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Re: [RC] award???? - Maggie Mieske1. Do awards make a difference as to whether you'd go to a ride or not?
If so, what's the minimum type of award that makes the difference? The ride is the prize, but I do appreciate it when RMs can give me a useful or special award. Syringes are always a welcome completion gift. Probably the one I used most often. 2. Rides used to give out buckles for awards, but don't any more. Is it because they're too expensive and add a cost to the ride that riders won't bear? Or is it because riders don't care about buckles? I'd love a buckle, but I have one I won team penning a few years ago. Have never worn it. It sits in a box. T-shirts are more useful and practical, IMHO. I wear mine a LOT....to show support for a ride, to brag that I've finished a ride, or just because I think we are drawn to other horse people by wearing them. 3. What about T-shirts? Jackets? T-shirts. 4. What's the best completion or other award you've ever gotten? And would you want to always be able to get an award like that? I once received a HUGE duffel for a BC embroidered with the ride and award on it. LOVED it. Won BC the following year at the same ride. Got another duffel. I love them and use them both, but that's something to think about....if the same people might win the award again and how many of the same thing they can possiby use. That's why I liked the syringes...can't have enough of those. :) Also got a small lap blanket embroidered with a horse head, the ride, award and date maybe....LOVE that.... 5. What's the lousiest completion award you've ever gotten? And if you feel it was lousy, why? I don't think I've ever had a lousy award and if I did, I obviously have forgotten. It's the ride I remember! 6. What's your recommendation for a perfect completion award? T-shirt. Lif, I found that by writing up a letter with information about distance riding, specific details about MY ride, etc. and sending it off to lots of horse supply places on the internet with the promise to promote their sites resulted in lots of donations of extras, overstocks, or overruns to my ride. All I did was print up a booklet (which I included in the ride packet) and a banner (which I displayed at the ride) thanking them all, provided thank you notes to the winners of the awards to send to the donors, and made sure to follow up after the ride with a personal note about how they helped my ride be successful. I did it early in the year when they have plenty of stuff on hand. Later on, they are all out. Anyway, something to try. It really helped me with expenses. I even had one year when I had money to start out the following year. That wouldn't happen nowadays! Maggie
Mieske Lecturer English Department/Foundation Program Qatar University P.O. Box 2713 Doha, Qatar GMT +3 Office: 974-493-5983 NB Room 234 "At first, dreams seem impossible, then improbable, and eventually inevitable." Christopher Reeve (THE Superman) From: Lif Strand <lif.strand@xxxxxxxxx> To: Donna Winters <belesemobud@xxxxxxxxx>; ridecamp@xxxxxxxxxxxxx Sent: Fri, October 2, 2009 7:22:19 PM Subject: Re: [RC] award???? I appreciate Donna's point of view ("Are ya'll serious? I mean it. You are putting in your wish lists for awards like you are registering at Macy's or Dillard's. Shame on you."), but when I originally asked about awards, it was because I was trying to find one more thing that would attract riders to a ride. The scariest thing for RMs is not knowing if you're going to get enough people to cover the bills - well, it's scary for me because Ride the Divide isn't grant funded and I'm not independently wealthy so that I can cover too big of a loss. And believe me - when you're putting on a ride with a few vets (or more), the losses can get into 4 figures pretty quickly. So I'm asking questions to explore any and all areas where my co-manager Ray Sansom and I can make our ride more attractive and where we can cut costs. I appreciate all points of view! I'll give everyone till Monday to answer the questions I originally asked (reprinted below) and I'll compile and post the answers shortly thereafter. Thank you. 1. Do awards make a difference as to whether you'd go to a ride or not? If so, what's the minimum type of award that makes the difference? 2. Rides used to give out buckles for awards, but don't any more. Is it because they're too expensive and add a cost to the ride that riders won't bear? Or is it because riders don't care about buckles? 3. What about T-shirts? Jackets? 4. What's the best completion or other award you've ever gotten? And would you want to always be able to get an award like that? 5. What's the lousiest completion award you've ever gotten? And if you feel it was lousy, why? 6. What's your recommendation for a perfect completion award? _____________________________________ Lif C. Strand Local Economic Development Catron County, New Mexico USA www.critterwalls.com life sized wild animal wall stickers check out the 4 ft. wide horse murals! =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= Ridecamp is a service of Endurance Net, http://www.endurance.net. Information, Policy, Disclaimer: http://www.endurance.net/Ridecamp Subscribe/Unsubscribe http://www.endurance.net/ridecamp/logon.asp Ride Long and Ride Safe!! =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Tired of spam? Yahoo! Mail has the best spam protection around http://mail.yahoo.com
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