Outreach Meeting Notes - May 22, 2023

Mission Statement, Website, Difficulty Chart

Next meeting scheduled: Monday, June 5, Social from 5:30-6; meeting 6-7:30pm

Present at the meeting: Steve, Stuart, Diane, Al, Robin, Barb, Tim, Ann, Ken, Lorna, Reed and ??

• Agreed that we need 'graduated' events. Ones that can easily be accomplished by young and old, as well as predicable events each month that people can plan for. We could have the first week of a month be at an easy level (someone suggested "Turtle Hikers". Then the second week of a month could be "Next level' etc for each week up to the highest level of Effort. My comment (sounds great, do we have enough persons who would commit to fulfilling this schedule?) Need to work on details....
• In order for graduated events to happen, we need an easy to use "Effort Scale" for the user to see if they wish to go or are capable of going on the event. Consistency in the use of this Effort Scale (note that we have changed the scale title from Difficulty to Effort - more user friendly) Al, Ken, and Reed 
• RE: About US page on web site. Using words like Wonder, Connect, Reconnect, Enjoyment, Exploring, Discovery, Friends, Responsibly, Robin has submitted the following:  “Explore the wonder of the outdoors around Bennington, Vermont with friends who know the way… for free.”
• Need to link up to BATS with their permission, logo, and preferred 2 line description of their club
• Idea of 'Forest Mediation"' was presented. Not forest bathing, but something where people would hike to a quiet place, do some quiet meditation, share some snacks, socialize a bit. Include some forest education by the leader or a designated participant.
• Need to connect with the Vermont Land Trust
• Provide a Google Map link to the location of events. People can make a better decision to join the event
• Include Leave No Trace link for viewers to take a deeper dive into the meaning and purpose.
• Local resources for people to get outdoors and enjoy nature - Diane 
• Rewrite of an intro section to About Us. We had a couple of authors, that we know, do some editing on this section and when you read this you will know why they are writers. Read the first 2 paragraphs of this link.
• Connect with Lake Paran: (Billy) Have met Camille who is the Program Director. Have placed a link on our website to theirs and suggesting that they link from Lake Paran to BenningtonGMC site.
• Provide a link to Prospect Ski Resort Web Cam
• Thoughts from a Section Meeting: When another section does trail maintenance they place a sign indicating this activity at the beginning of the work. This invites a conversation with the work crew as the hikers go by.
• Will investigate the use of MailChimp for our club usage of email. Not sure if our needs are that great but it would be an idea to understand how other sections are using it
• FYI: If you are ever asked what software program we use for our Bennington Section website, the answer is that it is completely created and served through the tools provided on  WEEBLY.COM. We have heard that other sections use various services including WordPress
• Include a section on useful outdoor APPS on the website (trails, plant/bird/tree recognition, compass, stars, step counter, peak finder, navigation)
• Could schedule an "App Walk" to look at various apps along a short hike.
• Lorna offered corrections and suggestions to the "About Us" section 
• Diane offered corrections and suggestions to the "Hiker Support" page.
• Reed researched different outdoor rating scales from organizations - see below.

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Trip rating systems from Reed
Albany Chapter ADK
from http://albany.adk.org/

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from AMC  
https://cdn.outdoors.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/16093641/difficultyratings_upload-scaled.jpg

This shows a jpg file of an enormous chart that is too small print to easily read.  You can click on the + sign to make it big enough.   This is an incredibly detailed system.

​I found it by clicking on an activity and then finding the link under difficulty in the trip description.  I had used a simpler system when I lead trips for the Delaware Valley chapter of the AMC about 5 years ago.  I couldn't find that on their website. I think all their activities now go through outdoors.org which is the website for their “mothership”.

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From Central Bucks Bicycle Club
https://cbbicycleclub.clubexpress.com/content.aspx?page_id=22&club_id=665317&module_id=542407