Yes not really anything to draw in the casual visitor.
The RAF Village wasn’t a lot better, most things tucked away in a marquee, but actually some really interesting stuff if people made the r effort to look for it.
Upside is RAF staff weren’t busy and so happy to talk to annoying CFAV!
Send the video to Op Snap - I’ve had a couple of good results from there when drivers have tried to kill me whilst I’ve been on my bike.
Can also report directly to the business.
Sound like “what all governments do”
Exactly — so why would you want another layer of government (especially one you can never vote out)?
Event withdrawals the week of the event, from those who were selected 3 weeks ago.
We have an epidemic of this at the moment. Signing up and withdrawing a day later, withdrawing 2 days before the event, not even bothering to tell us.
I’ve decided we’re going to implement a strike system, and if people do this repeatedly I’m going to ban them from attending activities for a time period.
The drops outs will all be getting emails from me in the morning asking why (AI will help me write them)
They will also be blacklisted for future events when I’m oversubscribed.
This is okay depending how close to the deadline. Better to do this than be a no show. Accidentally sign up is a thing.
This is rude but the email notification thing is what this for so perhaps they think that there’s no need to notify as you are already aware.
I would use the deadline as the key thing. Sign up & drop out at will prior to deadline, explanation needed for those who drop out after. Lower priority for the no shows….
I guess now it almost feels too easy to sign up to an event, and to withdraw. It’s done ‘silently’ as such.
I’ve had a similar recently of 12 sign-ups and only ending up with 6 cadets on the event. Great for those 6, but means then running accidentally at a 1:2 ratio instead of 1:4. Feels very inefficient.
It is - and it seems to be getting worse.
Cadets putting their name down for multiple events and then picking the one they want is a thing too
I wonder if quite a few cadets need reminding that bidding for an event is a commitment to attend that event. Withdrawing is only to be used for major/unexpected things that come up. And a reason should be given.
System we have at work for our volunteers is that each event has a deadline.
You can sign up & withdraw quite freely up to the deadline.
When deadline reached email sent to whoever the organiser has listed with those who are attending & those on reserve.
After the deadline only the event organisers can withdraw you. Late sign ups go onto the reserve list & must be manually added to the attending.
I think more needs to be made of the deadline system in sms & linking it to actions rather than just a suggest guide.
I think the best solution might be to force them to put a reason when they click withdraw. Just a pop up with a mandatory field text box.
Would also be useful to easily get stats as Sqn staff for which cadets have a high % of dropouts.
We were discussing this evening how to record last minute dropouts and no shows. It would certainly be good to have something built into SMS/VP.
Weirdly, a couple of months ago I seemed to be able to mark cadets as “no show” on SMS, but now I can’t figure out how to do it. Maybe I dreamt it…
It’s marginally better, and yes of course there are accidents, but this isn’t that. This is people not checking they can go, signing up then being told by a parent they can’t. Or signing up then getting a better offer and withdrawing.
To be clear, I’ve not said it’s a blanket ban for this - the bit that really grips me is the no shows on the day, or withdrawing after the deadline without having the common courtesy to tell us. Life happens and things will always come up, and legitimate excuses won’t get black listed. But last week alone I had cadets withdraw from something because they’re going on holiday in 2 weeks, and you can’t tell me that was a surprise.
I did this a few times as a cadet (Wing ran Multi Activity weekends) and I’d put my name down for a few things
Always with an attached Note though, and most of the time it was when I was forced to put my name down for something (apparently not having any Radio or cyber as a Sgt is atrocious 
) and something else running on the weekend that I could help with
ei:
Bronze Cyber : Only if not needed to help
YFA : AFA+MOI able to help for the weekend
JNCO : Sgt with MOI able to help for the weekend
Seemed to work for the training team, invariably they’d rush me through my training and get me tested before sending me away to help/assess other courses
I’ve had some very quick responses, overall not terrible excuses/reasons just not communicated
1 x Travel
1 x Family Event
1 x Gliding Scholarship
1 x Employment
I think the issue we have is young people being less able to take responsibility for their own lives, and needing more spoon feeding than I remember.
The one with a GS - how did they not know they were doing that when signing up for things? And the one with a job? It’s just crazy.
I’ve had one I’m chasing to do their over 18 paperwork for months now, and they will be suspended because they just haven’t done it. I’ve made it very clear that I will support them and help them, but I expect them to be responsible enough to take ownership for it and for pushing it along and if they do get suspended it’s likely to be their fault. If they know that and still don’t work proactively, I’m lost for what else to do.