We have decided to create a network of pages for our membership to improve communication between Members, Clubs, RDOs and Diving officers. By creating a page for each Region, headed up by an RDO - we hope to achieve a few improvements in how communications are handled. Facebook is a very popular way of spreading information virally, and has the advantage of not needing a "chain of command" to pass on each message. If one single person in the group that belongs to the page gets the message, each person equally has a chance to pass on that message - taking a burden off of any one single RDO, DO or PRO. Facebook is not universally liked by our membership - so asking an RDO or a DO to HAVE to use Facebook by making them create an account, is not something we want to do. However, if at least one member of every club sees its value, we think this method will have success. The amount of Club pages that already exist outnumbers the amount of actively updated webpages for Clubs. Using a regional page helps further by:
pages can be tracked by our new Helpdesk system in the Office, desk.com
The page can remain yearly, even if the RDO chnages. RDOs and Dos/PROs can be made Admins of the Page
Members can like the Pages, see posts and promote events in their region, hopefully promoting inter-club communications
One single theme we are hearing on our slips around the country - is the difficulty for Clubs to get enough members together to economically run boats with just their own membership alone. Many clubs are already turning to guest diving to support costs. The Regional Dive Rallys have become a huge success, and in many cases the mixing of members from different Clubs on boats is a highlight of the event. The Regional page can be used to help promote this sharing of Club resources; and only needs a small amount of administration to ensure insurance and membership is up to date. WE would ask that any member turning up as a guest on another clubs boat brings their CFT brevet - to ensure they are not turned away for a dive. The onus is on the member to show to a DO that their status is Current on COMS, the brevet is proof of this status. We are working on adding functionality to allow any DO the ability to check the membership status of any other member.
