Hi, it's your instructor calling....
- Thread starter *dave*
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Fair enough. The shop I teach through does guided diving days every weekend and all ex-students are encouraged to join. On a year basis that's probably 750 students.
Personally, I'm happy that someone else is taking care of this. If someone calls me and wants to tag along then they're always welcome and I make this clear. If not, then I'm confident that my very capable colleagues can handle it.
R..
it_mike
Contributor
I dive with various instructors all the time...just not mine.
My last instructors are ~2000 miles away.
My last instructors are ~2000 miles away.
- Messages
- 94,250
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- Location
- On the Fun Side of Trump's Wall
- # of dives
- 2500 - 4999
Half the people I dive with are former students ... most of the other half are either people I took a class with or took a class from.
In fact, I gotta make a phone call ... thanks for the reminder ...
... Bob (Grateful Diver)
In fact, I gotta make a phone call ... thanks for the reminder ...
... Bob (Grateful Diver)
OP
- Messages
- 964
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Was hoping you'ld chime in, but was hoping to get a bit more detail.
If I were to put things in scale, I'd be at a solid 0 and you would be at 10 in relation to direct student motivation. I'd like to move up the scale a bit.
How do you do it?
If I were to put things in scale, I'd be at a solid 0 and you would be at 10 in relation to direct student motivation. I'd like to move up the scale a bit.
How do you do it?
Half the people I dive with are former students ... most of the other half are either people I took a class with or took a class from.
In fact, I gotta make a phone call ... thanks for the reminder ...
... Bob (Grateful Diver)
meagicano
Contributor
I'm really lucky - my OW instructor is the boyfriend of a coworker (she's a DM) and he's always willing to take me out diving! In the summer we did weekends where we could and Wednesday's - and even when the fall started he would go diving in the quarry or the river. I think it's helped make me a better diver because he's honest with me (I ask him to criticize freely and note it in my log) and we have a lot of fun.
The LDS I used for the course is a bit of an interesting beast - but the instructors who work there are all great. One of them organizes Wednesday night dives from the May 2-4 through to Labour Day... occasionally you get a new student (either from this LDS or another one) who would show up and there were always a bunch of DM's around to help out as necessary. A pretty good way to practice skills and get into the St. Lawrence.
I love diving and I'm so glad and lucky to have such an awesome instructor.
The LDS I used for the course is a bit of an interesting beast - but the instructors who work there are all great. One of them organizes Wednesday night dives from the May 2-4 through to Labour Day... occasionally you get a new student (either from this LDS or another one) who would show up and there were always a bunch of DM's around to help out as necessary. A pretty good way to practice skills and get into the St. Lawrence.
I love diving and I'm so glad and lucky to have such an awesome instructor.
luckydays
Contributor
Couldn't you try emailing them regularly. You should have their email addresses from the file. You could use something like Constant Contact for emails. Up to 500 email contacts added only costs around $15 a month and you can send out as many emails as you want. It would be faster than personally calling them.
You could tell your current and past students what is going on with your diving, classes, promotions, and sales as well as initiate a dive day when ever would be convenient and invite everybody all at once. My LDS uses constant contact for their sales and other shop information that they want to relay out to its customers. One promotion my shop offers is a buy one class get one at half off (materials not included). This makes it kind of nice to get a few specialties done without spending a lot of money.
Keeping in contact with your prior students might help to get more students diving with you and Constant Contact would be a good way to go about it.
There is also Talk Fusion which is a video email program. I think this one is $20 a month for video emails to 1000 email addresses.
You could tell your current and past students what is going on with your diving, classes, promotions, and sales as well as initiate a dive day when ever would be convenient and invite everybody all at once. My LDS uses constant contact for their sales and other shop information that they want to relay out to its customers. One promotion my shop offers is a buy one class get one at half off (materials not included). This makes it kind of nice to get a few specialties done without spending a lot of money.
Keeping in contact with your prior students might help to get more students diving with you and Constant Contact would be a good way to go about it.
There is also Talk Fusion which is a video email program. I think this one is $20 a month for video emails to 1000 email addresses.
- Messages
- 94,250
- Reaction score
- 93,179
- Location
- On the Fun Side of Trump's Wall
- # of dives
- 2500 - 4999
Was hoping you'ld chime in, but was hoping to get a bit more detail.
If I were to put things in scale, I'd be at a solid 0 and you would be at 10 in relation to direct student motivation. I'd like to move up the scale a bit.
How do you do it?
Well, first off I think it's as much about them as me. A lot of my students are the sort of people who end up diving a lot. We have an e-mail list ... and our usual way of hooking up is to just send an e-mail out to the list asking "who wants to dive"?
It also helps to set up a regularly-scheduled dive time ... for us it's usually Thursday nights ... so that those who want to participate can plan for it in advance. People tend to be habitual.
And sometimes I think it comes down to comfort level. Some students can be a bit intimidated by their instructor ... even when you try to put them at ease. So outside of class I make an effort to just be their dive buddy rather than their instructor ... we're just there to relax and have a good time. No critiques or tips unless they ask. We're there to have fun, and that's the priority. A lot of times we'll do a potluck or go out afterward for Chinese buffett, which always puts a social element into it and gives folks an incentive to come out and join the fun.
... Bob (Grateful Diver)
I dive with my AOW and on occasion with OW instructor or at least meet them at the local quarry when they do fun dive or teaching another OW class. If nothing else I love to chat with them.
Now since I am certified and I travel around the US for work I've decided to try and plan meetings in the beginning of the week and fly in early (Saturday for example) and try to meet some locals at my destination.
I've met some nice people at LAX (didn't get to dive as it was my first try with surf conditions and I called a dive after two attempts) and SFO (diving at Monterey, CA). I really enjoyed the dives at Monterey. (I wasn't quite happy with my performance but know that I need to work on my drysuit skills as I only have 10 dives in it.)
It looks like my next trip will be to NYC (not sure if there is any place to dive there in Winter), somewhere in Iowa, and somewhere near Boston. (Have drysuit are willing to bring it and dive
Now since I am certified and I travel around the US for work I've decided to try and plan meetings in the beginning of the week and fly in early (Saturday for example) and try to meet some locals at my destination.
I've met some nice people at LAX (didn't get to dive as it was my first try with surf conditions and I called a dive after two attempts) and SFO (diving at Monterey, CA). I really enjoyed the dives at Monterey. (I wasn't quite happy with my performance but know that I need to work on my drysuit skills as I only have 10 dives in it.)
It looks like my next trip will be to NYC (not sure if there is any place to dive there in Winter), somewhere in Iowa, and somewhere near Boston. (Have drysuit are willing to bring it and dive
princessaprilia
Contributor
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I just bought a new coffee maker for my LDS. Kind of payment for all the times I come in to chat/dive with them.
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