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Summer provides countless opportunities to plan outdoor activities and exciting excursions to new places as well as the ability to infuse creativity, leadership and enthusiasm into scheduling. Industry leaders also can deliver outstanding programs and perform at an exceptional level by encouraging team members to keep P.L.A.Y. at the forefront of their minds.
Perception is an important component of programs involving youth participants. Whether it’s a pre-kindergarten class, summer day camp, youth sport team or teen program, it is important to remember participants and parents don’t measure quality by what you say, but rather what you do. Since the newest and inexperienced team members are often on the front lines, and make the most significant impressions on participants and their parents, attempt to incorporate the “do as I do” mentality, and lead by example.
Although everything might run smoothly 99.5 percent of the time, it is always that one incident that can be the most damaging to a program’s reputation. Whether it is a negative word-of-mouth campaign or a vocal participant who has had a bad experience, it may take weeks--if not years--to repair the damage. Perception is reality for both participants and parents, so it is imperative to choose your reality wisely.
