Subject:  Field Trips and Adult Programs Notes |
Author:
Ken- CT
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Date Posted: 13:08:51 09/19/03 Fri
Field Trips and Adult Programs
What makes a good field trip?
How to attract adults/How to attract teens
• Regular newsletters
• Statewide newsletters and each regional center sends out its own
• PR- press releases does help
• Electronic newsletters- how effective? Use to attract a slightly younger crowd, can be less staff time consuming-much easier than postcards. People who have all signed up for it. Some concerns about spam blocking
• Where to grow? Yoga- not so mission oriented “Connecting to nature with yoga” is growing
• VT- not so successful with adult programs, no field trips, chapters do free trips
Collaborating w/other states
• Ecotour for teens- Janet- Summer 05 trips to NW, Colorado, Belize, not sure if she could fill them on their own. Great to have like minded teens to compare their regional experiences
• Create Alliance certification program, and young person to cycle through all of our organizations
• Belize- tropical research educational center (TREC) Ken _____, they have a website, center on Ambergese Cay (sp?). He could help customize a trip for us. Say Helen sent you…
• Think of our state’s specialties- ME has pelagics, Monhegan; NJ has Cape May, horseshoe crabs. Could we come up with programs that would be led by the local Audubon, and opened up to all memberships, and each Audubon could get a commission on the trip?
• Could it be a web site message board vs. list-serve
How to work with regional chapters/centers
Fees- consistency
• Run many program at the center will be a loss. Fees that are low $3-8 per person is more for friendraising
• NJ, ANS offers weekend trip without meals and lodging included, sends participants a list of suggested places to eat and stay. Everyone drives themselves, and meet at specific times and locations ($40-50/person would break even, cover leader’s costs-ANS) (NJ charges $40-100)
• CT, ME trips all inclusive, or very close, they want the transportation, lodging, food taken care of for them
• What is the formula for making these trips cost effective—length plays a big part in pricing, how long you’ve been running the trip helps decrease the costs
• CT- writes a spreadsheet budget for each trip, helps to calculate our minimum participant rate, add an overhead fee to our costs, target amount on our overhead
Do you give your members all the subjects they want?
Most successful trips/topics
• ME- Monhegan Island-takes some logistics, old fashion hotel in spring and fall for birds
• CT- boat trips- Roseate terns, Eagles, lighthouses/birds, fall foliage, spectacular swallow roost site
• Spectacle- once a year events- horseshoe crabs on the bayshore, hawkwatching,
• Locations you wouldn’t go on your own- safety in numbers- DC trip to a dicey park; Bronx Zoo from RI
• Offering transportation can attract people who don’t like to drive on highway, deal with parking, can be more social
Day trips more difficult to provide transportation, ME sends participant list to encourage carpooling
Bus trips at Weis can be popular- whale watch
• South Beach, Cape is good destination for middle of the week
• Where to go with teens- most major birding destinations, Audubon Expeditions Institute was competitive with summer camps, attracted a national audience, mostly mid-east coast participants: ages 14-16 before they can get a job. Key to line up resource people at the destination to learn the sides of environmental issues
• Combining grandparent/grandchild trips were well liked
• “Birds of the night” “meteor shower hike”
• More rustic/backwoods- Boundary waters, some challenges with older participants, outfit the entire trip
• St John River- ME outfitter for everything, mostly out of state, 5 people, didn’t lose $$
• Hog Island- teen backcountry week on the back side of the Island by kayak is successful, adult program is building
• VT teen backpacking trip- filled with waiting list, incorporates backpacking skills, but more on natural history of the Green Mountains
• Some younger people don’t want a hard-core backpacking trip or being “alone in the woods”, but appreciate Audubon trip for natural history experience
What is a successful program (is it selling out? Do the participants learn a lot?)
-evaluation is enthusiastic
- find the target species, or making them happy without finding the targets
- Sells out- it covers its costs
- Good weather, or adjust to the weather, turn it into an event to remember
-Good leader- can switch to when there’s not birds to other things
- Destination is important
- timing
-educational
-when to cancel a trip due to weather
- Setting good expectations
- With teens- an element of challenge
- With teens- setting a pre-trip meeting to break the ice, set expectations
- With adults- to go over cultural issues
- Pre-trip packets mailed, size based on size of trip- send it about 2-4 weeks ahead send reading lists farther in advance; some packets sent in pieces; send previous trip checklists to help study target species
-Post trip packets for overnights- send checklist, evaluation (CAS- ME sends eval ahead of time), thank you note
- Getting bird list on to state bird alert is a challenge
-Getting access to places you normally can’t get to attracts participants
Good leaders are:
• Flexible,
• safety oriented,
• personable,
• responsive,
• knowledgeable,
• good people skills,
• ability to share,
• organized,
• prepared,
• general natural history skills beyond birds,
• good ethics (demonstrate good birding ethics),
• good representative of the organization,
• good group management skills, attentiveness to the group,
• all inclusive of the group,
• maintain the leadership role
Getting participants to get out of birder/botanist mentality to conservationist
How mission driven are field trips- or is it revenue driven?
Staffing issues of field trips (paid/volunteer/mix/leader burnout)
• NJ- all overnights have staff. ¾ of day trips done by volunteers “Associate naturalists” let them pick and choose the trips they want to lead
Get new leaders through some long time participants, many come to you
Train the volunteers in basic leadership skills- safety, group management
• Cult followings develop with some of these leaders
• Leaders play into the market for the trip- their skills attract like minded participants
How much does the field trip aspect of the program to the rest of the organization-what is the goal of the field trip department? What is it’s role in the org?
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