Your League needs YOUR Advice !!!

At the AGM back in May it was proposed that in the 2009/10 season that the Watford League would take a new approach to Handbooks, i.e. we wouldn't print them at all !!

Now the rationale behind this was fairly simple :-

• The cost to the league of producing the handbooks is quite high
• The format is inflexible, once printed it cannot be changed
• All of the information could now be placed (for no cost) on the new Watford Table Tennis Blog

Now of course there are players in the league that do not have access to computers or the Internet and for these individuals ceasing to produce the handbook could be a problem.

The main use of the Handbook is for Fixtures, Phone numbers and Club Venues. If the Watford Blogsite was to have this information represented in a clearly found location in a format that prints easily, then this should enable team members with computers to produce printed versions for those without access to the Internet.

There are a number of team captains that already do this, I think Geof Bax does this for his team, and as most of the league's teams play at Queens School it should not present too much difficulty.

Over the next month or so while the League is being formed for 2009/10 we will be updating the Watford Blogsite to include as much of the information previously found in the Handbook and providing simple navigation to find it.

If you have any comments regarding the above then please leave a note so that we can ensure the end result is as useful as possible.

Chris Ogle
Watford Table Tennis League Committee Member 

Comments

[Gordon Hitchman]

The Printing cost for the Handbook are recovered from the revenue from the advertisers and as such is of minimal cost to the league.
From past experience relying on Captains to distribute information to their players is at best patchy. A sheet (or Sheets) of infomation regarding Fixtures, venues etc is not indusive of careful retention whereas a small handbook can be easily stored in your sportsbag without any fast deteriation. I feel there is still a place for a handbook.

Gordon Hitchman

[Chris Ogle]

Thanks for the comment Gordon, it is great that we can have people's view coming forward on these kinds of topics.

My personal opinion is that the need for printing sheets will affect a small number of people.

The point you make about the advertisers paying for the handbook, good point, however without handbooks we could use those funds (and even more with the blogsite) for youth development rather than continue to spend it in the way we have previously.

The Internet has opened up new ways to look at things and an opportunity to rethink and question the operation of the league. I think the accessibility of information in electronic form had now passed the 'tipping point' and we should look at more cost effective and modern ways to deliver information to our league players.

Why not enter the debate... get your comments on here and let us know what you think about the handbooks issue!

[ian banfield]

Having only been informed a few weeks ago that we have a web site worth taking a few minutes to explore i have only just found this topic of discussion.
I personally do not have a strong view either way on the handbook issue but if we are to rely on the web site may I suggest that the 'teams and players' link be removed or updated
At the moment it would be no less useful if it were written in ancient Egyptian hieroglyphics. Apparently my number is linked to a fax and my mobile changed years ago.
IB.