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North Florida Trailblazers

North Florida Trailblazers. 2013-2014 season proposals, priorities and objectives. North Florida Trailblazers. What are we? Our main objectives. Current serious challenges. Build out leadership team. Expand trail maintenance capabilities. Expand inreach / outreach efforts.

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North Florida Trailblazers

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  1. North Florida Trailblazers 2013-2014 season proposals, priorities and objectives. North Florida Trailblazers, 2013-2014

  2. North Florida Trailblazers What are we? Our main objectives. Current serious challenges. Build out leadership team. Expand trail maintenance capabilities. Expand inreach / outreach efforts. Expand recreational opportunities. Manage Meetup.com resource. Expand FTA and Meetup membership. Expand fundraising efforts. Summary. North Florida Trailblazers, 2013-2014

  3. Regional Chapter of the Florida Trail Association. • Tasked with maintaining, promoting, and protecting “our” section of the FNST. • ~200 FTA members out of a statewide total of ~ 3,500. • ~870 Meetup.com members (some overlap with above). • ~ 12 officers / activity leaders. • Service population of 1.5 million people. What are we? A few notes on who we are and what we do. North Florida Trailblazers, 2013-2014

  4. Maintain our section of the Florida National Scenic Trail. • Promote hiking in the state of Florida. • Work to protect our natural areas / ensure they are available to all today and in the future. • Increase attendance / fee collection in various recreational areas. • Expand / Maintain membership. • Maintain a strong organization, and ensure it’s survival. • Have a blast hiking! Our main objectives. These are the priorities of the chapter. These should always be at the fore-front. North Florida Trailblazers, 2013-2014

  5. Restore section through Keystone Airpark. FAA has shut down this section. This is a superb hike and it is imperative that it be re-opened. • Actively resist conversion to “multi-use”. USFS is attempting to re-route a section near Keystone to a PAVED “Rail Trail”. This move is counter to the original intent of the Florida Trail. We are “Florida’s FOOTpath forever”. Current serious Challenges Our chapter faces 2 serious short term challenges. Activism in these areas is critical. North Florida Trailblazers, 2013-2014

  6. The leadership team is the core of the chapter. • We have had several leaders leave the organization and/or take a reduced role. • Our leadership team is small relative to other chapters. We require a leadership team proportional to the chapter size and regional population. • An active leadership team is a critical component in our other objectives. • Seeking 4+ leaders to organize activities on a regular basis. • Organize leaders-only events / meetings. • Train all leaders in wilderness first-aid. • Business cards for all chapter leaders. • Chapter e-mail addresses. Build out leadership team. The activity leader is the “face” of the chapter to the community. Activity leaders are the initiators and planners of all chapter activities. North Florida Trailblazers, 2013-2014

  7. Our primary objective is to maintain our section of the FNST. • Develop and publish work hike “roster”. • Maintain active inventory of all “high value” equipment items. • Put all power equipment and trailers on maintenance schedule. • Add at least 1 new Section Leader. • Channel all work hike activity through the Trail Coordinator. • Maintain at least 3 serviceable DR mowers in inventory. • Consider execution of 2 or more concurrent work hikes to better leverage volunteer interest. • Shorten the work-hike season (see above). • Leadership team consensus on any extraneous trail development or maintenance. Expand trail maintenance capabilities We have noted increased interest in work hike activities. We will better leverage this interest. North Florida Trailblazers, 2013-2014

  8. We have an obligation to communicate with all Trailblazers FTA members on a regular basis. • Many Trailblazers FTA members are not on Meetup. • Some Trailblazers FTA members do not have internet access. • Some of the members indicated above have been supporters of FTA for decades. • Encourage as many members as possible to communicate via Meetup and/or Internet. • We will improve communications with these various members. Mass e-mailings and USPS mailings have been sent. • Publish and distribute chapter newsletters on a regular basis. • Schedule regular recreational activities for the benefit of Trailblazers FTA members. Expand inreach efforts Inreach is the process of communicating with existing Trailblazers FTA members. May include communicating via Meetup.com, email, “snail mail”, telephone, via chapter meetings, recreational activities, or other in-person gatherings. North Florida Trailblazers, 2013-2014

  9. Our primary “virtual” outreach method is the Meetup.com website. • Other types of outreach can be via booths at fairs, recreational hikes, posters, regular chapter meetings, word of mouth, etc… • Outreach is critical to maintaining and increasing membership. • Promotes FTA, chapter, and other objectives. Expand outreach efforts. Outreach is any effort to reach out to the general community. We must reach people new to hiking, new to the area, or new to the organization. North Florida Trailblazers, 2013-2014

  10. The organization and execution of recreational hikes meets several of our core objectives. • Recreational hikes offer excellent inreach /outreach opportunities. • We love to hike, love to lead hikes, and have an interest in sharing that with the general public. • Regular recreational hikes are a “perk” of FTA membership. • Pursue additional recreational opportunities, and consider concurrent recreational opportunities to better leverage increased and diverse public interest. Expand recreational opportunities We are the area’s premier hiking organization. We have an obligation to the public to give entry level hikers a “leg up” in their hiking career. North Florida Trailblazers, 2013-2014

  11. Continue the use of Meetup.com as our primary “virtual” outreach tool. • Meetup.com has millions of members: Exposes us to a virtually unlimited population of both would-be and active hiking enthusiasts. • Offers us a venue that would be practically impossible to develop and market on our own. • The Meetup.com interface gives the activity leader a great deal of control over the execution of the activity. • Unbound use of Meetup.com has demonstrated the need to set some boundaries on Meetup.com participants. Manage meetup.com resource (1). Continue use of Meetup.com Meetup.com is our primary “virtual” outreach tool. We have moved towards organizing all of our work and recreational events via this facility. This facility exposes us to a vast audience, and has resulted in an explosive interest in our organization. However, like any tool, this one needs to be handled with some care. North Florida Trailblazers, 2013-2014

  12. Uninterested: Attend 1-3 activities and are never heard from again. • Those who step up and join FTA. May overlap with previous group. • Those who frequent activities, but do not join FTA. This category requires additional management. Consider limiting to 4 or 5 activities before joining becomes mandatory. • Chronic “no shows”. Consider expelling Meetup members who exceed a certain # of no-shows. Many Meetups have a “3 and you are out” policy. • Attendees who do not RSVP / are not meetup members. Manage Meetup.com resource (2). Identify and manage group participants. For discussion. I find that activity participants generally fall into one of 5 categories: North Florida Trailblazers, 2013-2014

  13. Mini-Fundraiser concept. Consider “charging” non-FTA members a nominal donation for attending / RSVP’ing. This may limit no-shows. • Consider limiting activities to FTA members (any activity history) and to non-members with limited activity history. • Better track/manage those who do not RSVP. • Limit group sizes via meetup where applicable: Large group sizes are difficult to manage in some situations. • Track no-shows. If they don’t cancel RSVP, don’t attend, and don’t contact the leader within 48 hours, record as no-show. If they do contact, record as did-not-attend. Extend flexibility to FTA members. • Execute concurrent activities at varying locations to better leverage increased and diverse public interest. Manage meetup.com resource (3): Explore methodology. We should explore with / consider / experiment with various ways of making Meetup.com more conducive to our objectives. North Florida Trailblazers, 2013-2014

  14. Increasing Trailblazers FTA membership increases our funding AND our political influence. • Stress the fundamental solid nature of the organization: This is NOT a casual social group. This is an organization that has been around for a long time and will persist into the future. • Stress the importance of supporting hiking in Florida. • Stress that joining is not expensive nor difficult. • Stress that joining FTA bears no obligations. Attending work hikes or supporting other efforts is strictly voluntary. • Support Meetup.com members in joining: Some have complaints about joining via the FTA website. Expand FTA membership FTA members ARE our chapter. By joining, one supports our efforts both financially and politically. North Florida Trailblazers, 2013-2014

  15. Consider charging non-members for recreational activities. • Expand and maintain membership via inreach and outreach efforts. • Pursue the development of chapter specific “specialties”, i.e. Trailblazers “logo” on T-shirts, hats, pens, stickers, etc… • Create chapter Pay Pal account. This would make it easier for various parties to donate to the chapter. Expand fundraising efforts. Increased funds facilitate various chapter initiatives. North Florida Trailblazers, 2013-2014

  16. Pursue use of Meetup.com with some boundaries. • Restore Keystone Airpark Section. • Resist conversion to “Multi Use”. • Add at least 4 new activity leaders, including at least 1 new section leader. • Chapter specific email for all leaders. • Submit all leaders for first-aid training. • Develop and publish work hike roster. • Increase and track high-value equipment inventory. • Put all high value equipment on maintenance schedule. • Pursue concurrent work hike activities, where practical. • Pursue increased and concurrent recreational activities. • Pursue inreach and outreach efforts, including booths at fairs, regular newsletters, and regular chapter meetings. • Increase membership. • Pursue fund raising efforts, including PayPal account. • Pursue chapter specific “specialties”. Summary Summary of proposals for 2013-2014 season. North Florida Trailblazers, 2013-2014

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