Community Event Information
Hosting a club open house is a great way to get the community involved in model aviation. These events can be as big or as small as the club would like since the main objective is getting others interested in the hobby. There are many way to set one of these up below are some suggestions to help your club host an event.
Club Duties
Event Director – Assign an event director who will run the event. The Event Director needs to have a list of duties of all club members for the open house
Safety Crew – Perform a ground safety inspection of the flying site to ensure safety of club members, participants, and the general public.
Welcome Committee- Have club members available to talk to the public about model aviation and the club. Making the public feel welcome is the key to getting them to consider joining the club.
Activities Crew- These members could help run a make and take activity or simulators. They could also be in charge of providing information about the AMA and the club.
Setup/Cleanup Crew- Setting up necessary tents or seating, collecting trash, picking up signage, and storing any club equipment are a few tasks that go much quicker with a designated group.
Promotion
Once your club has decided to host an open house you should start promoting the event to the community. Below are several ideas on how a club can let their community know about their event.
- Create a flyer announcing the dates and location of the event and drop it off to your local Chamber of Commerce, Visitors Bureau, or community billboard
- Today most people use social media. Having members post the event to their individual social media accounts is a great way to let quickly spread the word about the event to a lot of people.
- Contact your local newspaper, radio, or television stations. Most of these media outlets have community calendars that your event could be added to. You could also provide a press release to try to get them to give you some event/club promotion. View a sample press release HERE.
Family Activities
There are many things a club can do in addition to just flying during the event. Providing some additional activities lets everyone get in on the action. If you have further questions about how to provide any of the activities listed below please contact the AMA at [email protected]
Make and Take-The FPG9 activity is a great hands on activity for youth. It is inexpensive and simple for the club to run. Plus it provides the kids with something tangible to take home.
Simulators- Providing flight simulators is a great way to introduce the community to the activity for the first time. Engage the new pilot with simple instruction about how the controls work.
Static Display- Have a club member available to answer questions about the different aircraft on display.
Air Show-Provide demos to highlight the different areas of model aviation. Different people will be interested by different aspects of the hobby.