Discussion: Pin punching

Just be glad they didn't make you copy the course from a master map, on the clock. ;-) Yeah, we've bellyached about NEOC's non-member fees too... (doesn't matter if you're a member of another club or federation...). So this year when they offered the "anniversary" discounts, we bit.

EMPO, HVO, WCOC and NEOC this year, plus OUSA of course. Not sure we're getting our money's worth. But that's okay. :-)

I don't know how I feel about being a member of a club I don't expect to volunteer for. I was considering it today, but then decided if I wasn't going to help them out, I probably deserved to pay the full fee.

And also, I seem to remember I paid $12 for pin punching AND master map copying at Ward Pound Ridge. Not on the clock though.

Well, thanks to your 12$ we were able to pay 3K$ to digitise the map, so hopefully next WPR event will have pre-printed courses...

And SI, if things are still going well?

Flags too :)

How were the map and course quality? It looks like Oystein destroyed the course; did he have a good time? The NEOC-CT guys are a doughty group. Unfortunately, they are sufficiently remote that it's difficult to get the NEOC e-punch gear down to them.

I didn't actually meet Oystein, so I don't know! It was a good course and though the map is in need of a trails/veg based update, the rest of it is very good. I liked it!

I realize I'm resurrecting an old thread, but earlier remarks brought to my attention the purpose of membership. I'm active in both CSU and NEOC, and the two clubs have very different approaches to membership.

CSU doesn't actively seek out members; the club seems only interested in having the membership of people who want to be active and make contributions to the club's efforts. While there is some incentivizing of the membership - a discount at the Bermans' store, meet fees are identical for members and non-members. I would guess that most CSU members don't recoup their membership fee in store purchases, though I don't actually know that.

NEOC, conversely, tries to engage as many people in the community as possible. The club is interested in maximizing its membership in the hope that membership will encourage people to come to more events and participate in club activities. Particularly this year, membership is highly incentivized - both this year and in the past, an individual only need to attend two local meets to make back the membership fee in discounted meet fees. Part of the thinking of this year's membership = free meet attendance was that the energy barrier to attending additional meets would be reduced (and volunteer work at meets would also be reduced).

CSU tries to find and recruit contributors; NEOC tries to find and recruit orienteering consumers. NEOC's membership is basically a season pass. I'm not sure what the best metaphor is for CSU's - perhaps a fraternity, a secret society, or a commune. NEOC's model is primarily financial, whereas CSU's provides a much more cohesive notion of group. Perhaps NEOC could disambiguate; if the club referred to its membership as a "season pass," there might be less confusion.

Also, while NEOC's non-member fees are higher than WCOC's ($5 for beginner, $10 for advanced courses as opposed to $6?), I don't think they're unreasonable. A single entry fee covers borrowing e-punch and compass for those who lack them, and access to all the courses at a meet. The absolute maximum anyone should pay for an entire year of NEOC events is $20 under the current model. While the amount a visitor pays for a single event is higher than the corresponding WCOC visitor (or CSU, I guess, with a flat $6/person/event), the NEOC fees are not unreasonable in context with other sports.

I welcome feedback; I'm only on the NEOC board for another 40 hours, but I would be happy to forward any remarks uncensored to the other members on the board.

The thing is, paying 50% as much to do one NEOC event as a member would pay to do a whole season worth, particularly as a member of a club that would give NEOC members the member rate if they visited, is just plain annoying.