Drop in the number of Skydivers

[pilatus_p 0]

Cool - i missed that one.

How was it covered? Did they show the 'fun' aspect of it, or just the 'shi*ting it' aspect?

How many episodes did their progression cover, and was it AFF / Static line?

Cheers

Ross

http://www.teamtechnology.co.uk/troll.htm

[Ron 7]

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You say this yourself - "When I made the choice to jump". What made you decide?

Something I wanted to do. Saw the Golden Knights at an airshow, saw skydiving in a Bond flick, saw skydiving on a few TV shows, my Dad flew jumpers years ago....A bunch of things made me want to try it. But the thing is there is some exposure, people know it is there and to find it all they need to do is a google search, or pick up the yellow pages.

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Businesses that do not advertise may continue to function, but will they grow as much as they really could, or even NEED to? Here I am talking about sport skydiving as a whole, not just any one DZ.

Advertising can of course help, but the cost is pretty high and there are risks. Imagine living in "Wazzo" and putting up a Billboard for "Wazzo City Skydiving" and the guy goes home and googles Wazzo Skydiving and gets a skyride Ad. Then he spends his money and goes to a little Cessna DZ that is not yours. You spent the money, and they got the business. A real issue today.

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If you are happy with the level to which your DZ has grown, then that is good. If you think that growth would truly degrade customer experience to a point where it would damage the way your DZ functions, and perhaps even safety, then that view is paramount.

No size is not always death to a sport. The attitude we have can be death. Dependance on toys over training, lying to the customers that it is "safe" can lead to them not taking the risks seriously. And since the major reason most will never skydivne is the danger level....Well some DZ's have already started telling people it is safe.

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I'm not talking about advertising that says "hey buddy theres a DZ near you". I'm talking about alternative ways of putting skydiving into the minds of the public in a way that is more than just

1) Outrageous stunts ("jesus I could never do that")
2) People doing tandems for charity / one off (how many tandems do you convert to AFF / static line?)
3) News broadcasts of jumpers dying.

Problem is that a few people want to see skydiving as a dangerous stunt. They want to feel like they cheated death or some other live the moment mantra.

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When you have FS teams that win an event, or you have a big way on your DZ, do you tell the local press? Over here in the UK it makes it into Skydive magazine (the equivalent of Parachutist), but I never see it in the news.

Yes, but it is a one paragraph blurb as opposed to the page one "death story".

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A programme showing the REALITY of the sport, emphasising the fun and progression aspect of it, would I think be tremendously beneficial.

Yes, but it would not sell. DZ life is really kinda boring. Sitting around in silly suits for hours to make a few jumps. Most whuffos hate being at the DZ. It would be great, but put on a skydiving film and people will stop to look....Then they will walk away since they just cannot relate.

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As a side note - has the commercial side of skydiving, as some people claim, really just become Tandems? Yes, you can make £300 in an afternoon from one tandem - thats great for the short term bottom line. But you can also make a similar amount from an AFF level 1. As a DZ owner, I would love to hear you take on this view.

I think this is where we fail the most. Tandem is a great way to let someone see what skydiving is like, but we often drop the ball when trying to get the person to join our sick little cult. A bunch of DZ's do 30-40 tandems a DAY with amost none of them coming back to take the AFF course. We need to let these people into our world, but many times we just take their money, haul them like meat, and then push them aside for the next paycheck.

I am all for getting more people to try the sport, not just the ride. But many times WE are our biggest problem.

One idea that I liked was the Instructor would call the students during the week and touch base with them.....Very few DZ's do this, maybe because it does not work? I don't really know. But most students I deal with I make sure they know I am available to help them...And the next time I see them on the DZ, I walk up and say hi. Of course I don't do this for a living, so I don't have to get my next bag of meat jumped so I can pay my rent.

"No free man shall ever be debarred the use of arms." -- Thomas Jefferson, Thomas Jefferson Papers, 334

[azdiver 0]

if some one is really enthused to do a jump a little bit of research and they can find were to go. but there are also people like me out their, i was asked by my little sister if i would make a tandem jump with her. thats how i got into this sport. and a customer of hers was the one that told her about it. i never saw an advertisement for it, i had thought about skydiving before when my grandparents lived next to a dz in missori. but i was to young time went on and just never thought about it again. so if there was some advertising i think it would really help, even if 1 out of every100 people brought in by advertising stayed in it i think there would still be a big increase in the number of jumpers, and the rest would just be a big help to dzo's being able to keep their doors open and supporting bigger ac. i think there would have to be a certain amount of co-op between local dz's for the advertising to be fair and cost effecient. or the uspa could take and add a advertising branch to their org. after all more jumpers means more money for them as well.

light travels faster than sound, that's why some people appear to be bright until you hear them speak

[peggs82 0]

Being new to the sport now (just one year) I have spent alot of time thinking of what could be done to increase new students to the sport. I am sure that many of my ideas are old...and this one may be to, but I thought I would share it...

As many of you have said, we traditionally treat tandems as a quick money maker. Get them in...get them out, take next load up. There is no follow up, or sometimes not even a basic jump course to familiarize the student with the rig, deployment procedures, etc. The student makes their skydive...we ask how it went...and then they leave. Perhaps we ask if they are going to come back, usually still excited the student will say yes, but they typically never do.

Now how about this...

Produce a DVD at your dropzone. Take the highlights of your last couple seasons, showing all aspects and disiplines of skydiving. Perhaps even some of the fun events at your DZ. Then add a piece about how to progress. Perhaps a summary of the FJC for AFF or Static line. Show an entire AFF jump, and even footage of them being radio'd down. Perhaps a quick FAQ about your training programs. Give them information about how to make that second jump.

Now GIVE EVERY TANDEM STUDENT that DVD. Add the $1.50 to the jump ticket (to cover the DVD) if you must.

Still excited from their first jump, the students will watch it, and maybe get a little more fired up about skydiving. Seeing what we get to do all the time may further their interest. And then with info about how to progress, we may see a few return.

Heck, even if one comes back that would otherwise not have, I think it would be worth the expense of the DVD's

[NWFlyer 2]

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Now GIVE EVERY TANDEM STUDENT that DVD.

Not a bad idea.

"There is only one basic human right, the right to do as you damn well please. And with it comes the only basic human duty, the duty to take the consequences." -P.J. O'Rourke

[Elisha 1]

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Now GIVE EVERY TANDEM STUDENT that DVD.

Not a bad idea.

When I did my tandem at Skydance (Davis, CA), they gave away free VHS tapes that pretty much did what peggs82 describes - a bunch of cool footage with Nutcracker music (I think Russian dance) and an interlude with some footage of various AFF levels. I still have it at home. It's <10 min I think and a nice intro.