1.4 Information

Every dive manager is given access to a Google Drive folder, which includes guidelines for the financial management of a trip, the money marshall spreadsheet (which helps track divers, deposits, money spent, etc.), and the trip’s cash sheet detailing all transactions related to the trip. Examples can be seen in Appendix 1.3f including a completed money marshall sheet for the Normandy 75 expedition.

With a large and diverse membership, there are noticeable differences in how members prefer to receive information. As a policy, all information about trips, training and other events must be circulated first by email so that every member has equal access to it. After that, our other channels are used, and members’ preferences determine how they best respond. Our Marketing & Communications Officer has been reviewing how to maximise the impact and reach of information particularly for training and dive trips. We have experimented with glossier trip and training promotion, which has worked well. Examples of trip promotion are in Appendix 1.4a. Newsplash is our regular newsletter, which, for the last couple of years, has been posted as an open blog on our website with an email alert sent to all members and Friends of Clidive - mostly ex-members who have opted to stay in touch. It promotes all club social and diving activities and contains links to our trip reports, which are published as separate blog posts. It also highlights important news and information such as updated safety information from the club or BSAC. Appendix 1.4b contains Newsplash 2019 publications. Occasionally, members also post a blog if they have been away on a big trip. In June, Gregory told us about the diving he had done while travelling in Asia between September 2018 and January 2019. Gregory’s post ‘Diving South East Asia: A Clidiver’s Highlights’ is in Appendix 1.4c.

1.4.1 Use of Social Media

Clidive has a vibrant social media scene. The main channels are the private Facebook group and the Whatsapp group. Some members belong to both of these, others have a preference for one or the other, and some for neither! Both are active. Specific Whatsapp groups – many of them temporary – are used to share information with those taking part on dive trips or in other club activities. This efficiently targets information and provides a discussion forum for those who need it, without overloading the other Clidive channels.

Harriet meets three potential new members in the background while members Soni Drew and Richard Kelly try to act casual in the foreground

Twitter is used to broadcast news such as latest qualifications and updates from trips and club activities. However, this is all designed primarily around promotion and the maintenance of Clidive’s external profile, which we cover in Section 1.5 Promotion.

The Clidive diaspora of past and current members all round the world remains a part of the Clidive social scene, particularly through the private Facebook group, which has 275 members. The group had 282 posts, 2,200 reactions, and nearly 1,000 post comments during 2019. We regularly see news of former buddies meeting up around the world to dive or just have some fun. In Section 5 Special Achievements there is more detail on the efforts of Honorary President Keith Holman to record the social history of the club on our Facebook group. These posts create plenty of chat from new and old members alike.

1.4.2 Information for New Members

Our Membership Secretary handles all membership enquiries. By preference we try to meet people on a Thursday evening at Ironmonger Row Baths to chat to them, show them who we are and find out what they are really looking for. Harriet, our Membership Secretary, really enjoys this part of her role: “The most enjoyable part of the job is meeting potential new members, hearing about their diving so far and helping them to find what their next steps might be.”

For those who decide to join, the online membership form Harriet introduced in 2019 has made the signing up process easier, quicker and largely error free for everybody. This helps create a much better impression, as well as massively reducing the workload of the Membership Secretary. The online information guides new members in joining BSAC, setting up a standing order and completing their information using a Google form. When this is done, Harriet is automatically notified, can check the BSAC membership, and easily transfer required information to the Clidive database from the online Google form. The new members are then sent their welcome pack, login details for the website and the latest dive programme and are invited to join the members’ Whatsapp and Facebook groups. The new member materials are in Appendix 1.4d.