It’s not easy to stay in contact with teens. From my experience they rarely look at the seasonal activity guides, rarely search out recreation programs through the parks and recreation department (YMCAs on the other hand do a pretty good job), and rarely, if ever, visit the city website.

So what’s an organization to do?

Email a monthly newsletter, that’s what.

The first thing you need to do is gather email addresses. Here are 4 ways to get ‘em:

1. Take them from your existing registered customers. If you have an online registration system like ActiveNet or Class you should be able to quickly gather an email list of parents with teens.
2. Ask the local middle schools or look in their directories. You may just get physical addresses. If that’s the case send postcards to those families asking them to opt-in to the newsletter on your website.
3. Place an opt-in on your website. When parents go to your site you want them to be able to request your teen newsletter. If you have an opt-in parents can leave their name and email address and click “submit” to be automatically added to your list. All you need is an email management system like Constant Contact or Aweber.
4. Collect email addresses at special events. Provide a sign up sheet on a clipboard for people to add their email addresses to.

Now that you are building an email list it’s time to create your newsletter. Where do you start? If you use Constant Contact or Aweber they have a number of templates that you can use to build your newsletter. I highly suggest you take advantage of them.

I have see recreation departments use Word or Publisher to create their own newsletter. Not one of them looked professional. If you’ve taken the time to gather email addresses then take the time to create a nice and professional looking newsletter to send out.

Here are things I put in my monthly teen newsletters…

1. A note from the teen coordinator.
2. Upcoming events and classes.
3. Wrap-ups of past events and classes along with a few pictures.
4. Reviews of websites, books and movies that teens may be interested in.
5. A story of one of the local teens (sports accomplishment, community service work, school accomplishment, etc.)
6. Advice or suggestions (study tips, sports tips, health and fitness tips, biking tips, stc.)
7. A link to a funny video.
8. A joke.

I add a lot of color and pictures as well. I want the newsletter to be informative but also fun to read.

A word on email management systems. Do not use an excel spreadsheet to keep track of all your emails. Why? When you send out emails from your work system there is a good chance that a lot of the emails will get caught in other people’s spam filters. If you decide to send only 10 emails at a time to try and avoid this you’ll be wasting a lot of time. Also, your readers should have a way to opt-out of yoru newsletter if they want to.

Make things easier with Constant Contact or Aweber. There are other email management systems out there but these two have been around a long time and are highly respected and used by many companies. I have used both of them and, while I use Constant Contact, they both have their pros and cons.

1. Both have really good templates. Awebers templates are a bit better and a bit more flexible.
2. Your emails will get through spam filters with each of them.
3. I can add emails from other sources (like a clipboard at an event) and Constant Contact won’t ask customers to click on any links for permission. They already gave you permission by writing it on your list. Aweber won’t do that. Aweber insists on getting permission again.
4. Both of them make it really easy to add an opt-in to your website. Aweber has some really neat opt-in designs.
5. Constant Contact’s site is easier to navigate. However, Aweber has a number of videos to help you set-up your email campaign and more.
6. They both have great customer service.
7. Constant Contact gives you a free 60 day trial. Aweber gives you your first month for $1.

No matter which one you use, get a teen newsletter together to help pump up your programs. It will be well worth it. The above links are both affiliate links, since they are both companies I believe in and feel comfortable recommending.

Summer means traveling for many people. When out-of-towners come to your city do you have any recreation programs available for them?

I’m guessing that if people are coming to your area for vacation there are things to do for them. I’m also guessing that you don’t have programs for tourists. Why not? You are the parks and recreation department aren’t you? Or maybe you’re a YMCA or other recreation organization.

Here are 5 programs for tourists that you can run:

1. A day-long program of games, crafts and more at the biggest hotel in your area.
2. A van tour of the area with stops for some fun and recreation.
3. An evening travelogue presentation of attractions in your area. A large hotel may pay you to do this for their guests or allow you to advertise at their hotel in exchange.
4. Day passes to your camps as an option for visiting youth.
5. Movies or music  in the park, or other community event that will attract residents and tourists.

Here are 5 ways you can promote your programs to tourists:

1. Send postcards to residents. They may have family visiting and you want your residents to know about the programs you have for their loved ones.
2. Place ads in hotel rooms. Work with your local hotels to get your information in the rooms. You may be able to do the travelogue in exchange for ads in the room.
3. Create a short video that can be viewed on the welcome channels at the local hotels.
4. Place advertising at the front desks of the hotels.
5. Pay a commission to front desk agents and bellman for referrals. Having worked in the hotel industry I know this one works. Front office staff are always looking for ways to make a little extra money. They will call certain cabs if they know the cab driver will tip them and they will push attraction tickets if there is a commission to be had. Don’t overlook this one. Get the staff to work for you.

I don’t read a lot of fiction, but when a group of middle school students that I work with RAVED about a new book I was curious to find out more about it.

The fiction I do read is usually fantasy or sci-fi. I really got into the Harry Potter series on the insistence of the girl I was dating at the time. I started reading the first book because she asked me to. After the first few chapters I was hooked. So when the teens told me that The Hunger Games was the #1 book on Amazon in the teens/fantasy and the teens/sci-fi genres I figured it might be worth a look. One of the girls went on to tell me that she had read it 5 times all the way through last summer. Yes, this book has been out a couple of years and this is the first I was hearing about it. I guess the Twilight series overshadowed The Hunger Games.

“What’s it about?”, I asked the group of teens.

“It’s about a girl who has to fight for her life in an arena. It’s set in the future”, was the reply.

Their description didn’t thrill me, but their enthusiasm about the book did. So I went on to Audible.com and downloaded it. By the way, if you enjoy audio books you have to join Audible.com if you want to save some serious money on your audio books. I listen to audio books when I go for a walk, jog, bike ride or a long drive. If I’m listening to a really good book then I will listen to it as I go to bed, too.

Back to the book. The Hunger Games is an absolute joy to read. It’s an engaging and entertaining book that will suck you in and play with your emotions. I loved the writing style of the author, Suzanne Collins.

From School Library Journal
In a not-too-distant future, the United States of America has collapsed, weakened by drought, fire, famine, and war, to be replaced by Panem, a country divided into the Capitol and 12 districts. Each year, two young representatives from each district are selected by lottery to participate in The Hunger Games. Part entertainment, part brutal intimidation of the subjugated districts, the televised games are broadcasted throughout Panem as the 24 participants are forced to eliminate their competitors, literally, with all citizens required to watch. When 16-year-old Katniss’ young sister, Prim, is selected as the mining district’s female representative, Katniss volunteers to take her place. She and her male counterpart, Peeta, the son of the town baker who seems to have all the fighting skills of a lump of bread dough, will be pitted against bigger, stronger representatives who have trained for this their whole lives. Collins’ characters are completely realistic and sympathetic as they form alliances and friendships in the face of overwhelming odds; the plot is tense, dramatic, and engrossing. This book will definitely resonate with the generation raised on reality shows like Survivor and American Gladiator.

———

This is the first book of a trilogy. I have just started the second book, Catching Fire.

If you work with middle school children this is one of the books they are reading and enjoying right now. It’s worth taking a look at just for that reason.

Last year we, by the request of parents in our community, we began selling photos that we took at our ballet recitals. We have always taken photos at all of our big events, at camp and during our after school programs, but  they were only for promotional purposes. We would use the good photos in our activity guides, our flyers and on our website.

We searched for a good password-protected photo sharing program where we could sell our photos. We settled on Smug Mug. With the Professional Account we were able to set the prices for the photos and customize the look of our page.

After uploading the photos of a certain program or event we email all the participants the web address where they can view the photos along with the password. Parents love it.

Have we made a fortune doing this? No. We easily recouped the cost of the Professional Account and have turned out enough of a profit to buy a new camera, but you’re not going to be able to build a new waterpark on the profits. Has it been worth it? Absolutely! Parents (especially those who forgot their own cameras or failed to get a good shot of their child) have been very happy with the service, and so have we. So take a look at Smug Mug for your photo sharing and selling needs.

RecreationGuy.com posts are useful

First rule of being a guest writer is to make sure your content is useful.

Is there an after school program that you are proud of and are able to put into words how to start and/or run it? Are there specific activities that are unique enough to tell others about? Do you have a unique way of running a special event? Is there a skill that you have mastered, or comes easy to you, that would be relevant to our audience?

RecreationGuy.com readers want content they can act on.

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If you’re writing about after school programs, special events, marketing for community recreation programs, adult programs, senior programs, staff trainings, community sports programs, RecreationGuy.com might be a good fit for your post.

If you’re writing about  American Idol, a local place of interest, or facility/public works matters (unless it has to do with decorating or building something for a special event) you may want to find another venue.

To write a great post for RecreationGuy.com, it helps to know what’s worked for us in the past. Start with the list of popular articles to the right.

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I’m not the best writer, I admit, but I try to be clear, be interesting and write in a particular style.

Spend some time on your headline and check your post for grammatical errors. And make sure you use spell check.

I’m not perfect. The occasional typo sneaks in despite my best efforts. But I put the time and attention in to make my posts as good as they can possibly be.

If you have a useful, relevant and well-written post, what’s the next step?

Email me your post submission and a short bio of yourself to curt@recreationguy.com. You can also email me to let me know  what you’d like to write about and why you think it’s a good fit before actually writing the post.

Please be patient. Some days I’m very busy and can’t answer email as quickly as I would like. I won’t accept all submissions, but I will contact you either way.