How do we get new triathletes involved? (Page 2)

Topic Of The Week

Glad you are back posting, Patti.

That works too.

I might start swimming again...maybe Monday night.  Hope to see you.

I'm one of those lurkers. Started using BT last year to get training plans and would review the various forums for info.  I checked the Georgia forum from time to time to see what folks were saying about the various events in and around GA. I am new to triathlon so I haven't felt like I had much to add to the discussions. As far as asking questions, I felt like I could usually find out what I needed to know by reading articles from various resources, including the posts on these forums.

I also felt like much of the discussions were among a circle of folks that knew each other and I felt like I would be intruding on the discussion. It's kind of like walking up to a group of folks in a discussion, you don't want to just barge in and disrupt the conversation. I also have never been much of a poster on anything (have Facebook but only posted once on my wall and otherwise replied to a few other comments!). I recently joined a Mentor Group, so I am getting out of my comfort zone and starting to post on that forum.

Thanks to you guys that are regulars on the board for providing valuable info and also starting this thread to pull in us lurkers and newbies and make us feel welcome.

I also just signed in on the Savannah thread.

7 of 11 in my mentor group are newbies, 2 of 11 are in Georgia (both are newbies).  

It seems many of the topics discussed in the mentored threads have been covered many times before in other threads, but the fact that we review individual cases and customize the advice and encouragement makes it personal.

Just an idea, how about next year, or whenever is the next new mentoring sign-up cycle, we register "Georgia Newbies Team", and "Georgia Faster Sprint Triathletes Team", and "Georgia HIM First Timers", and "Georgia Full IM Team", or some such?  

With some planning we could have two of our veteran Georgia triathletes to co-captain on each of these mentoring teams.  This would be a way to give back, to encourage newbies, and to then turn on new triathletes in Georgia to our Georgia board.

Is it possible for the BT Administration to blast a PM to all registered BT users who's IP addresses are from Georgia advising them of the existence of the Georgia board?  (I didn't know about it for the first several months I was reading BT)  

Finally, to promote the Georgia board we could all add a note to our automatic signature, something like... "Connect with local triathletes at our Georgia board!" (maybe embed a link).  Then as we post on the more general boards people might learn of our Georgia board.

My $0.06.

I am totally new to BT and I guess you can say to the triathlons as this is my 3rd year.  Part of the reason why I haven't commented yet is that I am overwhelmed with all the boards.  Trying to figure out which ones I should look at, etc.  IF I had all the time in the world I could spend hours reading all the boards and commenting, etc, but I don't so I pick and chose topics.  

I like ATLrunr idea about Race roll calls to see who is racing a particular race.  I also like setting up a thread for different parts of the state.  It is always amazing to realize that you were not the only person from your town that ran a race but you had no clue there where there (I always look at the results and see who from my town also participated and there are always several for such a small town).  Or you didn't know others in your town were training for an HIM and it would be nice if we could get together and train.

How do we get new triathletes involved?

When the Captn send you an inspire and tells you to run John Tanner in April.. You do it!!

LOL...boy, that sounds like a lot of pressure...

I guess I am a lurker...  sort of.  I interact somewhat in the Beach2Battleship group.  I agree with some of the previous posts.  As a newer triathlete it is a little intimidating.  You feel a little bit like you might be asking a stupid question or that it is more of a situation where you are butting in on a conversation among friends as someone mentioned. 

I like the idea of the TOTW (Tip of the week?).  Didn't catch what that stood for so am assuming   I also think posting races that we are participating in might create some more interaction.  Just my thoughts for what it is worth. 

all-i was thinking, along the lines of mentor thread, we should do an athlete per week feature where they talk about short and long term goals, strengths and weaknesses, pose any questions. it may force lurkers onto the scene in their and our own best interests.

paxsarah-you ought to join athens area triathletes on fb too