Survey Says....

I thought I would share with those who maybe involved with planning of the games both inside and outside of the athletic area.

I did a survey at my games.  Both the survey and the way it was taken had minor flaws but overall the data should produce useful info.

Used greed to get people to take the survey by giving them a chance at a drawing for a broadsword (my own).

Asked what three areas held the most interest and least interest and gave them a list of areas within my games.

Most interest

Piping ................. 17%
Athletics ............... 14
Shopping/Vending ... 11
Celtic Food ............ 9
Dance ................... 8
Sheep Herding......... 6
Dog Agility.............. 6
Main Music Stage..... 4
and others.....

I found it very interesting that piping was at the top and dance was much lower (I believe it is a function of its location at my games).  I was not surprised by Vending/Shopping or Celtic/Ethnic Food.

The survey takers where suppose to move about the grounds and take surveys at various locations but ended up taking the surveys in a fixed location which somewhat skewed results.

Least interest areas was very age dependent with children's/family activities, workshops, and noon parade leading the way.  Over 35% stated they found nothing least-interesting, which makes many on the committee happy.

I had similar complaint a few years a go, which was solved by an extending lunch break -- now the vendors are happy as they get flooded with people leaving the athletics area (vendors are between athletics and food).

Vendors can be a difficult lot, they want a certain location but not near certain other vendors, they would like the number of competing vendors limited, ..... All of which is natural since they are looking to maximize their income. 

They are also a great resource. When a games get a good bunch and keep them happy, they become very loyal to that games. They travel over a region and can become your eyes and ears on what is going on. They give warning s on many issues, some protect your games as well as their income, others are out of purely loyal. They are diffidently something not to ignore.

For what it is worth, here is some details:

Kids: people with kids had slightly more interest in athletics then those without kids.

Internet Usage: people who did not visited the games website had more interest in athletics than those who did.

Gender: males had more interest in athletics than females

Age: interest in athletics declined steadily with age, until the 60+ age group who had more interest than the 50-59 age group

Income (always questionable category): Under $30K and 50-75K in income had more interest in athletics than other groups. People with income >75K had the least interest.

people with >75K of income had most interest in piping. (hmmm can money buy taste?)

In Metro area/outside of metro area: those in metro area had more interest in athletics than those from outside of metro area

Those who found athletics interesting also found (in decreasing order) piping (17%), shopping (11%), celtic food (10%), sheep herding (8%), dance competition (7.5%), and dog agility (6%) interesting.

A survey of highland games in scotland taken by Dundee university about ten years back produced the following results.

The vast majority attended the games to watch the "TARTAN EVENTS" ie pipe bands, highland dancers and heavy events.

Over 72% of the people attending were tourists. and most arrived between 1.00 and 1.30 pm and most left between 4.00 and 4.30 pm

Of all the heavy events the caber was most popular followed by the 56lb weight for height then the scots hammer.

Twelve games were surveyed (both amateur and professional) from Forres in the north to Peebles in the borders, and the results were as follows.

EVENTS AND FACILITYS IN ORDER OF POPULARITY

 Heavy events

massed pipe bands

highland dancing

Tug o war

Refreshment tents

Grass track cycle racing

Solo Pipeing

Hill race (where applicable)

Road race (where applicable)

Trade stands

Track and field athletics

Displays of a various nature   ie parachute jumps,martial arts,line dancers ect.

When asked what they least liked about the games a large number, 41% said the toilet facilitys were either too few or not up to an acceptable standard (especially the ladies toilets) and that sometimes the coach parks were too far away from the actual games and thought that a coach drop off point for passengers would be an improvement. Iwould like to think that most games surveyed took the results produced, and points raised on board.