Getting people to help at matches.

[rob_s]

I have yet to see the financial incentive plans work. Read Freakonomics for more.

Essentially what everyone thinks is that they bought the right not to work, and you can't up the rate enough to offset that without chasing people away.

[NEPAKevin]

Alternatively, increase match fees for non-tapers, and have self-identified tapers shoot for free. Gamers can pay and not tape, free from guilt, while those on a budget can reap the rewards. That won't end well.

While we do have a wide demographic of shooters at our matches, if I had to guess, probably the majority tend to be middle to senior level professionals in the technology fields and not too many, if any, illegal-immigrant migrant workers. Which would mean they would probably desire significantly more than sub-minimum wage to encourage them to give up their expendable leisure time in deference to lazy, arrogant, NTMFs. I agree, there's no happy ending to that fairy tale.

[David Armstrong]

Back when I had a range and used to put on matches, whenever we were planning a big match I'd pass the word to some local high school and college kids that if they would come and work the match they could have an hour of range access after the match, bring your own guns and ammo or use mine and some of the other competitors. Don't know how efffective it would be for a regular club match but it worked out great for big matches. Lots of these kids will work there tails off for free burgers and a chance to do some shooting, plus it helped introduce the game to some.

[ggruber]

We always did it with a combination of expectations (the two guys on deck were mandatory tapers/resetters) and peer pressure (the old hands would step up and go tape whatever stage they were near, and the younger guys would join in to avoid looking lazy). Seemed to work fine, but it did require a core of dedicated people and a culture of respect.

we never ask the guy on deck to tape / reset. We routinely shoot in 110+ degrees and have plenty of water and shelter from the sun. Everyone rotates from the shade to help out. All it takes is 'would you please help tape if you are not shooting' to get guys to participate.

[BWT]

You're describing the guy who wants to be in the top 1% but is really probably barely in the top 25%. He's convinced himself that going through the motions is more important than actually having a plan. He is easily distracted. And, more likely than not, he is using his "mental game" as an excuse not to tape, because he's got it in his head that taping is something for the serfs.

I was on a squad once with: Dave Sevigny, Ernest Langdon, Rob Haught, Dave Harrington, and Scott Warren. Guess who taped? Everyone. Sevigny and Warren in particular are big on the visualization/prep thing and it wouldn't surprise me if they both took a break from taping right before their turn each time. But otherwise, everyone helps, everyone works, it gets done faster, and everyone is happy.

There's also a certain PR/psych aspect to it. Shooters who do more than their share helping to run a stage get noticed by the ROs and, purposefully or not, tend to get more favorable calls. Or put another way, the guys who act full of themselves and are "too good" to pull their weight on the menial stuff get noticed and tend to draw far closer scrutiny by the ROs.

But basically, if you think you're too good to help, odds are you're not that good.

Also, talking about visualizing the stage, walking the stage to tape the targets still means you're Walking the Stage. If I want to game how that thought process goes out on how I'm going to run a stage, I may tape part of a stage, like the right half and then tape the left side if it's a very complex, and just kind of walk through it, it gives me a chance to survey it, see what the other shooter's did hit, or where they struggled, and maybe tweak something.

As a side note, there are a few times I don't tape targets is, if I'm the next shooter to go, because that's better than me taping and then them having to wait for me to grab my gun, and magazines, etc. Two, after I've finished the course of fire and I go back to reload my magazines, so I'm ready to go when we go to the next stage. Both of those mean in a squad of like (in the carbine match I shoot) 10-12, I don't help paste for two runs really, when I'm the next to go, and when I've finished and I'm picking up my magazines off the stage and loading magazines after completing.

[Alaskapopo]

I'd like to hear suggestions from folks about increasing the number of people who tape, brass and set steel at matches. Both IDPA and USPSA clubs I frequent have a huge problem with this to the point that it's significantly slowing matches

If its my match that I am hosting I just tell people as nicely as possible that they all need to be helping. That usually works. People just get busy BSing and forget that stuff needs to be done.
Pat