November 2024 – Strategic priorities update

| October 17, 2024

An overview of progress on the RSGB strategic priorities

The RSGB’s growth workshop held in February 2024

I remember being told in a planning seminar a long time ago that if we didn’t know the road to take, we would never reach our intended destination. Wise words and something I recalled when I joined the RSGB Board in late 2022 and later became President at the AGM in 2023.

It was evident to me that the comprehensive strategy that had been carefully constructed way back in 2017 had not really moved forward. There were several reasons for that but chiefly I think we did not know where to start and perhaps there was a lack of appetite to take on such a major programme of change. Then COVID came along and that was that.

We emerged from lockdown quite successfully and had seen our numbers boosted significantly because of our highly successful remote invigilation online exams system and a major national media campaign. I was determined that we should get back to setting some strategic priorities as it was very apparent that amateur radio, despite the COVID boost, was in decline.

I had a long discussion with Stewart Bryant, G3YSX, the Board Chair and we refined the 2017-2022 strategy into four priorities which seemed manageable and achievable. You will have seen them many times before:

  • Growth of amateur radio

  • Membership of the RSGB

  • Spectrum and licensing

  • Ensuring the continued financial stability of the Society

These priorities were confirmed by the Board, and we set out on the road to implementing them. At the 2023 Convention I promised that we would keep members informed as to progress and we have done that in RadCom and on the website each month since then and are continuing to do so. You can see them all in one place on the website at rsgb.org/strategy-updates

The Spectrum and licensing priority was an extremely hot topic culminating in the new amateur licence implemented by Ofcom in February this year. The RSGB had worked tirelessly with Ofcom and our stakeholders over many months and the resultant changes to the licence have been warmly welcomed, giving us much more freedom in what we can now do. The RSGB National Radio Centre has made the most of these new licensing conditions as the volunteers introduce visitors to amateur radio, and we’ve received and shared stories of individuals and clubs doing the same.

Following all the effort on licensing we turned to the Growth priority and to kick things off we held a growth workshop in February with the guiding question to everyone present, “What do we need to do to grow amateur radio in the UK?”

We identified six themes, but I think the most telling output from the day was that we needed the right people in the right places to deliver our plans. Common sense really but it was thought provoking to see it written down.

Out of the themes identified, the one we have made the most progress on is practical outreach. We are most fortunate in having an enthusiastic team lead, Board Director Ben Lloyd, GW4BML who has now formed an Outreach Team.

We were once more involved in British Science Week (BSW) promoting STEM projects, exciting work which will continue to be pursued. In 2023 we set a BSW challenge on the concept of time and I was delighted to present a prize to the 15-year-old winner Milly, M7MIY during the special ISS contact at Brooklands Museum which you will read much more about elsewhere.

I am leading a small team myself in what we have called the “Mature Audience segment.” The intention is to target active retirees and those heading for retirement. We know from those who take the licence exams that quite a substantial proportion are in this age group.

We decided to speak to organisations catering for that cohort such as u3a (run by the national body, the Third Age Trust), PROBUS Clubs and so on. Initial contact with u3a headquarters was promising although we found that they were locally organised and to reach out to them we advertised in RadCom for anyone interested to get in touch.

The advert resulted in contacts from amateurs across the UK who are also u3a members and in a Teams call with several of them recently it was very apparent that they were enthusiastic and willing to spread the word amongst their fellow members. We are currently preparing presentation materials for them to use when speaking to their groups. It was great to see so many people motivated to promote our fantastic hobby, and we look forward to developing our relationships with them and other like-minded organisations.

“It was great to see so many people motivated to promote our fantastic hobby”

Chris Wood, GD6TWF our Honorary Treasurer now presents a half-yearly finance report to ensure things are on track towards continuing financial stability, and this is shared in RadCom.

In May, the Board appointed Mark Jones, G0MGX to oversee the progress of the strategy and you will have seen updates from him over the following months. Unless we can monitor and measure what we are doing we will not know when we have arrived at our destination, and I expect to see some challenging but measurable objectives set in place in the coming year.

We need more people into amateur radio and of course we would also like them to join the RSGB – not only for them to benefit from our services but also to join with us in our work to support you in this great hobby.

For those of you who were at the Convention this year you will have heard much more about our plans. Please do consider carefully what we are doing and if you have any ideas to add we would love to hear from you. This is your Society after all!

 

John McCullagh, GI4BWM

RSGB President

strategy@rsgb.org.uk

 

Category: RSGB Notices, RSGB Strategic Priorities