But anyway, here’s a 180 post thread talking about just this issue alone…:
Oh no, I agree that it’s manageable, we do it now. My point is that if people outside the unit had the option to advertise events directly to cadets then it would circumvent any controls the unit staff put in place.
All Wing activities should be advertised by default…the number of times I’ve seen mails from SMEs asking to advertise is stupid. If an event is being run at Wing level then the whole wing should be invited straight away…
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Wearing my SME hat, what controls are needed?
I would rather courses are advertised to all. If a Squadron can’t attend because they are otherwise committed the OC can drop me an email, and worst case I can remove them from the SMS.
But often not all cadets are at, or even able to be at, whatever event the Squadron is doing.
It’s more likely that staff just aren’t interested so don’t see the point in sharing. To be clear, we don’t require any Squadron to send staff on the Wing courses I run, we make sure we cover the ratios from the SME team.
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I think I explained in my first post. A good example is NCO courses, where cadets often have to be recommended by their OC to attend and places are very limited, so the squadron may need to prioritise who they put forward. If it’s advertised to all cadets, then any of them can bid and potentially get selected.
My other example of activities that have eligibility requirements that aren’t recorded on SMS/Units has happened, where we’ve had a cadet selected for a fieldcraft camp where they didn’t meet the prerequisites and getting them to a point where they do was not trivial. Unit staff should be best placed to know the cadets previous experience and whether or not they are eligible.
On the first one, I agree. (Units can also prioritise applicants of course).
More generally, and perhaps this will come when cadets get access to the Microsoft suite, it would be useful to be able to message applicants/attendees directly. This could even be anonymous - DS can select ‘all applicants’ or all selected applicants for example. This would allow pre course questionnaires, or sharing course materials. Saves the squadron having to act as a postbox.
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If “someone” could keep SharePoint as a clean environment with outdated dox removed, internal info sharing would speed up and be more efficient. A little off topic but by doing this, less emails would be needed to promulgate new info
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Unless the event requires sqns to provide supporting staff, why not publish direct.
The squadrons don’t even seem to have control over who gets selected for things, so why insert the extra admin step of having them push it to cadets?
Until there is a view for sqns to see what thier cadets (or their parents on their behalf) have signed up to then this is a non starter.
It’s been said on another similar thread (and maybe on this one), but it would be unfair to punish squadrons who do advertise reliably when appropriate to do so.
Directly advertising activities will also create admin in the opposite direction where squadrons will need to unadvertise activities or request they be removed.
It would be better if the organisers of activities communicated to the squadrons when activities go live and to understand why they’re not advertised (it’s not just the cadets that are “customers” for activities above squadron level, it’s everyone in between). Like someone said already, it could just be that they haven’t seen it and need a reminder.
Good idea. Give me a buzz Dan if you need any help in getting traction.