7 steps to a successful WOD event

   

 

 

1  Register your WOD event
The updated website www.worldorienteeringday.com is ready for registration. Please register your event and contact person as soon as possible. When you have finalised your registration, a red flag will appear on the map. If there are many events in a small area, a red circle with a number will appear. You can also upload maps, photos and information for each event. On the WOD website, you will find most of the information you need for a successful event.

2  Promote your WOD event
On the WOD website, you will find a promotion kit for World Orienteering Day 2017 including bib, start card, poster, badge, flyer, diploma and selected photos for marketing your WOD event. Create an invitation using this kit, send out information via social media, invite local newspapers, radio and television. Put up posters in strategic locations such as the main entrance to the school, the entrance to the gymnasium, etc.

3  Draw a map

Draw a simple map or update an old map over your selected area. It can be a sketch or a ”real map”, indoor or outdoor, park or forest. One of WOD’s partners, OCAD, will supply WOD with 200 licences. If you don’t have any software for map drawing, please send us a simple application and you have a great possibility to get one of these licences.

4  Make courses
”Skol-Sprinten” in Sweden has been a successful concept. The course length has been around 500 m each. One Intro course and two Challenge courses. Electronic punching e.g. EMIT or SPORTident can been used. On the back of the Intro map you can write information about the club’s youth activities and upcoming events, which the children can then take home.

The simplest course to build is a small maze in the school yard. You can get help from the children to build the ”terrain” as they tend to really enjoy creating the maze. Children are creative in many ways, not least to build complex, challenging and fun courses.

If you want to try the future of orienteering, different apps in your Smartphone is a fun alternative. Put out the virtual controls on the phone. With the help of GPS you always know where you are and where you are going.

5  Implement your WOD event
Now it’s time to implement your WOD event. You might need helpers from your club or your school. It’s great if you have a lot of helpers to support you, since the students always want to know more than you can expect. You can invite schools to participate at a specified time e.g. 10:00-12:00, you may have an open entry during the whole day, you can carry out night orienteering or do indoor orienteering. You can try orienteering in a canoe or on a bike. Or why not use roller skates?

The important thing is to have fun! And to find a lot of control markers or check points! Time keeping is not necessary. Very often timekeeping can be a major barrier to a fun activity. But those who wish to use timekeeping may also do so of course. The important thing is that students leave the activity with a good feeling, and that they are happy and satisfied.

If you have the possibility, you can use your elite runners in your club, or why not ask some of WOD’s ambassadors to support your event? Together with one of our partners, BRYZOS, you can order WOD clothes directly from the net.

6  Give diplomas to all
After the activity you have the possibility to give away diploma to all participants. You will find examples of WOD diploma on the website. Experience from last year’s WOD shows that the diploma was very popular among the children. You may also give away drinks, fruits and other small things you can get from local partners.

7  Report your WOD event
Please report your WOD event as soon as possible. Report the number of participants in each age group. This information will be important both for the IOF but also for our selected partners. When you have finalised your report the red flag changes to green. You can also see statistics on the participation of your activity, your country and how many people have participated worldwide.

 

Please read more in the WOD Guidelines and be inspired by a lot of examples of different kind of activities.