Unleashing the Inner Aviator at Yes Girls Glide Day

Beaufort Gliding Club recently held a Women and Gliding Day as part of their successful Sport and Recreation grant where they were fortunate to receive $5,000 grant “to support clubs and organisations impacted by Covid-19 to reconnect with women and girls with community sport and active recreation and increase the promotion of alternative participation options”.

This club with 80 years of history behind it has prioritised engaging new members, especially female members, to not only give a new lease of life to the club but also this was an important first step in re-engaging females in the club where it has previously been one of our better performing clubs in this space. With this said, the committee didn’t need to reinvent the wheel so they jumped on the success of Victorian Soaring Society in promoting “yesgirlsglide” and worked with the Gliding Autralia Club Development and Marketing to create an all inclusive gliding day at the club. The club wisely limited the participants on the day to 25 to maximise the personalisation of the experience with pre registrations to be included in promotional material. The day was split into streams where it included Air Experience Flights and the other stream offering simulator and guided access to gliders and then combined sessions for workshops conducted by experienced female pilots.

Marketing through posters, website and Facebook groups and ads was initiated 4 to 5 weeks out, with common areas such as supermarkets, libraries, community halls and universities all included in the campaign. Free flights and lunch was an added enticement for the day with a subsidised club membership the first 12 months for anyone wishing to sign up to the club.