Hello Everybody,

Yes, we’re going to meet and de-brief about this year’s Hoosier Outdoor Experience. We have reserved the Conference room at the Natural Resources Education Center out at Ft. Benjamin Harrison (we’ve met there before) for Friday, November 6th, from 4 to 6pm. If you can’t be there, feel free to send a representative or two. We’re going to discuss what folks liked about the event (and would want to keep), what they didn’t like (and would want to change), and what ideas and thoughts they have for the future.

If you can’t attend, and there is no one from your group who can be there: please take the above discussion points, and send me an e-mail with your input on it. This kind of thing is much more effective in person, as folks tend to brainstorm better with other minds to work with, so attend the meeting if at all possible.

We really value your input, and want to get everybody on the same page and thinking about next year; remember that we’re only 11 months away from doing this again! J Please send me an e-mail back letting know if you can attend.

Thank you all very much, and we hope to see you out at the Fort.

Greg Beilfuss

IDNR State and Community Outdoor Recreation Planner

402 W. Washington St., W271

Indianapolis, IN 46204-2782

Phone: (317) 232-4071

Fax: (317) 233-4648

gbeilfuss@dnr.IN.gov

I plan to go to this meeting, if you are not going but have any coments you want me to share with them let me know.

I will try to join you Neil.

I will try to be there.

Notes from the 11/06/2009 OHV HOEX Outdoor Recreation Activity Area subgroup meeting:



What did folks like?

• Most groups OK with Trams not coming to end of Millennium Grove cul-de-sac
 Some groups prefer to have visitors delivered all the way to the end, and Jeeps operating from cul-de-sac at end of road (safety, road dust/mud, mess)
• First time event worked well
• Porta-Potty @ the North end of the cul-de-sac was needed
• UTV/Trail Riders of America location was good
• Boy Scout food delivery was great, but missed ABATE folks
• 120 straw bales was pretty much the right amount

What would folks change next year?

• Market the whole event better
 Reach more local Lawrence, Hancock County/Hamilton County residents
 Put some more stories in local and regional newspapers, and online forums; NUVO, INDYBEAT, etc.
 Keep trying to reach more audiences that are new to DNR
 More advertising, PSA’s, etc. through more media outlets
• Seek better support and recognition from Governor’s office and DNR executive office
• Self-market event via flyers
 Co-ops, feed stores
 Motorized rec dealerships
 All DNR sites statewide
 RV/Boat Show and State Fair
• Create second ABATE “test track” to spread out the impact on the sites?
• Fill in more of the sites from front to back of the Millennium Grove area; bring in more clubs and groups
• DNR staff never wore helmets when driving around in Gators and UTV’s; horrible example, and visitors definitely noticed and commented
• Ask the CO’s not to park in the middle of the Millennium Grove road; pull off and park on the side
• Set aside time Sunday night of the event to repair the trail; bring tractors and equipment needed to get the job done in a couple of hours
• Keep gators and inexperienced drivers off of the trails during the event; NO wrong way travel on the trail
• Need more helmets for visitors at UTV ride; get BOW helmets to TRA in time for the event
• Opportunities to camp at individual activity sites? Very possible this next year
• Move event to May to better encourage visitors to actually go out and do the activities they tried at HOEX?
• Stuff goody bags at the Indiana Off-Road Jamboree with fliers for HOEX; cross-market the events and coordinate efforts
• Help activity providers free themselves up to enjoy some of the event; activity providers really need to be able to get around and see what everybody else is doing
 Recruit specific volunteers to assist with sign-up for all types of ride
• Ensure that no activity providers go hungry or thirsty due to being unable to leave their sites during the day
• Visitors didn’t know where the trams were going; trams didn’t wait at any given stop for very long, tram guides didn’t share any information about the various areas they were going in and out of
• Bigger, better sign pointing into the OHV/Motorized area
 Better map ID and map icon
• Volunteer website was off and on several times? Turned off too early?

NEW IDEAS TO DISCUSS FOR 2010?

• Feed activity providers and ensure that nobody goes hungry or thirsty
• Get involved with student day? Student day is on Wednesday, September 15th.
 ABATE
 ATV Safety
• Promotion and Marketing
 Ask ABATE staff for help
 Better internal IDNR marketing through websites, and fliers at all DNR properties and events
• Demonstrations and education
 Jeep 101
 Hi-Lift safety and use
 Winching safety and use
 Vehicle maintenance
• Hand out visitor comment cards to everybody on the way out and collect them as they get off the bus; have golf pencils galore so that folks have something to write with
• Find somebody to do outdoor-oriented first aid training
 Talk to Boy Scout/Girl Scout councils
 Emergency medicine: make it specific to the sub-area that the presentation is located in
• Cleaning and filleting fish
• American Motorcycle Association “Trials” Competition Riding demonstration?
• Survival 101 mini-courses
 DNR staff and Scouts
• Did we mention FOOD? 
• Talk to Tom Hartman of the IN Dealer’s Association about promotion, cross-marketing, etc.
• Tread Lightly display, demos, and mini

Thanks Neil for the report and all the information. I would like to comment that the Bloomington newspaper never mentioned the event before or after. Considering we are only about 50 miles south of Indy and a pretty large market that supprised me.