8 September, 2020
Recently a survey on Premier Events was sent out to Archery NZ Clubs, and we were fortunate to receive constructive responses from 22 clubs. We appreciate the detailed feedback provided by clubs, and are considering all feedback offered. There were some common items raised, so as well as contacting individual clubs for a few bespoke items raised, we would like to provide some responses to the feedback as it may be useful for a number of clubs:
We would like to run events, but our club does not have sufficient target butts, size of facilities or volunteers
For most of our Nationals Indoor and Outdoor Championships and Trans-Tasman events, the host club hires a separate venue, and sets out the Archery NZ equipment which arrives in containers. Hence, clubs don’t need to have a lot of target butts or large facilities to run these events. In fact, some of our smallest clubs of only a handful of members have successfully organised National Outdoor Championships in the last decade, and it can provide some income to support host club development.
As an amateur sport we are very reliant on our fantastic volunteers around the country. This is no different for our premier events like National Championships. These events can operate with a small core organising committee, and successful events reach out to volunteers nationwide to support the setup, operation and pack down of events. ArcheryNZ will support this call for action.
Can a dedicated ANZ team be set up to look after certain aspects of a Premier Event (e.g. match play)?
The Archery NZ Nationals Administration Team, ably led by Peter Russell, has been leading the administration of Premier Events such as National Championships for many years. This team looks after a wide range of activities, including entry forms, entries management, target draws, detailed programmes, score sheets, match play schedules, results and awards ceremony planning. They are a very experienced team which are a significant help with their knowledge and experience in running these events.
Provision of lessons learned, templates, guidance and resources would make planning an event much easier
The Premier Events team has recently been established to fulfil this role. Already, events manuals have been produced, and a number of other resources including templates, checklists, roles & responsibilities, bid documents, example budgets and lessons learned forms. The intent of these resources is to make it easy for local organising committees to run events, and for these events to be more successful due to better planning and execution of events. More resources will be provided as requested by the local organising committees.
The Premier Events team will work with the successful host clubs to review the event planning and support various aspects. It is intended that it will be much easier for clubs, even small clubs, to run successful events with the use of these templates, plans and resources.
Insufficient Officials or no timing lights available
There were a number of clubs indicating more judges and trained directors of shooting would enable them to run more events. The Technical Support group, led by Clive Hudson, also share these goals. To do this, we need the support of clubs across the country in nominating candidates to undertake training courses. Please contact [email protected] for further details.
Some clubs may be unaware that Archery NZ owns four pairs of Chronotir timing lights, two in the North Island and two in the South Island. These are brought together for National Championships, but in between these, they are available for clubs to use for Archery NZ-registered major events. To book these for your major event, please contact [email protected] .
Decision-making around host clubs and agreements has taken too long, and there has been inflexibility around timing and structure of events
Archery NZ acknowledges that the decision making around selection of host clubs for previous events, and setting up host club agreements has taken too long. With the setup of the Premier Events team, the host club application process, engagement and planning are now vested in that team, with recommendations for the selection of host clubs to be approved by the Board. Template host club agreements are also now available. This will significantly speed up the process, and the team has undertaken to advertise applications for events much further out in the future.
It is up to the clubs to specify their preferred event dates in their bid – the clubs will best know when the venues are available. While there are always some scheduling considerations with other local and international events, the Premier Events team would not unreasonably disagree with a date selected by the local organising committee, and will act collaboratively.
Financial arrangements/funding for running events
Over the last few years, National Championships have been run under two arrangements. The standard approach has been for Archery NZ and the host club to share the event profit or loss evenly. Occasionally the events have been run where Archery NZ pays the host club a fee for running the event, and takes on 100% responsibility for the financial outcome.
The events that have been the most successful are those where the financial outcome has been shared between Archery NZ and the clubs. This encourages good collaboration, where both parties have a shared purpose/incentivisation to make the event successful. Hence, this is Archery NZ’s intended approach for future events. We are always open to discussions on alternative arrangements.
Some clubs have been concerned that they do not have enough money in the bank to cope with early costs of the events, however the events use the Archery NZ bank account, so clubs would not need to outlay money.
Archery NZ has also signed an agreement for the National Outdoor Championships in 2021 to be live-streamed on Sky Sport Next, and will cover costs associated with the live streaming. This is useful for sponsorship planning/income as sponsors can receive broader exposure.
The most successful financial arrangements for clubs include multi-year hosting agreements, especially where containers can be stored on site. Not only does the club generate great event management experience that it can benefit from second time around, but the avoidance of container movement costs can greatly benefit the event budget.
To receive the feedback from such a broad range of the clubs has been very heartening, and we look forward to learning from it and working with the clubs to host successful events in the future.
Andrew Russell
Archery NZ Premier Events Manager
