Cen-Tex Division 2015 Survey Results
April 20, 2015
Thank you to everyone who participated in the survey. We had a fantastic level of participation, and got a lot of great feedback, which I've summarized below. If you have any questions or additional feedback, please send me an email. We'll also discuss the survey results in the next couple of Division meetings.
Note that I have summarized the free-text comments and I did not include personal information or answers related to volunteering. (I will say, though, that there were a lot of enthusiasm for volunteering for clinics, layout tours, and operating sessions. That's one reason we have such a great division!)
(Unless otherwise specified, percentages are of the answers to that question.)
Results: Division Meetings
How often should our regular Division meetings be held?
If you DO NOT regularly attend our regular Division meetings, why not?
Would your attendance change if the meetings were to rotate through different cities in our Division (such as Waco, Temple, Bryan/College Station, Burnet, and the Austin area)?
How long do you think the regular Division meetings should be (not including layout tours/operating sessions)?
What activities would you be interested in seeing at the regular Division meetings?
This chart shows a summary of the interest for each option; the higher the number, the more interest there was for the option.
Are there any other activities not listed you'd be interested in having at the regular Division meetings?
(In no particular order)
- Announcements of upcoming events, both model and prototype
- Learn more about achievement program, get help progressing
- Optional get-together for breakfast before meeting
- Promote local hobby shops more
- Videos - prototype, modelling techniques, layouts
What clinic/presentation topics would you like to see presented?
(In no particular order)
- 3D printing and laser cutting
- Adhesives
- Building rolling stock, structures, scenery
- DCC (full clinic), decoders (preferably hands-on), electronics/power
- Layout design
- Locomotive and rolling stock tune-ups and maintenance
- NMRA standards and RPs, services
- Operating sessions basics
- Operations methods (CTC, TT&TO, etc), developing schemes, and signaling
- Painting, detailing, decaling. and weathering
- Prototype railroads
- Prototype research and layout design elements
- Prototypical industries (mining, logging, mills, smelter)
- Switching puzzles
- Track cleaning and maintenance
- Train brakes (prototype and modelling)
Do you have any other feedback about our regular Division meetings? Things you would like to change? Things you want to stay the same?
- Better time management during the meeting
- Decaffeinated coffee
- Try to avoid holding meetings the same weekend as train shows
- Would like to see more peer-to-peer information sharing
(There were a lot of "I like the meetings the way they are" feedback as well!)
Peter's take on this section:
- We should consider moving meetings to six times per year (every two months).
- Based on this data and the geographic distribution of Division members, we might consider having one or two meetings per year outside of Austin area, perhaps in Temple and/or College Station.
- We should keep our meetings about the same length they are today, but better manage time during the meeting.
- We should keep the typical meeting agenda about the same as it is today, though we might look for opportunities to add mini-clinics (two possibilities are a Beginner's Minute and an Achievement Program Minute) and layout presentations.
- We have a great list of potential clinics (and clinicians!) for the next couple of years!
Results: Division Activities
What other activities would you like to see the Division sponsor?
Other suggestions included:- Annual class before (or after?) Christmas for beginners (to coincide with those Christmas train sets)
- Group trip - Live steam, Amtrak, Austin Steam Train, Texas State RR
- Raffle a small Division-build layout at Jamboree
What do you think we should do to publicize the NMRA and our Division?
- Advertise more - more hobby shops across regions, Jamboree and other shows and events; more aggressive displays
- Announce Jamboree (and club, if we have one) in magazines
- Articles in Marker Lamp
- Booths at shows
- Invest in getting kids into the hobby (classes, club, school & Scouts involvement, etc)
- Press release for Jamboree
- Website and social media
What things can the Division, Region or NMRA organization do to improve your enjoyment of Model Railroading?
- Be more inclusive of multiple scales including Virtual and Lego scales
- Consider posting operating sessions on the Division website calendar
- Division/community/museum layout(s)
- Hold event(s) during summer targeted at kids/teens (maybe help make Tommy's Kids a recurring event)
- Less focus on politics, more focus on model railroading
- More clinics
- Suggest to national that we tone down internal politics in NMRA magazine
- Volunteer for "work crews" to help others with their layouts
Peter's take on this section:
- There were lots of great ideas in this section!
- I was surprised - and excited - to see the amount of support for a Division layout. I will contact those who indicated they were interested and start working on this.
- If we start up a Division club we might be able to combine that with some sort of kid/teen program as well, like Tommy's Kids.
- I will make sure that we include N, O, G, V, L, and other scales for layout tours and clinics. (I know we had a V scale clinic recently.)
- We will be advertising our meetings (and other events) more in hobby shops across the region. I am working on a new, larger display, and a completely new NMRA booth for shows. (More about the booth when we talk about the Jamboree.) Big events, like the Jamboree, will be advertised in magazines and model railroad web sites as well.
- Great ideas on "what to do with that train set" and summer kids/teens events, and Division excursions. Something to work on once we get the Jamboree under control.
- I'll work with the owners who host operating sessions to put them on the website calendar. (Not all owners will want to do so, though.)
- In addition to the web site, I'll set up a Facebook page as well. (We already have a twitter feed, @CenTexNMRA.)
Results: Austin Model Railroad Jamboree
How long do you think the Jamboree should be open (not including layout tours/operating sessions)?
What activities would you be interested in seeing at the Jamboree?
Are there any other activities not listed you'd be interested in having at the Jamboree?
- Saturday night social activity (perhaps a ride on ASTA, or a dinner)
- Social time and space besides main floor
If the Jamboree were two days long, with different activities on each day and possibly a layout tour and/or operating sessions, would you travel to the Austin area for the Jamboree and spend the night at a hotel?
Are there any activities you think should be restricted to NMRA members only?
- Contest/achievement program judging
- Operating sessions
- SIG activities (either NMRA members or SIG members)
Should we charge different admission prices for NMRA members and non-NMRA attendees?
How likely are you to attend the Jamboree?
Do you have any other suggestions regarding the Jamboree?
- Advertise more/website
- Friday night clinics and/or operating sessions
- Have a range of activities to appeal to different interests and skill levels
- Look at a mainstream venue
- Look into creating special run cars for the event (maybe even prototypical, like industries in area)
- Make sure we have RailPass applications at the show
- Make the NMRA booth more than just recruiting
- Publish schedule ahead of time
- Start smaller and work our way up over time
Peter's take on this section:
- The Jamboree committee reviewed this input in our meeting April 18. I'll send a separate email detailing our plans so far, but they are pretty much in line with the input above.
- We confirmed the decision to move the meet to the spring, likely in early March.
- Of all the excitement the committee has about the Jamboree, I think we're most excited about the new NMRA booth concept suggested by Riley based on what the Trinity River Division has been doing at the Plano show.
- The Jamboree will have a presence on the web and social media, and we will be advertising it more than in the past.
Results: Division Meet
How interested would you be in a special Division Meet in the fall?
Should the Division Meet take the place of a regular Division meeting?
How long do you think the Division Meet should be (not including layout tours/operating sessions)?
As compared to a regular Division meeting, what activities would you be interested in seeing at a Division Meet?
Are there any other activities not listed you'd be interested in having at a Division Meet?
- A layout at the meet members can operate
- Clinics shouldn't be longer than at regular meetings
- Plenty of social time
- Spread layout tour over two or three weekends so members can visit each other's layouts
If there are clinics or presentations at the Division Meet, what topic(s) would you be interested in?
(Answers to this question were pretty much the same as for regular Division meetings)
In addition to our Division meeting audience, should we invite others in the Region to attend and participate, such as nearby NMRA divisions (i.e. DFW, San Antonio, Houston areas)?
Should we charge a small admission fee for the Division Meet?
Do you have any other suggestions regarding a Division Meet?
- We should only charge an admission fee if it's needed to cover expenses.
- Like the idea of a "super Division meeting" - but watch time management.
Peter's take on this section:
- The Jamboree committee - which is also planning the Meet - also reviewed this feedback on April 18, and I'll include information about the Meet in the Jamboree email.
- We did decide to go ahead with a Meet, and will do it in place of the November meeting.
Results: Division Web Site
What features would you be interested in seeing on the new web site?
Are there other features not listed you would be interested in seeing on the new web site?
- Links to other sites of interest (ASTA, clubs, hobby shops, etc.)
- Support videos as well as photos
What web browser do you use most often?
What device(s) would you use to access the web site?
What kind of internet connection do you use most often?
How likely are you to use new web site regularly?
Do you have any other suggestions or input for the new web site?
- Make sure the site is easy to maintain, as a site with stale information is as bad as no site
- Personal information should not be available on the web site
Peter's take on this section:
- The web site is being developed to be easy to maintain; it is using standard tools instead of being hand-written like the 2014 convention web site.
- The initial web site will support articles (like the Division meeting updates), information about the NMRA, LSR, and Division, clinic presentations/recordings, a calendar of events, information about the layouts in our region (with the owners' permission), links, and a set of discussion forums (which support both questions/discussion and posts about your layouts with photos and/or videos).
- The front page will have a mixture of static info (links, info, calendar) and dynamic content (layout pictures, most recent articles and events, etc).
- Later, the web site will get a Jamboree micro-site, an "Intro to Model Railroading" section, and possibly a Division store. If we form a Division club and/or have a layout, it will also get a micro-site.
- There won't be any personal information (like a Division roster) available on the site. You will have to register to post entries in the forums or articles for the site, and you will be able to show or hide as much information in your profile as you want.
- The software used to build the web site supports both desktop/laptop browsers as well as mobile devices like tablets and phones, automatically altering the layout to work best for the device you use. It will also be optimized to support slow internet connections.