seattleschoolofaikido : Message: RE: [seattleschoolofaikido] Actionable idea: student feedback section on our website

GREAT idea, Mona!! And thanks for the comments, Mona and Kyle. Rupert,
can we add this feature to the web page, I think it would be very useful
for prospective students.

Jain

Original Message:
-----------------
From: Mona Jin Shi mbamonashi@...
Date: Sun, 23 Oct 2005 14:30:51 -0700 (PDT)
To: seattleschoolofaikido@yahoogroups.com
Subject: [seattleschoolofaikido] Actionable idea: student feedback section
on our website

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<tt>
Hi you all: 
 
As most of us agree, we need to promote our school 
better and our website is a key element. A focus of 
our “marketing communication” is to draw people to our 
website, where they can learn more about aikido and 
what our school offers. 
 
In addition to all the important info already on our 
site, I suggest we add a section to present students’ 
comments on why we practice Aikido and why we train in 
our school. Here are my thoughts behind this idea. 
 
1. When someone considers our school, they want to 
know not only about our teachers, but also about the 
students. What kinds of people train there? Are they 
all martial arts gurus or/and mostly muscular guys? 
Do the adult classes draw mostly teenagers? Are people 
nice to new comers? What do they get out of their 
training? 
 
2. Just like we read customer reviews on Amazon before 
we buy a book, visitors will value the feedback of 
students who actually have trained at our school. If 
you look at the catalogs of community colleges, they 
always have student comments on the cover. 
 
3. Real people’s experience in their own words often 
comes out more convincing. If I ask each of us “hey 
why haven’t you switched to other schools?” or “why do 
you practice aikido?” We all have something to say and 
I bet the answers are not exactly the same. Maybe what 
YOU want to say will click with the prospective 
students. 
 
4. One strength of our school is our sense of 
community. Having student voices on our site helps to 
convey that. 
 
Student recommendations can be used for our website, 
our brochure, the handouts etc. It is a low cost way 
to develop our marketing content. By the way, it is 
also a way to promote Aikido and share our experience. 
 
 
Ok, that is my pitch for my idea. Kyle and I have 
each written a bit about our experience. 
 
Unless any of you have any objection, I will push this 
work forward and send out group emails or approach 
people asking for input. 
 
What do you all think? 
If you prefer to email me, here is my personal email 
mbamonashi@... 
 
Here is our write up: 
 
Kyle: 
Training at Seattle School Aikido: since June, 2005. 
Prior martial arts experience: 3.5 years of Tai Chi 
 
I did not take the beginner's series to start with 
because I had some exposure to Aikido in the early 
'90s. Because I have a bad knee, I have to be very 
careful about the activities I take part in. Aikido 
is an excellent way for me to be more active and 
coordinated without wearing out my knee. 
 
To fit Aikido training into my busy student life, I’ve 
tried both morning and evening classes. It is a little 
hard to show up for 9 am Saturday class. But I love 
the regular jo practice in Mike’s class. The best part 
of the school is how nice and friendly all the 
students and teachers are. I may never test for a 
belt, but with regular practice I continue to learn 
and grow as a person. 
 
Mona 
Training at Seattle School Aikido: since March, 2005. 
Prior martial arts experience: None 
 
When I first thought about taking a martial art class, 
three things worried me a lot. 1. I’m a clumsy person 
so might end up feeling stupid as a slow learner in 
class. Unlike falling behind in other courses, this 
time everyone can see if I roll into a wall. 2. What 
if someone accidentally knock my teeth out in 
practice? For some reason I worried more about losing 
a tooth then breaking a bone :-). 3. Life is so busy. 
How long can I stick to learning something new after a 
long day at work and the horrible commute across 520? 
Fortunately I live close to the School, so I did some 
“window shopping” and dropped in to chat with an 
instructor once before I actually decided to take the 
Beginner Series. 
 
Seven months have passed. I still feel like a beginner 
in Aikido but my fears have faded. I actually look 
forward to training sessions. They are both 
challenging and relaxing. It’s also interesting to 
practice with people from different ways of life, men 
and women, all ages. As a beginner, I really benefit 
from the collaborative environment. The school is a 
non profit. People teach at school because they love 
to teach aikido. I never hesitated to ask any Sensei 
(the teacher) to review a move with me after class, 
which I probably would not have felt comfortable doing 
if they were hourly paid trainers. 
 
As much as I enjoy the training, I don’t think Aikido 
is for everyone. I would not recommend it as a 
shortcut to self-defense or an alternative to your gym 
workouts. The best way to find out perhaps is to come 
observe a class or even better join us to train for a 
few weeks. 
 
 
 
 
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<a href="http://farechase.yahoo.com">http://farechase.yahoo.com</a> 
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