At the conference I attended last week there was an Expo. The expo hall was filled with companies vying for our attention, commitments to buy and business cards. As I meandered through the aisles and aisles of vendors I was specifically looking for programming products. Unfortunately there were only a couple of vendors that offered systems or equipment for youth and/or adult programs. Instead, it was mostly facility equipment, building and site planning, and various surfacing vendors.
I was disappointed. Why aren’t there companies or individuals creating programming products? For example, Skillastics was there. Now that is a neat product. Here are a couple of other ideas I would like to see someone come up with:
- Theme week packages that would include games, decorations, crafts and more all in one box.
- DVD and manual combo packages that demonstrates to recreation leaders how to run tot and pre-school sports programs.
- All-in-one after school program packages. For example, an Under the Sea package would include games, riddles, crafts, decorations, songs, etc., much like the theme week packages.
- Special Event DVDs that show all the neat things you can do with a particular special event for your community, as well as the step-by-step directions on getting sponsors and marketing the event.
I’ve go more suggestions, but I think you get the idea. I believe there is a need for these types of products. Sure they aren’t big ticket items like the $32,000 NEOS Wall, but an enterprising person or group of people that design and sell these types of products could make a very good living.
June 4th, 2009 at 11:30 am
Hey Moose, great website! How do I get in touch with you? I am the co-founder of a community of recreation professionals called RecWave.com and was hoping we could touch base. You can reach me at Patrick@recwave.com.
Thanks,
Patrick
June 4th, 2009 at 1:05 pm
Patrick,
Thank you for the kind words. I haven’t posted anything for quite a while as summer camp planning, after school programs, teen craziness and brochure deadlines have taken over my life. Your site is great as well. We definitely need more youth recreation based sites. Anyone can contact me at curt@recreationpros.com.
Thanks for visiting,
Moose
July 13th, 2009 at 10:05 am
hey! this is very cool!!.. i had the same idea back when i started school. i am in child and youth care right now!… im actually doing a assigment on grants and all that good stuff!
can you e-mail me back, please..would like to talk to you more about this idea, maybe i can use it in my report
THANKS
October 20th, 2009 at 4:27 pm
What a great idea idea of weekly theme packages. I wish I had the time and resources to do that! I think the city I work for might think it was a conflict of interests though. There would be a lot of selling at NRPA, TRAPS and other trade shows. I think someone could do very well if they could keep the price reasonable.