Majura Pines Trail Alliance have been organising volunteer trail days for over 10 years with excellent turn outs. Below we share some of the lessons we have learnt about what makes a successful event.
Spread The Word
If you don’t tell anyone about your dig day how will they know to come? Social media is a vitally important cog in this wheel. It’s advisable to be on at least 2 platforms to reach different demographics and to tailor the message accordingly. Having a social media plan, however simple, is a great way to be consistent in messaging.
Ultimately, to beat the algorithms and reach further, growing an email list is worth investing in. Community WhatsApp groups are an interesting space that might also work.
However, none of the above work unless you have a presence at the trails. Old fashioned notice boards at the trail head or subtle branding on the trail signs tell riders who the trail care organisation is – there is no such thing as trail fairies! Make use of social media @tags, QR codes and a white board panel where you can add the time and date of the next build; if nothing else this shows people that you are an active group and the trails are being looked after.
Using The Right Language – Trail Building for All
How you advertise and promote work parties matters. Historically (mainly unsanctioned) trail building was secret squirrel work done by blokes deep in the woods.
Advertising – and running – inclusive trail days where everyone is welcome, no matter their size, strength or experience, is going to be a far more sustainable for your organisation in the long run.
Children are always welcome at our trail days, accompanied by an adult. They may not be physically strong enough to lift massive rocks and they definitely eat more than their share of lollies but they are the future of the sport and the future of our group.
Maintenance is Not Sexy so Lie!
Everyone wants to be help out when you are building a new trail. However all trails need maintaining and these sessions can be a much harder sell. Mixing up new builds with maintenance sessions can help. There can even be a bit of flow over where people had so much fun at the previous session, or weren’t able to make it, but will get their karma credits at the next day.
A certain amount of bending the truth in our promotion goes on. If we are building one new short section of track but spending the majority of the time maintaining old trails you can guess which is the headline.
More positively, we see any maintenance as an opportunity to upgrade and enhance a trail so that it was better than before from lessons learnt. Or just by adding that side hit jump all the kids want to build.
Remove All Barriers to Volunteering
We are asking a lot for people to give up family or ride time to help out on the trails, therefore it is very important to remove all barriers (excuses) to them attending. No paperwork to be completed prior (who likes filling in forms anyway?), no minimum age or skills required, stay as long as you can, you don’t need to bring your own tools (garden tools will just brake anyway and then people will be annoyed) and no RSVPs.
Sign in sheets, if they are required, can be quickly completed on the day. Consider using a web form linked from a QR code or having an old tablet for sign ups, especially if want to garner legible contact details to build that email list.
Not requiring RSVPs does make planning work and catering harder but you’ll soon get a feel for how many are likely to turn up based on previous days, weather, type of trail etc and is far better than people not turning up because they forgot to RSVP and then thought they weren’t allowed or didn’t know what that they were free until the last minute.
Value People’s Time
It is hugely important not to waste people’s time which means being prepared. There is nothing worse than having volunteers standing around doing nothing whilst you work out what to do or find the right tools. Additionally, in the absence of a clearly communicated plan people will have their own ideas. Whilst input should be welcomed, most of the time you will have more trail building experience and a clearer idea of the desired goal.
Coordinating trail days takes a lot of planning in the days, and sometimes weeks, before anyone gets close to lifting any tools. There should be jobs for all strengths and abilities and tasks that can be scaled up if more people than expected turn up or scaled down if the turn out is lower than anticipated; there is nothing that will put off volunteers more than starting a herculean task with only a few helpers.
Thank and Reward
We are lucky enough to have fantastic sponsors who donate coffee, pastries, beer and wine making our morning tea and post-dig refreshments an integral part of what we do. It is so important to thank and celebrate the volunteers who give up their time. Great connections are also made over a well-earned beer at the end of the day
Report What You Did
The last thing you will want to do when you eventually get back home after a busy trail day is to open up the computer, but the follow up social media post reporting what you did is vitally important. As well as being another chance to get those thankyous in, it informs the riding community what is going on and what they are missing out on by not volunteering. We recommend using high quality photos if possible. Mobile phones are pretty good these days, but if there is someone in your community with photography skills it can really enhance your output, as well as providing great images to help publicise the next dig day.
Now Go Ride Your Bike!
Organising volunteers is hugely rewarding but also requires a lot of effort. Don’t forget why we do it and reward yourself with a ride the following day or week, especially if there is some sweet new singletrack or a new feature to test out.
Photos: mainly Craig Martin