THE FUTURE AVA
Ideas for AVA Website and Office Systems

PURPOSE.

The American Volkssport Association’s website needs a plan for future development. Since the website is supported by AVA’s office systems, it’s difficult for the layman to determine where one ends and the other begins. This document is meant to identify all the ‘nice to have’ features without differentiating between website and systems. Specific work to be done will be left to the experts once basic decisions like ‘what do we want?’ are made.

AVA’s AUDIENCE.

1. Before we consider tasks or set priorities for improvement of AVA’s website and office systems, we need to determine who the website serves and the priority we assign to each of these groups.

2. GROUPS SERVED BY AVA: Listed below, in suggested priority order, are the groups we should consider:

A. Potential new volkssporters (event participants). This group should be our first priority because AVA exists to serve event participants and growth is our most important goal.

B. AVA clubs. Clubs are the backbone and voting membership. AVA should make the website easier to use for clubs, especially for event sanctions and administrative requirements. The more administrative functions are simplified, the more clubs can devote their energy to events and local publicity.

C. Volkssport Associates. These people are those who join AVA as associates. They may be individual, family or life members. (not the same thing as IVV Achievement Program participants. They are not necessarily members of any AVA club, so their needs may be different than AVA club members.

D. Potential sponsors. Attracting sponsors will ease the burden of financial support.

E. IVV Program participants. These are volkssporters who participate in the IVV Achievement Program and have their books stamped at AVA events. Most are covered under B. or C. above.

F. Un-affiliated participants. This group includes those volkssporters who are neither AVA club member nor Volkssport Associates. AVA has no idea how many participants are included in this group. None of them are specifically identified and without contact information, AVA does not communicate with them.

POTENTIAL WEBSITE CHANGES (no particular order).

1. CHANGE THE WEBSITE’S LOOK. Change the look frequently. Make it upbeat with lots of graphics, photos and audio tracks. The entire site should have one banner and different sections (club administration for example) can have additional, sub banners to indicate the special nature of the section. Focus on ease of use and terminology that makes the website more attractive and easier to use (For instance, ‘Membership’ on the current page is misleading in that it includes officer contact information and web pages, meeting minutes, etc.) Use the same look and feel throughout the entire website. Different sections can have a different look and feel, but should be consistent with the rest of the site.

2. LINKS TO SPONSORS AND PARTNERS. Links should be administered in an organized, documented manner. Consider the following categories.

A. SPONSOR LINKS. These links should bring income to AVA and be supported by specific written agreements. AVA should be careful to avoid showing sponsors names and/or links on the AVA Home Page as it encourages viewers to move away from the AVA site.

B. PARTNER LINKS. Partners are those organizations who generally do not provide income to AVA, and are usually non-profit organizations that have similar or complementary objectives. Examples include Rails to Trails, US National Park System, American Nordic Walking Association, Trails.com

C. VOLKSSPORT LINKS. These links are to other national volkssporting organizations, IVV Direct Member clubs (new and smaller IVV organizations), and IVV Headquarters. They could be grouped together, perhaps using a global map as part of the link.

D. HEALTH-RELATED LINKS. AVA could create links to sites that provide health information and help volkssporters to log, maintain and manage their exercise. Organizations such as the President’s Council on Physical Fitness, AARP, health care providers are good examples.

3. CLUB ADMINISTRATION.

The current section which requires a login ID and password should be develop to handle all forms of AVA Club administration. Add the following club administrative reporting functions:

A. AUTOMATE ALL AVA REPORTS.

1) Event After-action reporting. AVA uses two forms for clubs to report the participation results of their events, one for traditional events lasting from one to several days, and a quarterly report for self-guided events, which are open seasonally or for the entire year. These reports are the basis for billing participation fees to clubs. Review/revise the after-action report formats. Review the forms to determine whether one form can support both types of report. Revise accordingly.

2) Annual Financial Report. AVA Form 102C3F. This form is an annual requirement for AVA clubs. The two-page form provides a financial report for the previous fiscal year and informs AVA whether of forms and conditions that have a bearing on AVA’s standing with IRS.

3) AVA Forms. Modify all forms to allow online completion and submission.

4) Archives. Archive club submissions and make them accessible to the submitting club.

5) Electronic Reminders. Create electronic reminders for AVA clubs due dates for all administrative reports and event after-action reports.

B. CLUB RESOURCES. Remove these resources from the public side of the website, e.g. make them password protected.

1) Administrative Resources. Group bylaws, AVA Handbooks, Administrative Report Forms and archives under one heading for clubs; and

2) Training Resources. Group self-paced training modules for creating quality events, submission of electronic sanction requests, how-to guides for publicity and advertising, and guidelines for soliciting sponsors and partners, etc.

3) Event Resources. Create an area where clubs may archive event walk directions and maps online. Include a capability to produce standardized maps of event routes.

4. WEBSITE ACCESS. Capture contact information from website visitors. Retain the restricted access for AVA clubs, but separately allow individuals to select a login ID and password and identify whether they want event alert messages and general AVA news sent to them.

5. IVV ACHIEVEMENT PROGRAM PAGE. Use individual restricted access for participants in the IVV Achievement Program to gain access to view their own Record of Achievement. AVA has a database of over 50,000 records of participants in IVV’s Achievement Program. Automation of this program is necessary if AVA ever chooses to develop online submission of IVV books.

6. MEDIA/PRESS PAGE – PUBLIC ACCESS. Create a main page link to a Media Information page where both press and AVA clubs can view canned articles, downloadable fact sheets, event announcements and stock photos presenting AVA in the best light possible. Press would access the information from a "Media Information" link on the front page. Clubs could access the information and supplement it with their own local spin.

A. MEDIA PAGE CONTENT:

1) Introduction to volkssports for the media

2) Links to fact sheets in both .pdf and .doc format.

3) Public-use stock photos created and approved by AVA.

4) generic articles on the AVA and on major regional events.

5) Description of AVA history.

6) How to start a club information.

7) Articles on the benefits of volkssporting featuring volkssporting "stars." can be weight-loss, family walking, staying healthy in older years, etc.

8) Add a ‘contact us’ link to the AVA contact for the media for more information (address, phone and e-mail). AVA’s 1-800 number ends December 31, 2008.

B. CREATE ‘WALK ALERTS’. Allow individuals to sign up for "Walk/Event Alerts." This can be done in two ways:

1) Link to existing Walk Alert lists (such as in Northern California and Texas). AVA could encourage the creation of such lists where they do not exist today.

2) Provide an automated system based on zip code. This could very well be a huge project that we may not want to undertake.

7. EVENT LISTS - PUBLIC ACCESS.

A. EVENT SEARCH. Add a capability to search and create a downloadable file of selected AVA events. Search options should include selection of AVA events by:

1) one or more states

2) by region

3) by city or county

4) by AVA Special Event Qualification

5) by date range

6) by event rating (1 to 5)

7) combinations of the above

B. INTERACTIVE MAPS. Create interactive maps for both year-round and traditional events (DONE).

C. CLUB INFORMATION. Create a capability for clubs to post newsletters, and club news online.

D. THE AMERICAN WANDERER. Post the immediate past issue of Section One of TAW to the internet as each new issue is produced.

8. VOLKSSPORT ASSOCIATES PAGE. Create a page for those who are individual members.

9. OTHER SUGGESTIONS FOR CONSIDERATION

1. Suggestions for Starting Point.

A. Offer an electronic copy of each year’s Starting Point for sale. Offer the SP on CD or a downloadable file for a fee.

B. Allow custom creation of the Starting Point. Allow users to select their starting point information by state, one or more regions, venue or by special event category, all for a fee. As an example, see how to focus Starting Point data to cruise industry below.

C. Use Starting Point to market to US cruise ports and cruise companies. Create a smaller edition of the Starting Point (with a new title) that includes walks that start in cities where cruise ships originate or visit. Consider all the many cities in the US that now have major cruise ports....San Diego, Los Angeles/Long Beach, San Francisco, Portland, Seattle, multiple Alaska ports, Texas ports, New Orleans, multiple Florida ports, Virginia, Philadelphia, New York, Boston, Maine, etc. If a city with a cruise ship terminal does not have a nearby YRE, encourage the local club to create such a walk.

1) Tell the people the walks are free, but use the book to explain the whole AVA story and tell readers they may want to consider joining their local AVA club so they can continue great walking events after their cruise.

2) Consider marketing Starting Point to cruise ship companies as something they can sell, or they may want to consider giving it away to their customers. If the cruise ship company orders a significant number of copies of the book, make them a special cover with the name of the cruise ship company included on the cover.

3) Add a national Special Event for those walking 5 and 10 cruise ship ports.

D. Consider expanding Starting Point listings for each event to include additional info, including walk route maps.

E. Make the tone of the book to be walking for exercise, not specifically Volkssporting.