Shut up

[HydroKyle93R]

...AND DO SOMETHING! Quit sitting on ur butt's in front of that brightly lit screen, go out in the world in which you are so familiar with, and start talking to people.

"Shout out from the rooftops. Item 9 exists. This is great..This is the bee's knees!"

Replace "Item 9" with boat racing. See the point? It can be done. Just like every other social movement that gained a little momentum. We already have people. We already have desire. We have the knowledge and the know how.

Take the "hobby" out of racing, and think of it as a social group. Similarly, think of "race rights" or "climate justice" but remove the topic from the entity. People: the ones who make it happen. It works.

I challenge every one of you to go talk to someone every day. And another someone every day. Tell them about what you are so passionately involved with. In essence, tell them what it has done to impact your life. Tell them about why you strive to gain knowledge. Tell them how it makes you "jones" for that next four minutes you love.

Gain their interest. Gain their trust.

A good salesman told me the key to a sale: HM3. Homeowner, married, and over 30. Chances are, they can afford the product and see the need for the product.

And for Kanye's sake, have a little swagger!

I do it already. Will you?

K Lew

PS: Don't hate. You have your voice, and I have mine. Peace out.

[HRTV]

Sorry.. but you are dead wrong, this is what your membership to APBA should have been paying for. You should not have to sell the sport the sport should be in a position to sell it self and not rely on drivers to do it. You can tell us shut up all you want but you cant hide from the truth.

I challenge every driver to do the just the opposite and hold APBA accountable, what are you paying them for? the drivers should not have to stand on the street corner waving signs like a monkey trying to get people interested. How embarrassing that APBA does not have a PR person or team of folks along with a marketing dept.

Sorry Kyle but this is 2011 and the driver should not have to stand in the front of the mall like a Salvation Army red kettle collector at Christmas time.

[Mrs blueskyracer]

Kyle, you are so right!

We do that, I have pictures in my office at the lumber mill and truckers and folks visiting ask about them all the time. A great way to start conversations. I have log truck drivers that ask when our next race in town is (August 26, 27 & 28th, 2011) they can't wait to see a race since last year we got beat out by bad river downflow derbris. I hand out hydroracer.net business cards and pretty soon will be proudly wearing my t-shirt. Anything that makes people ask, when where and how is a good way to get the word out.

They recently hand pulled some Engleman Spruce boards in the planer for Mike to build a new boat and that attracted attention of a salesman who came to my office to get more information. I gave him a hydroracer.net card and wrote the sites for APBA and SORC on the back.

hydroracer.net is what got us started and helped find the equipment we began racing with.

We have since recycled that equipment and more that we not longer use back into the "stream" so that it could help a new racer(s) get started and will do it again when the opportunity presents itself.

It's easy, just talk to people! It's even easier if you have something to act as a conversation starter. (Picture, T-shirt, decal, etc.)

[Mrs blueskyracer]

Dan, I do agree with you too in that we need the backing of APBA and I am certainly not standing on street corners with my "kettle". And yes APBA needs to fix something and soon.

I will however take any opportunity to talk about boat racing. I think what Kyle is saying we can't rely on everyone else to save our sport, APBA has failed us in that respect. We need to be pro-active and do something individually, each and everyone of us.

[HydroKyle93R]

First off, that may have been an over dramatic title. Please excuse the phrase. I was merely trying to capture the audience's attention.

Dan, I see what you are getting at. I agree that drivers and all involved members should feel more obligated to hold APBA accountable for the flaws in their business model. I do not intend literally to have drivers standing on street corners, boats, signage, and all (although, that wold be pretty cool to see down on Rooevelt Way in Seattle ;-]).

Bill Pavlick's post in hisBiggest obstacle to growth in STOCK?? thread, "Clearly there are improvements that we can make in the Stock category, but we all need to quit complaining and do more to improve our sport!" sort of inspired me to look at the humility of our sport. I asked myself, do we really want to lose this?

Teresa, I thank you for recognizing that it takes individual effort to make a difference. I wanted people to really think about why it is we like this so much, and why we spend all of our time committed to the sport, not to mention going back and forth about the flaws and nuances over the internet, and spread that message. Maybe not as frequently as I have suggested. Maybe a "marketing department," as you suggest, Dan, can use these principles to gain membership, make it go beyond numbers, and statistics. Make the intangible, tangible, get it? Try and keep the FUN alive :-)

[thepiranhabros]

First off, that may have been an over dramatic title. Please excuse the phrase. I was merely trying to capture the audience's attention.

Dan, I see what you are getting at. I agree that drivers and all involved members should feel more obligated to hold APBA accountable for the flaws in their business model. I do not intend literally to have drivers standing on street corners, boats, signage, and all (although, that wold be pretty cool to see down on Rooevelt Way in Seattle ;-]).

Bill Pavlick's post in hisBiggest obstacle to growth in STOCK?? thread, "Clearly there are improvements that we can make in the Stock category, but we all need to quit complaining and do more to improve our sport!" sort of inspired me to look at the humility of our sport. I asked myself, do we really want to lose this?

Teresa, I thank you for recognizing that it takes individual effort to make a difference. I wanted people to really think about why it is we like this so much, and why we spend all of our time committed to the sport, not to mention going back and forth about the flaws and nuances over the internet, and spread that message. Maybe not as frequently as I have suggested. Maybe a "marketing department," as you suggest, Dan, can use these principles to gain membership, make it go beyond numbers, and statistics. Make the intangible, tangible, get it? Try and keep the FUN alive :-)

Slight correction: Mike Pavlick started that other thread, not Bill.

The sentiment is right in Mike's and this thread. If we all quit bemoaning what is WRONG with this sport and channel just a fraction of that energy into being cheerleaders and doing something POSITIVE, things just might begin to turn. The key here is PHYSICALLY DOING SOMETHING TO HELP THE SPORT as opposed to sitting on the sidelines complaining at every turn.

We did not get into this position overnight; we cannot solve this problem with the snap of a finger. And we sure as hell aren't going to fix anything by being nattering nabobs of negativism (nod to Spiro T. Agnew).

I agree with Kyle and Pav: It's time to nut up, or shut up.

[L. Allen]

Right on, Kyle!

If you're passionate about something, then you'd talk it up without a second thought. It would be natural, automatic and spontaneous.

It's what got the US A-Team to Europe.

I think you've got the right idea. JMO.

[mdaspit]

[QUOTE= the drivers should not have to stand on the street corner waving signs like a monkey trying to get people interested. [/QUOTE]


That's not what I heard Kyle say.

Besides, You're into marketing as a solution right?
The best firms will tell you that the BEST form of advertising is ""one man telling another."

[raceright]

That's not what I heard Kyle say.

Besides, You're into marketing as a solution right?
The best firms will tell you that the BEST form of advertising is ""one man telling another."

Interesting---I believe there is no Best---only that wich works.
And that ya find out after---but something is better than nothing