RetiredATLATC
Well-Known Member
http://www.natca.net/about/CTI.msp
http://www.natca.net/assets/Documents/NATCAAcademy/OKCFlyerupdated.pdf
From the NATCA BBS:
Without fail, NATCA has hosted monthly M&G's EVERY month for 2 years now. At a minimum, Paul or Pat or both have attended each one since late '06. Darrell Meachum, the architect of this endeavor has attended all but one. All but 2 RVP's have attended at least one. Trish has been multiple times. Many facreps and other activists including the Reloaded folks have attended many meetings. I have been to all but 2 myself. Kelly Richardson does great work with scheduling, presentations and all the other logistical issues surrounding the meetings.
The facts:
1. NATCA advertises the M&G's in as many ways as possible. The national web site has the flier posted well in advance of the meeting.
2. Each month, I fax the flier to each of 7 of the most prominent FAA advertised housing establishments around town. I swing by those places about every quarter to thank them for their support. I know at least one of them puts individual fliers in each student's mail box when I send them out.
3. NATCA has one bulletin board at the academy. One. It is located near the credit union, which for the students is well off the beaten path.
4. Prior to a letter crafted by OU, we had friendly instructors at the academy that would talk up NATCA and spread the fliers around for us. The letter threatened the instructors with firing if they fraternized with students; discussed NATCA at all with the students, or if they wore any NATCA items including a retirement watch. That means of outreach has obviously dried up.
5. PAACE and the Region X folks have been very helpful in our outreach efforts in the past. Their bulletin boards are well placed re. the students and they post our fliers for us.
6. Although it is only anecdotal evidence, I believe that many students no longer reside at the FAA advertised housing facilities since the advent of per diem. It is slightly harder to reach a mass audience with fliers sent to housing areas when they appear to be more widely dispersed around the metro.
7. We used to do lunch and dinner meetings. When we started getting low turnouts for lunch (less than 10) we eliminated them. About 6 months ago, the agency started a new policy regarding dinner breaks at the academy. The students have been allowed a 30-minute lunch break (it's 5:30, (WINK) be back at 7:00). When the M&G's were to be held however, (those nights only) the students were instructed to be back within 30 minutes or they would be subject to discipline and/or firing. On M&G nights. Therefore, lunches have been reinstated by NATCA effective a few months ago. That insures that the night shifters can come have lunch and visit with the leadership before going to class.
8. The numbers of students at any one time varies and the inputs vary during the calendar year. During the months of DEC. and JAN., there seems to be fewer attendees. Regardless, with the exception of the last meeting (September) turnout is always heavy. We routinely feed and water anywhere from 80 to 130 for dinner. We have no idea why the turnout last month was so low. (around 15) All of our notifications were conducted as usual.
Moving forward, we obviously desire to reach the broadest audience possible. We will continue our previous advertising efforts to get the word out. I will be meeting with Kelvin Hale, Region X employee Friday at the academy. We will survey the area, looking for additional ways to get our word out. Any areas that we can find to post the info, we'll attempt to utilize those resources.
Additionally, we'd ask that any facility that has knowledge of their new hires, and are able to make contact with them, please do so. tell them about the M&G's. Talk to your Reloaded region reps and help them help you. With fewer CTI's and VRA's coming in, our outreach efforts to the OTS's will be more difficult. They don't know about NATCA where the other groups probably do. I assure you that NATCA is up to the task of maximum outreach. We've altered our approach many times, adapting to the conditions and will continue to do so.
If anyone has any questions, I'll be happy to get an answer for you. Just post them here for all to see. If anyone has other ideas on advertising, we'd love to hear them.
