ons (such as jumping castles, slushie machines, food, etc) The largest request by far for funding was for race infrastructure, and particular an electronic timing system Recommend the Committee develop a financial plan outlining further investment in race infrastructure

Value for money Despite the requests for alternative methods of spending, PTC had 89.7% of members who believe they receive value for money with their membership, as opposed to only 28.2% believing they obtain value for money from their TA/Tri NSW membership PTC Committee may like to share this feedback with Tri NSW and lobby for better value for money, with members wanting more transparency about what they are getting for their membership

Inclusion for newer members Newer members indicated discomfort/apprehension at attending club events due to not being part of the clique There were numerous suggestions about social and technical mentoring: –Introducing the new members to current members –Explaining to those members the in’s and out’s of training and racing “When it is someone's first tri or first time at panthers club, it would be great if someone from the club / committee touched base with them, just a bit of a welcome would be great – it’s very daunting turning up the first time and having to work out how things work, what the go is....esp when everyone else looks like they know exactly what they are doing !!.....thanks” Recommend a member volunteer to manage and implement the establishment of a buddy system for new members

Club Championships 50% of members are aware of the current format for determining Club Champion, and 45.5% have read the points policy. However % don’t know the current system, which indicates that it may not be clearly understood 25.6% have no opinion 8.5% believe it is very good, with 13.1% rating it as good (a total of 21.6% rating it positively) 21.1% believe that it isn’t working and needs revision. [Continued]

Club Championships In contrast, 52.9% believe that the Club Champion should be determined by an athlete that has performed consistently over the season, calculated by a points system and includes age group weighting (as per the current policy) There are some clear discrepancies with the results, indicating that further discussion/education should be undertaken with a review of the policy. Given that 83.2% of members believed that the current policy remain in place until the end of the season, it is recommended interested members volunteer to be a part of a (short-term) Club Champs Working Committee to review the system for next season.

PTC and PIS Despite there being no mention of the group, there were a lot of comments about PTC and PIS in the open-ended questions, including: –General confusion about the relationship between the two groups –Questions about whether PIS is the official Ironman branch of PTC and why this isn’t applied to all Ironman races and athletes –Concerns as to whether it sits well alongside the family-oriented focus of PTC. Recommend that the PTC and PIS Committees discuss the relationship between the groups and provide clarification for members as to how the two groups will/will not collaborate in the future.

Racing and uniforms Central themes included: –Great feeling about the re-branding of the Club, but a lot of feedback about the unflattering design of the uniforms to larger athletes and the transparency issues –Ironman as the main focus: those who have undertaken Olympic distance races at representative levels indicated they would like more recognition/acknowlegement for all levels

Top 5 recommendations 1.Review pricing structure (Committee) 2.Establishment of a financial plan for race infrastructure (Committee) 3.Establishment of a Communications Officer to co-ordinate communication to members across the various groups within the Club (member volunteer) 4.Develop and manage a buddy system for new members (member volunteer) 5.Establishing a Club Champs Working Committee to review the current policy for implementation next season (member volunteer). A huge congrats to the Committee for not only the hard work they put in, but also for having the nerve to undertake this process! It is important to note that although feedback can be turned into recommendations, the exercise is only worthwhile if those members making suggestions volunteer to assist with the implementing these recommendations. Please put up your hand!