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BGonline.org Forums
Local Club Attendance -- an Engagement Index?
Posted By: Phil Simborg In Response To: Local Club Attendance -- an Engagement Index? (April Kennedy)
Date: Friday, 22 December 2017, at 5:46 p.m.
It is nice to have metrics and a scientific approach to measuring club participation. But let's not forget about the main problems we need to tackle:
1. How do we attract more people to come to the clubs (and tournaments)?, and:
2. Once they come, how do we keep them coming back?
To No. 1: We know there are millions of people playing backgammon who don't participate in clubs or tournaments. And we know there are millions of people who would enjoy backgammon if they were exposed to it and learned about what a fun and interesting game it is.
We need to find ways to reach these people and entice them to learn the game and to come and play at the clubs or to form local clubs where there are none.
To No. 2: We need to create a welcoming atmosphere for new players; we need to offer them education so they can play better and be better able to compete with the experienced players, and also because the more they understand the game the more committed they will be to keep playing. We need to make it affordable and fun. We need to offer incentives to return, such as rewards for attendance as well as rewards for winning; and we need to appeal to those who either don't like or can't afford the gambling aspects of the game or the cost of playing at many clubs. This can be done with separate divisions and with small entry fees and side pools for those who do enjoy the gambling aspects.
In both of the above cases, while it has been clearly proven that a skilled and committed local organizer (like a Bill Davis, Carol Cole, Patrick Gibson and others) can do a lot to make a club successful and keep it going, it is clear to me that local clubs can't afford or are able to do marketing very well to the general population, and we can't leave it to each club to reinvent the wheel to do this.
What is needed is more of a national approach designed, funded, and led by the USBGF. This has not been done very much and what has been done in the past was done poorly, but I am happy to say that the current leadership and many of the new board members are at least talking and thinking a lot more about promoting the game locally, supporting the clubs, and looking for ways to get the word out about backgammon to the general public.
With Facebook and twitter and other social media we now have more ways to expose the game, and we should be finding ways to reach the low-hanging fruit...the many people who play on line and on apps that are clearly candidates for live play.
I don't pretend to have the answers, but I have and do continue to "lobby" for more creativity and expenditure of resources in this area and will continue to personally work with and support efforts in this area by the USBGF and by local organizers. I encourage others to do the same if you truly want to see live backgammon participation grow.
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