Free try dives

[Adrian Kelland]

The BSAC.com website implies that branches offer try dives for free.

I know that my branch does not, probably to stop time wasters and help funds. We knock the cost off membership if they dicide to join and train.

I would like to know if other clubs do the same. As we can't do polls with this software, I suggest;

A) Free try dives all the time (as implied by BSAC.com).
B) Try dive fee, cost knocked off if joining.
C) try dive fee, joining cost NOT reduced.

Any other combinations?

Adrian

[mark robinson]

Hi Adrian

We do exactly the same ?5.00 per try dive refunded from first years membership.
<a href="http://www.bradfordsubaqua.fsnet.co.uk/" >http://www.bradfordsubaqua.fsnet.co.uk/</a>
Mark

:=The BSAC.com website implies that branches offer try dives for free.

I know that my branch does not, probably to stop time wasters and help funds. We knock the cost off membership if they dicide to join and train.

I would like to know if other clubs do the same. As we can't do polls with this software, I suggest;

A) Free try dives all the time (as implied by BSAC.com).
B) Try dive fee, cost knocked off if joining.
C) try dive fee, joining cost NOT reduced.

Any other combinations?

Adrian

[John Williams]

My branch does not have a regular pool meeting so don't do try dives.

However when I was involved with them we

1) Did free try dives during "Learn to Dive" week (and extended the week until we had cleared all applicants allocated to us by BSAC HQ)

2) Charged a nominal fee during the rest of the year - but refunded it from membership fees if people joined.


John

[Mike Halligan]

Adrian,

When last I met this, we charged around ?15 but knocked it off the first subscription if they (keep in touch whilst saving up and then) join.

Regards,

Mike

[matt]

We took part in the free try dive week for a couple years but knocked it on the head. It was too disruptive for our own trainees and we failed to pick up a single joiner. Lots of people out for a cheap thrill but no one very serious.

We offer try dives all year at ?10.00 which is credited on joining. A little over 50% of try divers subsequently join.

Regards

Matt Stevens
Southsea Subqua Club

[steven]

1) General Try Dives
We charge for try dives; ?10 per session. We do not really make profit from this amount considering:
Air
Kit transport
Wear+tear
Drying effort

2) BSAC Try Dive week.

These need to be organised better. We have participated in the past, but we've never recruited anyone. We think the biggest problem is that BSAC organise people who are not in our catchent area (~15miles radius). Many people on a BSAC try dive have travelled over an hour to get to our club. As there is a limited number of places (~8 in our case), we then hear of local people saying, I tried to get on to your try-dive but it was fully booked.

It begs the question, why did you not give us a call directly, but the're not to know.

Question to BSAC, on the next try dive week can we limit the people to our catchment area?

NB: On our website we do offer locations of nearby clubs, and we do readily accept people from outside our catchment area.

[Philip Smith]

1) General Try Dives
We charge for try dives; ?10 per session. We do not really make profit from this amount considering:
Air
Kit transport
Wear+tear
Drying effort

This is a key point about charging non-members for try dives. If you were to make a profit, you would come within the scope of the law on commercial diving (and would probably fail to comply with it). I believe there is a discussion about this in the archives.

Philip Smith

[Geoff Oldfield]

?12 per try dive, deducted from membership if they decide to join. Mixed experience with National Try Dive Week, very little uptake. More results from website contact, phone enquiries and word of mouth. It is quite right to consider the cost implications of pool time (over a year) equipment wear and tear, air and possible disruption to existing training schedule.

Geoff

[Rich]

The BSAC.com website implies that branches offer try dives for free.

I know that my branch does not, probably to stop time wasters and help funds. We knock the cost off membership if they dicide to join and train.

I would like to know if other clubs do the same. As we can't do polls with this software, I suggest;

A) Free try dives all the time (as implied by BSAC.com).
B) Try dive fee, cost knocked off if joining.
C) try dive fee, joining cost NOT reduced.

Any other combinations?

Adrian

Adrian,

We currently operate a fee (?10) with joining cost not reduced.
However a couple of weeks ago we got in touch with the local paper and invited a reporter to come down and do a try dive. They willingly took up the offer and subsequently we had a great feature printed last week. It was a success with much interest, as ultimately our aim to entice readers of the newspaper article with a free introduction to scuba (the try-dive) and then the option of joining the club.

So we got our ad for free and much more! - cant be bad.

All the best,
Rich.