May 2019 - Parks & Recreation - 73

Take Your Agency from 'Zero to Sexy'

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erhaps unfairly, park and recreation professionals take a considerable amount of heat for not selling the value of parks and recreation as an essential service to their elected officials. When it
comes time for municipal budget cuts (and the next recession is coming),
improper agency positioning could result in a decrease in the public funds
made available for your vital efforts.
Need help telling your story? At
the 2019 NRPA Annual Conference this September 24-26 in Baltimore, Maryland, there will be a tremendous lineup of marketing- and
public relations-themed workshop
and education sessions to take your
agency from " zero to sexy " and
help your elected officials recognize the importance of investing
in your efforts to improve community health, conserve your natural
resources, and build a community
where everyone is welcome. Here
is just a small sampling:
Start Here: " Once Upon a Pie
Chart: Using Data to Tell Your Story " - Getting the word out about
your services and needs is critically
important to keeping your organization relevant as you fight for
funding and attention. Supporting
your message with data has the potential of increasing your impact,
but telling your story in a way that
gets people to understand, engage
and act requires more than simply
adding a few charts and graphs to
your reports and presentations.
Learn the fundamentals of both
storytelling and data visualization
so you can create messages that are
both informative and compelling
to share with staff, elected officials
and the public. Speaker: Bobbi
Nance
Think Big: " From Zero to Sexy:
Re-imagine, Re-define and Re-energize Your Agency's Brand " - Af-

ter nearly 40 years of work within
Eagle County, Colorado, the unfortunately named Western Eagle
County Metropolitan Recreation
District (better known as WECMRD) embarked on a two-year project to bolster health and wellness
across its community. The overhaul included a full changeover in
board members, a new executive
director, a new name and brand,
new website, mission, vision and
values. The organization is now
called Mountain Recreation, and
the community could not be more
pleased with the change. Mountain Rec is now ready to share
lessons learned from the two-year
process and inspire you to reimagine, re-define and re-energize
your agency's brand. Speakers:
Janet Bartnik and Scott Robinson
Dive Deep: " Marketing Certificate Program: Engage Your Community, Get More People in Your

Parks " - Is your agency ready to
move toward more meaningful
engagement with your customers?
Selling the value of parks and recreation as an essential service in your
communities is vital to achieving
your agency's goals; yet, effective
and deliberate marketing methods
are changing every day. Come join
experts from both the private and
public sectors to develop strategies
to increase participation in your
programs, to more effectively use
" big data " while targeting your audience and to capture strategies for
emerging target markets, plus much
more. The team of boot camp instructors will provide park and
recreation marketing professionals
and DIY directors with a full day
of enlightenment and best practices for your agency's marketing efforts. Speakers: M. Michelle Bono,
Becky Dunlap and Katy Keller
This wouldn't be an article about
marketing without a teaser - to
learn more about the in-depth marketing training happening at the
conference, sign up for the Marketing Certificate program or register
for the NRPA Annual Conference,
visit www.nrpa.org/conference.

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May 2019 - Parks & Recreation

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